I just bought a 2010 Prius for my son. 160,000 miles but the car is in great shape, all the options and hopefully will last a long time. However, I just ran the Dr. Prius battery test and it said I have 27% battery life. I don’t know if I should try the battery reconditioner , replace the bad block #7 or find a replacement battery. I would like to take it to an expert but not the dealership who will not consider aftermarket options. what do I do???
It is better to replace the whole battery pack so that it's all balanced and new. It will last as long as the OEM one (if it is from a good company) rather than replacing a block one by one every so often. I can get a OEM Toyota battery pack for a 2012 (should be the same as a 2010) online at the Toyota dealership for about $1,700. I'm not sure what the shipping is. But it is pretty easy to install. Some trim panels to remove to get access to the bolts that hold the battery in. Then take old out and put new in. YouTube has plenty of videos on how to remove and replace the complete hybrid battery. I know there is one guy who did the whole swap in 15 mins. The crazy cost Toyota charges for labor is around $3,000 is way overpriced. You also want to get a new battery, not a reconditioned battery. In my opinion I would replace the battery, as long as the engine doesn't consume alot of oil. It should last a long time if you replace the hybrid battery. If you want to take it to an expert, I don't know of anyone in Virginia, but here in Florida, Todd at Tampa Bay Hybrids is very knowledgeable about it.
If it has not thrown codes, do not worry right now. However the best strategy is to buy new, either Toyota, newpriusbatteries.com or the projectlithium.com lithium versions. There are often $1600 genuine Toyota batteries for diy from dealers and third parties. The used, reconditioned or repainted (Dorman) are unreliable and problematic. But no codes now could mean one or two more years out of the old battery (unless its already a used replacement). I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I and many others do not recommend 2010-14 Prius over 125k miles for this and several other expensive issues. You will also hear about the flawed egr cooler, pcv and intake designs which clog up. They can be a major pain to diy but its possible. Dealers won't do it. They will replace if pushed for a price. There is a unproven theory that head gasket and engine fails are reduced with egr and pcv maintenance (removal and refurb). Not a bad idea but certainly not a silver bullet. These cars are expensive with higher miles. To make things ridiculous, you can't even buy a $2,500 brake booster right now because of back orders and a failed inverter is likely the same. The "brake booster" assembly is a brake by wire system that includes your master cylinder, abs, regen logic, hydraulic pump and brake ecu. When it fails the car is unsafe to drive although it does have limited reduced braking failsafe capabilities. A Corolla, Civic, Camry or Accord is a much better vehicle to buy used, especially if reliability is important.
I agree with rjparker. If it has no codes yet, it could be a while. I knew someone who had a 2004 and drove for over 100,000 miles drove with all the warning lights on indicating bad hybrid battery before it completely died on him. I will say probably the most problematic things to look for on a Gen 3 (2010-2015) that I've found is head gasket, oil consumption, and EGR system clogging.
For the reasons stated above, I would sell it. I know that seems drastic but a brake booster and battery alone is $5k which could easily happen this year. Watch the oil level carefully as some have literally run out of oil in 5,000 miles. By the way, it is smart to post five times around the forum (but not the same question) so that your posts show up in a timely fashion. Until five posts you are moderated which sometimes takes a day or more.
I've got a 2012 with 199k on it. Runs and drives like brand new. It was mostly driven highway miles, though. It all depends on what has been done to it and when and how the maintenance was done. In today's market, it is probably cheaper to fix that one than buy a different Prius. You may just trade for more problems.
If you stick with it: clean the EGR and intake (ASAP), maybe do an oil catch can install, and for the hybrid battery, replace it with one of the $1600 options, when the time comes. One other wrinkle: monitor the oil consumption; see where you're at. 2010 through sometime in 2014 have lower tension piston rings, more prone to start burning oil. And definitely with 5k miles or 6 month oil change interval.
