Battery Hell

It's normal for the auxiliary battery to have been replaced more than once for a car as old as yours. As for the HV battery, many last much longer than your mileage, but it's not unheard of for one to die at that age and mileage, just as it's not uncommon to replace a transmission on a normal car when it gets that long in the tooth. Not fun, but not that unusual either.

I'd replace the auxiliary battery and see how it does.

Tom

 

How long ago did you buy it? Do you know how long it might have sat without being driven?

The auxillary battery is the first to replace but the traction battery doesn't surprise me. Florida heat is rough on traction batteries.

Are you able to do your own maintenance?

Bob Wilson

 

Talk to Bob Wilson. He has fixed 2001 batteries before and can help you (He is good people).

JeffD

 

auxillary battery. not auxillary engine. have the small (12v) battery replaced, see if that fixes it.

if not, get price quotes at another dealer - 5K seems a bit too high - i thought it was in the 3500 range for a traction battery.

as others said, this isn't too surprising for 7 years / 131k miles. other prii have gone further, sure, but 7 years is getting a bit old for a battery.
there are several other active threads at the moment about Gen 1 batteries - you might read through those.

sometimes salvage batteries pop up on ebay , due to wrecks , but i'm not sure i'd trust a used gen 1 battery, due to its age.

good luck.

 

Hi Eliza,

You might appeal to Toyota. There were some battery recalls done on your vintage Prius. If your car never was brought in for those service(s?), then they may give you a break on the replacement cost of the battery.

Also, since the car was original a CARB (California Air Resources Board) car bought in a CARB state, the waranty may be longer than 100K. The present generation Prius has a 125K mile traction battery waranty. But its an improved design. CARB mandates 150K miles waranties on all emissions reducing equipment. The California traction battery waranty is 150K for the present Prius. I bet yours might be as well.

The older generation Prius was not produced in as large a volumes, and the battery is larger than the present generation Prius, thus the cost of replacement is about twice what a present Prius battery replacement cost is.



In standard cars, the starter battery lasts about 5 years, without too much cold or heat stress. Your car is 7 years old now. So, that auxiliary battery could be expected to go any time. And apparently it has. If you lived in the desert areas of California, well, the battery has probably seen heat stress. And its lucky to have lasted this long. Ask the Phoenix and Minnesota people how long their starter batteries last!

 

Heat is the enemy of the traction battery. What part of California?

We need to seriously discuss options.

• Do you have alternate transportation to work?
• Do you have a covered place to work on the car?
• Do you have metric tools and volt ohm meter?
• Can you handle 80 lbs of traction battery or have a friend to help?

Replacing the auxillary battery is a "Hail Mary" pass. It might work but I'd like to suggest a cheaper solution:

• Get a flat screw driver, metric sockets and volt ohm meter
• Open the trunk and remove the left side liner
• remove the cover, disconnect the ground wire, measure battery voltage using a scale to measure 12 VDC
• remove the battery holder (do not drop the nut!)
• remove the B+ (red) terminal
• disconnect the battery drain tube and remove auxillary battery
• using the flat screw driver, remove the "Do Not Remove" sticker but keep it so you can put it back on
• pry open the flat plastic cover
• open the six filler plugs and pour in a small amount of distilled water, just enough to barely cover the plates (slowly)
• put the plugs back in
• put the flat plastic cover on
• put the "Do Not Remove" sticker back on
• re-install the battery and drain tube
• DO NOT DROP THE NUT, put the battery holding assembly back on
• clean terminal and re-connect the B+ (red) terminal
• do one quick 'sanity check' to make sure everything looks OK
• clean the negative terminal and install the ground cable, measure the battery voltage again
• put the liner back in
• Start the car ... you may need a jump if it doesn't start right away.

This is a fairly simple set of steps but it also let's you see about 1/5th of what it takes to replace the traction battery. If this task is beyond your skills, then we have to make some harder decisions.

Bob Wilson

ps. GOOD CATCH! Yes, California Prius have a 150,000 mile traction battery warranty! You may be in LUCK! Nothing on the auxillary battery but you have a chance on the traction battery!

 

Your Welcome...

 

Dear friends,

- Classic Prius (i.e., 2001-2003 model years) have an 8 year/100K mile traction battery warranty, across all 50 states.

- A 2G Prius sold in CA but moved to a non-PZEV state will not benefit from the CA traction battery warranty.

 

If you truly need a traction battery I would buy used. Generally it is one or two cells in the battery that are bad. If you could have them tested you could buy these cells for around $50 (each) from XVIPERS on ebay. They are also selling complete traction batteries for your model for $1395 from their web-site. I know the owner. He tests everything before shipping and guarantees his product.

XVIPERS : 2001-2003 TOYOTA PRIUS BATTERY HV


AutoBeYours also sells used battery and cells. They might be able to give you a good deal also. I'm not terribly familiar with them but they seem to have a good reputation for being honest.

04 and newer Prius Parts Cars

Good Luck!

 

I work in Tampa..live in Clearwater. Be aware that most Toyota dealers in this area are notorious lying sacks of sh*t. Its bad 'round these parts.They should all wear stage coach robber masks. Be aware that since car sales are so weak..even Toyota (there truck sales are tanking at an all time low) they look to the service center as a profit center more then ever. Nothing better than a lady in a sick Prius. I present as exhibit A the "whoops we didn't replace it after all...hehe...that'll be $5000 please". Thats outrageous....unless your the dope here and got it all wrong. Keep your wits about you here as your about to be hosed.

Do not believe a word they tell you and you won't be far away from the truth. Second...third opinion...until you stumble upon an honest person.
Good luck.

 

If your Classic had consistently been good to you and went out
relatively suddenly, chances are that your main pack is still
fine. They generally start acting up over a much longer timeframe,
as you can see in several other reports hereabouts. A weak 12V,
on the other hand, can make many things wack out in short order
and generally a new 12V battery fixes all that right up.
.
I'd say [as others have] get a good solid 12V in there and then
do more testing and observation.
.
_H*

 

You've checked the papers, owner's manual and stuff that came with the car? But Patrick would be the expert on battery warranty since he had his replaced under warranty.

I had to offer the idea. However, the Toyota battery replacement is expensive, just under $200.

Bob Wilson

 

Since your car has 131K miles, it definitely no longer has warranty coverage on the traction battery or any other part. Look in the warranty book (which hopefully is in your glove compartment); there's no need to guess about this.

2004+ Prius are certified as AT-PZEV compliant. This is the reason that the traction battery installed in those vehicles has a 10 year/150K mile warranty, when sold in CA and other PZEV states.

2001 - 2003 Prius are not certified as AT-PZEV compliant; hence the traction battery warranty is 8 years/100K miles. It would make zero business sense for Toyota to unilaterally extend the warranty on those vehicles beyond that period.

You can try installing a new 12V auxiliary battery first. However it would not surprise me if your traction battery had indeed failed. When the battery on my 2001 failed, it was an overnight failure. One day the car was driving great; the next morning the dashboard was a Christmas tree.

Sorry to hear that this problem will be so costly to repair. The battery MSRP should be < $3,000 and it should cost $400 or so for labor. Perhaps if you call the various dealers in your area you may be able to find a better repair price?

I'm also sorry to hear that this problem will cause you significant financial hardship. Frankly, an older Prius is a very bad used car purchase for an owner who is not able to pay for very expensive out-of-warranty repairs. What if the transaxle, the very unique catalytic converter with HCAC chamber, or the electric steering gear fail on you two months from now?