Prius battery life and replacement cost?

Same arrangement here...not quite as cold. Off topic question: what type of battery are you using in your Tundra? Mine eats batteries... I'm going through a battery about once every 18 months (all free at this point since they are still under warranty.) Granted, I've been using the Wal-Mart Everstart Maxx. I'm thinking about ordering an Optima so that it will be reliable in 0 F weather.

 

by BVR46
"We have a 2006 Prius with about 65,000 miles and live near Helena, MT. We keep the car in an unheated detached garage which seldom gets below zero but have driven the car once in a while in temperatures of 20-25 below zero. We have had no problems with either the 12-volt or main drive batteries and other than the gas engine running more in cold weather we haven't seen much difference in the way the drive system runs and charges the drive batteries in summer and winter."
Thanks for that info. and my 06 prius also unheated garage behaves exactly the same way with no problems in summer or winter except for the ice running more when cold (normal). I think for the hv battery HEAT is the enemy. However the 12v battery won't like -17F for very long, I guess if worse comes to worse just start and drive the car and let the system charge it.

 

I have a 2005, and my battery failed in 2009 & I had to pay. There is not any warranty to cover the regulary battery. There are two batteries to consider. Our battery failure was directly blamed on Jiffy Lube. Jiffy Lube was supposed to change our oil, and next thing we know the battery stopped working; it had to be towed to the dealer.

 

Bummer! Dealer oil changes may cost more, but at least they almost always know how not to drain the batteries while working on the car. [See Andy's post below for far more helpful direct advice. If you meant that the four-year-old 12V battery failed it may have been pure coincidence.]

 

This post is extremely unclear, if jiffylube ruined your HV battery, which is unfathonable. then jiffylube is liable. The HV Battery is in the back, the oil for the engine is in the front. The CA warranty is 150,000 miles on the HV Battery. Either Toyota replaces your HV Battery under the warranty or, jiffylube does. One of the great purposes of PriusChat is to help rectify wrongs and give guidance. You do not have to take this lying down. Please post this on a new thread and state the facts and one of our brillient moderators will help you correct this situation.

 

ditto. [EDIT] Oh, I didn't realize there were 5 pages to this thread.

I am a thrifty person who does not buy expensive cars because they only depreciate in value, generally speaking. But I also REALLY like the fuel efficiency of the Prius. I am thinking of buying a used one, but am skeptical of repair costs if something in the hybrid system would fail, battery or otherwise.

I have seen 2005 Prius' sell for around 7k. Also, I wonder if there are other vehicles that would make more sense for me. For instance, I have seen a 2008 Civic Hybrid for under 11k. Then of course I could buy a Metro for 1k and get comparable mileage, but then I am back to 10 year old cars and I would like something reliable.

By the way, current car is 1996 Oldsmobile 88 LS. Nice car but multiple minor issues and a couple of potential major issues. Currently 220k miles and engine still runs smooth. If I could repair everything without paying someone for labor, I'd probably keep it. Although I drive 65 miles one way to my job, 4 days a week. Considering the high miles, issues with the car, and my gas bill, I'd probably save money in the long run to buy something that is very fuel efficient.

Thoughts anyone?

 

Not to mention that the Metro has a worse crash safety rating and almost none of the modern luxury features of the Prius. Utility is much reduced in the Metro as well as a lower average MPG. I spent many year traveling around in my friend's 1992 Metro hatchback. IMO it's not ALL about MPG.

 

agreed

 

Just had my 12volt battery replaced on my 2004 Prius.
It was dead an odd location so called AAA. They of course tried to sell me one but the 2nd driver said that AAA doesn't really carry them.
They jumped me and sent me on my way.
I went directly to the dealer who charged way too much I think.
The zipcode area is 22044 in Arlington, VA.
The battery cost was $171 and installation was $110 (I think it shows 1 hours of labor).
My sister-in-law in Boston has a 2006 Prius and she recently left the rear hatch open and it drained the battery because of the dome light.
They tried to recharge it at home but it wouldn't take a charge.
At her local Toyota dealer in Concord or Arlington, MA, she only paid $140 for the battery and $55 for labor or total of $195 versus my $281.
Now there shouldn't be that much difference in those two cities for Toyota dealer charges.
Can anyone tell me what the Toyota labor book says the time should be? 1/2 hr or 1 hr for the labor?
Thanks,
Did I get ripped out? I may check with another dealer in Fairfax, VA to see what he would charge. I'll report back but wanted some comments first.

 

I had to have my 2007 Prius jump started twice in three days so I wnet to the dealership and asked if my mini battery was on the fritz (not the cell batteries but the small one in the rear right compartment). My Prius had only 32,000 miles where my son's Prius has over 50,000 and never has had to be jump started. So of course the dealership said "yes" you need a new battery. The very next day the car wouldn't start with the fob in my purse, it had to be inserted. So I took it back and they put in a new $3 fob battery. I was told when I was there the first time that the entire electrical system had checked out fine. Now I feel I may have been duped into buying a new battery when all I needed was the $3 fob battery. Any comments? When did you have to replace your small battery? I paid $219 and feel I may have been mislead.

 

The fact that your car had to be jumpstarted 2x in a three-day period is directly related to the condition of the 12V battery, and totally unrelated to the fob battery. So it was good that you had the 12V battery replaced, and also good that you replaced the fob battery since it needed to be changed.

While you are at it I suggest you replace the battery in your other fob, for the sake of completeness.

 

Replaced my 12 volt battery, 2007 Prius, 3.56 years, 59,931 miles, dealer cost for battery $160.00, installed myself.

Question, should the vehicle be brought to the dealer for testing to confirm that the 12 volt battery that I removed was at its end of life or am I okay with just installing a new 12 volt battery?

 

I assume you had some trouble with the car that prompted you to replace the 12V battery. If that trouble no longer exists then it is reasonable to assume that the original 12V battery was the cause of the problems.

Why would you pay the dealer's service dept. for one labor hour of time (which will cost ~$100), unless your car still has a problem?

 

Patrick,

Yes, the vehicle would not start, called AAA, they had a portable device that they used to jump start the vehicle when they attached it to the 12 volt battery in the rear of the vehicle. Drove the vehicle to the local Toyota dealer (7.6 miles), purchased new 12 volt battery, no problems starting the car with the original battery for my return trip home. Installed new battery.

Thanks for your response.

Cacti

 

You did everything right. I think you can declare victory on this, if you can drive the car over the next few days without incident. Then all that remains is to find a suitable recycle location to dispose of the old battery.

 

June 2011: My sister-in-law started experiencing problems with her Prius, hard to start, had to have everything shut off when she turned the car off so that it would start the next morning; took it to the Toyota dealer and her computer board and battery were failing ... fortunately both are still covered under the warranty so she was pleased, but it's going to take a couple of weeks for Toyota to fix it. Wondering if anybody else has had similar experiences?

 

PriusKC, it would be helpful if you could post the year and mileage of sis-in-law's car. Are you saying that she is getting the big HV traction battery and HV battery computer replaced under warranty? That sort of thing does happen but it is not common. Did they happen to give her a readout of all diagnostic codes (i.e. P3000, P0A80, etc). By the way, replacing a computer in these cars is almost never necessary, but since a computer invariably shows up as a potential cause in the troubleshooting flowchart, service advisers tend to include it in the list of things to be replaced.

 

This sounds like a dead 12 volt battery, since the 12 volt battery is used to start all the computers, when it goes dead all the computers report errors. Once it is replaced, the computers will be fine again.

Here is the best alternative to the Toyota battery: Toyota Prius 12 Volt Auxiliary Battery with install kit for 2004 - 10

 

I had a slightly tangential question on this topic. My 12V battery had no issue till my car came back a couple days ago from a rear bumper repair. I did not start the car over the weekend and it was dead on Monday. Today, AAA came, jumpstarted the car and went back. I thought it was a 1-time deal and did not go to the dealer right away. Evening, same problem and I was able to jump start it myself and is now on a trickle charge.
My question is - could the body shop have something to do with this? Granted, mine is a 2007 Prius and nearing the 5 yr mark; but the timing seems fishy?
Also, does the 7 yr extended warranty cover this battery? Or is it considered wear and tear?