Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Rather than fire up yet another thread about battery conditioning I figure most people interested in this will find this post.

As you know, I am NOT much of a DIY person. I was going to have my son install the wiring harness. Today, however, I happened to be in Covina, California a few doors away from an authorized Prolong installer, Jimmy at Jue Motors. After a pleasant talk about our cars (he also owns a 2nd generation Prius with over 200,000 miles, Prolong system installed) he told me he'll be happy to install the harness this Saturday for $100. I'm going to have him do it. He's also a AAA approved repair shop.

So again, if you're uncomfortable doing it yourself, the rate to install the harness by an approved installer locally is $100.

I think I just found my new Prius mechanic. We've been taking it and paying a bundle to the dealer. My 120k service tomorrow will be at Crown Toyota and then Jue, here I come!

 

It's not too late to just go to Jue on Saturday and do everything you need....skip Crown Toyota all together

 

We know tomorrow's service will cost extra. It's an "insurance" and integrity type of thing. We've worked with Jorge over at Crown for over 2 years now. He's gone out of his way to make sure we are taken well care of and they stand by their work. Should something go wrong with work they do occur on our coast-to-coast trip in July we're confident that Crown will work out any of those repairs between two dealers. That would be things like the serpentine belt, trans fluid, coolant, PCV valve, spark plugs, etc. We kind of want Crown to fully inspect the car before we go, too.

We're not going to have them do some of the other things we were considering (for example, the 12v battery and rear shocks). We'll have Jue do those later in June.

 

On a 2008, if you still have the original 12v, I probably would change it out before leaving for the trip.

All the services you listed, I would probably change the transaxle fluid and belt if they are old. I would leave everything else until after your trip.....just because you know the car is fine and those items won't make your car break down. There's really nothing urgent on the list.

Changing out the plugs, coolant before a trip can cause problems if they are not done right or if there was a problem part.

 

We're definitely going to change the 12v before we go. For some reason the 12v was changed at 3 years by the original owner so the current 12v is about 6 years old now. We're looking to replace at least the rear shocks to improve the ride plus we will be hauling luggage, ice chest and some safety stuff. The belt definitely needs to be replaced too.

Realistically, what are the odds of problems with those other things when they are being done by a good service department? I suspect they happen but the odds are fairly small. We will have the luxury of testing the parts on multiple runs from here to Ridgecrest, California City and Bullhead City, AZ in June, before the long July trip.

 

$250 is what I paid for mine (well, to be truthful, I got a discount for ca$h!) …and they let me watch! …and help!

 

Similar to what @jeff652 did for me when he installed the harness and charged less than $250 in February .

 

True to his word, Jimmy at Jue Motors in Covina installed the harness today for $100. Now I just need to decide on the day I'm going to set aside for the conditioning process.

It was also the first time he's seen the new Prolong deluxe discharger. He asked if he could take it and show it to the Honda hybrid specialist with the shop right behind his. They both agreed that this new discharger is probably perfect for those who aren't able or willing to babysit the light bulb system.

Even though I didn't buy the Prolong equipment from him he still took the time to walk me through the process. I was impressed.

I have a new Prius mechanic.

 

Very cool! Jimmy and Scott (the Honda guy) are great friends of ours! They will take good care of you

 

If you are looking for another data point, here's a thread I started about my reconditioning experience over the Memorial Day weekend:

2010 Prius II HV Battery Reconditioning

 

…all good stuff! Thanks for posting! I'll be doing the next (twice-yearly) full recondition on the ChuggyPig in the next week or so - it depends on being able to get a window of 80 or so hours where I won't be needing wheels! I'll keep you all posted! (…howls of protest! …no! …please! …anything but that!) (…and there may even be some photos! )

 

If nothing changes in our schedule I will start the process next Monday, 6/12. I will definitely let you know how easy it really is. I haven't done anything beyond cosmetic things (license plate frames and the like), air filters and light bulbs since the 1980s. Shoot, the last oil change I did myself was all the way back in 1978.

I'm even more interested in reporting afterwards how the process affects the drive. We have a couple of really well documented 100+ mile routes to family that are very consistent as far as speed and traffic. I'll compare the car on those routes to previous trips with similar weather.

 

Its very easy just takes a couple of days. I'm in the middle of one right now. I'm at my 18th hour of final charge back up.
Probably a ways to go.

 

Finished up my recondition today and have learned a few things.

One is its pretty easy and two it takes a very long time.

First you have to do a charge and balance. That takes about 12 hours. Then comes the recondition using the light bulbs. The 200 Watts went pretty fast a few hours down to 134 volts. The 75 watts took much longer to go to 85 volts...many hours. Then when you use the 25 watt bulbs at 85 volts it took 3 hours to lose 5 volts so I gave up at 80 volts. Then a full charge which was almost 22 hours till it finally topped off at 236 volts. Maybe would have gone higher but ran out of time. You need a solid 3 days to do this. And the last segment at 25 watts would take hours and hours which you have to watch so it does not reverse itself at 0 volt. Thats somewhat difficult attention wise.

Initial observations show the battery to be very rejuvenated. My complaint with my bought new in 07 and have 110K miles on it was if i parked it at night in my garage with say 3 blue bars when i fired it up in the am it would show the 3 blue bars but by the time I went to the end of my street it would drop down to 2 purple bars. It would still recover pretty fast about a mile and it would start showing one then 2 then 3 blue bars but very noticeable loss in capacity. I will run it all day tomorrow and report. I went for a short drive today after the rejuv and the battery did not move stuck on 4 blue bars. Thats a first and very hopeful.

 

Yup, the first time I did mine (a year ago last Jan) the discharges with the light bulbs seemed to go on for ever and ever, amen! and was the main reason I upgraded to the Intelligent Discharger which makes things so much easier! The regimen I now use is ~20 hour charge followed by ~6 hour discharge (x3 for full recon) plus ~20 hours for final charge, plus a couple of hours to settle down before driving. So allow about 4 days for complete recondition. I'm planning to do my next full recon. in the next week or so!

 

You'll love the bulbless setup.

 

I used the IntelDischarger for the first time last January, and it was I who persuaded @jeff652 (Hybrid Systems) to make me an extension cord so I'm now able to have both the charger and the discharger outside the car during reconditioning. You'll understand why if you ever use the lightbulb-discharger!!