any 1st gen (especially 2001 owners) with original hv battery?

I'm hoping to use this beast as my DD for years to come and until she dies... I'll rebuild her again and keep going! Hopefully I'm not looking to put a HV battery in it anytime soon. I am curious on this fuel level issue though.

 

yes mine but battery just gone! My mother's (2002) is still going tho...

 

Got an '01 with 247k, I think it's the original traction battery (the 12v was replaced in 2013), but now needs some wheel bearing and maybe CV work, as it had some unfortunate close encounters of the third kind with potholes this last winter... and the exhaust gas assembly post-catalytic always needs a tap with a wrench to un-jam the little pivot do-hickey inside...

 

I sacrifice a chicken to the battery gods every spring...

 

I do . Ok I love prius gen 1. I bought 3 of them a 2001 for 300 dollars. A 2002 for 300dollars and a 2003 for you guessed it 300 dollars!!! Each car looks like new except the 2003 missing front bumper and windshield cracked but runs perfect. The 2001 was an ebay buy from a guy 250 miles from me. I bid . I won. The car was sold to me as it and the owner stated he drove it tull the orange triangle came on and them drove it till it would not start. I knew I could fix it from a video I saw on youtubr on how to remove a hybrid battery from a gen 1 prius. I bought the car and had it turcked to me for 200 dollars.ouch.when I got the car the yellow top battery was dead. After charging it for two days with an agc charger and letting it desulfate the car started and ran fine. I drove it down the road and then all hell broke loose. The display flashed on and off all the warning lights came on. Red triangle orange ones .brake light check engine light the car revved up like it was floored but it would hardl y move . Like the clutch was slipping. It would not go in reverse it just pulsated like it might go in reverse but it wouldnt. I got it home and shut it down. It would not restart no ready. I pulled the main battery cable from the 12 volt and reset the computer. It started up ran nice. As soon as I put it in reverse the orange triangle and engin light brake light etc all came on again. Shut it off no ready. So next day ... Well me and my brother followed the video and got to the 120 pound monster battery and dragged it to the garage . I sat on the floor and saw blue corrosion on every nut. I cleaned them up and retorked all the nuts and checked every battery voltage. They all read the same 7.8volts .except ONE in the middle.it read 0.236 volts. I double triple checkd it and loosened the nuts and it was glorius to see it was BAD . Well after an hour of loosing nuts and bolts we managed to beat out the bad module and replace it with a box of gen 1 modules I bought earlier in the year to play with as im an ivventor and electronics nut and solar home owner . Anyways the module volts was 7.7 volts. We slid in there and connected it .put everything back together and the seat back in (we forgot to put the seatbelts back on the outside of the back seat) and hooked everything up .put the hv safty interloce back in hooked the 12 volt battery up and it cranks first try. I have drove it 390miles and it is the most tighest best riding best driving car I have ever drove. Its quiet gas milage between 45 and 56mph and looks so shiny greenm I love it. I fixed it .its running off its original modules but one flew the coop and was replaced with another gen 1 battery. I suspect it will go a long long time as all tye batteries are 7.8 volts and healthy. So .I am now working on the 2002 blue prius same owner probproblem stated. Car went crazy orange triangle no start. I will begine pulling the battery and let yall know how many cells are bad. I already know I can fix this car. I also now know I can get an expensive car for practally nothing and even a 2001 prius runs better than a new car imo. Yes 2001 battery packs are still good after almost 18 years. But u can see one can fail and make the car act like it is toast but they are not and those cells I bought were 45 dollars for 15 cells. I fix the car for practally nothing.

 

I. Have a 2001 prius 180k. I bought it from ebay for 300 dollars!! The car was sold to me the high bidder.. long story short. The owner sold the car as parts because the car would not start and the orange triangle was one. I got the car a month ag. No i5 would not start the yellow top battery was dead after two days charging it the car started but when I test drove it stuff started to go wrong. All the dash lights and electronic display flashed on and off bright. All the warning lights came on. Triangles check engine brakes .the car revved up.high but would hardle go like the clutch was slipping. It wound not move but very slow by patting the gas and it would catch kind of. It would not go in reverse at all . Like it was pulsing like it wanted to move but didntm . Anyways I knew in my heart when I bought it I was going to fix it.I saw the video on youtube how to remove the gen 1 hybrid battery . So me and my brother did. After hours of sweating the battery was apart with the cover off . I saw lots of blue corrosion on every nut connection. I began by cleaning and re torking all the connections and tested every battery. All of them were 7.8volts except ONE .it read 0. 245. Dead dead dead. I knew I found the problem child and replaced it with a box of cells I bought from ebay the first of the year from a gen one owner selling 15 for 45 bucks to experimenters. Im an electronics freak and love batteries solar cells and anything electronics. Anyway aftwr beating the bad xell out an DC putting the good one in 7.7volts close enough for gov. work. And put everything back. The prius runs and drives like a brand new car. I love it. I put 390 miles on it in one day and got 47 mpg..it drives and looks great. I love my 300dollar hybrid. Best car I ever drove. Yes the 2001 batterys are still working after almost 18 years.of work.

 

Please drain the transmission oil; drop the pan; clean the pan crap (keep magnet) and; refill with Type WS. If you have time, save a used oil sample in a clean, dry, bottle, ~1 cup, and send me a PM.

Bob Wilson