How long do you guys plan to keep your Gen 2?

Many years ago , I replaced a engine in my Mr2. It worked out nicely.

 

It was a little more than quoted but the did change the ATF and coolant allegedly. It was a whole engine and gearbox possibly even inverter as well swap. Looks like they changed the radiator as well. Just pulled the whole thing out off a lower mileage gen2 and fitted into mine. Allegedly 62k miles. Not loads of documentation but 3 months warranty.
All told cost me £1110

It looks a good engine and it's giving about 10-15 more mpg already. I've always wanted a mk2 mr2 turbo rev4 jap import but with 2 small kids and a bigger house to save for it's not going to happen in the near future. I test drove a 350 bhp modded one once, it was amazing!

 

I bought that car new. I had it for 15 years. I cried the day it died. Too many fond memories.

 

I bought someone's cast-off Gen 2 prius last fall and repaired the HV battery, so for the right person, say who wants a project, selling an older prius with lots of miles and a tired HV battery will get your vehicle to someone who will learn and hopefully love it. I do love the car I got. I thought the only problem was the HV battery, but sadly the old owner had probably stopped maintaining it in the last year and, even worse, stopped using it. While my total battery rebuild costs were only about $200 including the hobby chargers and a couple used NIMH modules, the car needed a lot of regular-car mechanical work... I'm still very happy, but...moral of the story... if you're buying a tired prius or selling one, the car shouldn't sit for months and months first!

 

Just saw this post while looking for some other info, so I’m late to the party, but I’ll add to it anyway.
I bought my ‘04 in 2016 at 230K miles as her second owner. The first owner took decent care of her as far as basic maintenance mentioned in the handbook, but definitely wasn’t a car person, so I’ve had to cut out some rusted bolts and screws here and there when doing my own work since.
As far as her age and mileage, though, she’s been pretty good to me with no major issues other than replacing parts as they get old and keeping up on regular maintenance, so my goal is to take her to at least 20 years and then send her off Valhalla style when she decides she doesn’t want to drive anymore after I replace her with another Prius. (I’m not actually lighting her on fire, lol; I’ve been googling cool ideas for upcycling old cars; my best friend came up with a ridiculous planter idea that I’m not so sure I’m sold on, so feel free to pass any other ideas along)
She passed 300K about two months ago, and she’s on her umpteenth hybrid battery refurb: the first one changed at 193, then at 280, 284, 291, and she just coded again this weekend, so I think she’s getting close to calling it quits. The first two batteries were Toyota “replacements”, which I later learned were just OEM cell refurbishments since they don’t actually manufacture brand new batteries for second gens anymore, so after that I just paid for a reputable local guy to do the same thing but cheaper.
Another heads up to y’all planning on keeping your 2nd gens for a while from a recent lesson learned: ‘04 and ‘05 models have a chip that doesn't let the odometer run past 299,999, so that’s a $600 bill out of pocket to upgrade it if your state requires accurate odometer readings for registration purposes, which mine did. Toyota is aware that this issue exists and refuses to put out a recall or reimburse the repair; I found a Reddit claiming that some guy contacted his local news channels and they put them on blast so that Toyota finally reimbursed him to save face, but I don’t feel like going through all that just to get 600 bucks back.

 

Lex, as far as I know the OEM Batteries that are sold only at Toyota dealerships use brand new cells. I'm not sure where you got that they are refurbished? Did you buy them at a Toyota dealership? It is pretty much unheard of for anyone to go through 2 oem batteries within 100k miles.

 

Put a NPB system in a year ago runs great than recently the AC Evap Coil failed ($1100) like they all do at 14+ years old so sold mine for $5000 cash @175,000 miles. Included all my many many factory manuals and a big bag of Toyota parts/Oil receipts. Starting to nickle and dime me too....Wife wanted something new. Best car ever for all those years. Don't have the time for it anymore.
It will go beyond 300,000 miles would bet my life on it. Its a runner.

 

Whatcha get to replace it?

 

I think you may misunderstand about odometer readings. If a car is at the mechanical limit of it's odometer, there is merely a block to check on the paper forms. It's pretty standard, even in Maryland. No state is going to make you install a new dash because the odo is maxed out. The only reason they care is so they can get accurate tax revenue for the value of the car. Once a car is at 299,999 I'm pretty sure the tax value is a moot point. If you got convinced into spending $600 for a new combination meter, I'm sorry to hear that. 2006 and up combo meters can be purchased for $150 from Texas Hybrids that have been modified to work in a 2004/2005 and come programmed with your correct mileage. It takes only an hour or two to install.

Here's your form

https://mva.maryland.gov/Documents/VR-197.pdf

Now, the good news is welcome to the forum!! You've found the best forum in the known universe for helping Prius owners. There is an incredible level of knowledge here, and the majority of members are very helpful. Those that aren't? Well, we'll have to let you sort that out and form your own opinions. .

Toyota DOES still offer new hybrid batteries for the 2004-2009 model. Internally, that battery is constructed from 28 individual modules. They have never offered individual modules for sale, and probably never will, as anyone installing a new module in an old pack is just looking for problems. Here's a link to a new battery for ~$1800. Anyone can purchase an NiMH battery pack from a wrecked Gen4 and use the modules to rebuild a Gen 2 or Gen 3 pack. I've done it several times and currently have a pack on the bench right now from a wrecked 2018 with only 5k miles.

https://parts.longotoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-battery-g951047031

 

It was very strange. My wife is retired me too very soon and she was not driving it much and both battery's were suffering. It was time to get out of the hybrid battery business. Prime would be cool though.

My best buddy calls me and says his moms corolla is running rough all of a sudden and could he borrow my obd?
Came back missfire cyl#1. I bought a new cop from Toyota installed it for him that fixed it then my buddy says Mom is going into retirement village cant drive anymore do I know anyone who's looking for a car. I said yeah me.

2010 Corolla LE 60,000 miles in really really good shape she bought it new. $4500 cash. Sold. My g2 went really fast too like 40 callers. Asking $5000. I had 2 guys in a bidding war finally sold for $5000. Took a week.
I had about $500 worth of G2 factory manuals I threw in the deal. And a really big bag of parts receipts plus the new AC system and NPB is only a year old.

One guy actually called me to tell me I'm asking to much money for it you know...I'll give you $2500. I laughed he says no that's what its worth trust me. lol...

People these days are just retarded.

 

What’s a ‘new cop’ ?

 

Ed's shorthand for coil-on-plugs:

 

Yes, the cells that they replace are new, but the battery as a whole isn’t, and that’s where some Toyota service shops will intentionally mislead you into thinking you’re paying for getting an entirely new battery when you’re not. Like I said, if you know a reputable shop who has access to the same OEM cells, they will do the same thing that a Toyota dealership will do and usually for a much lower cost. My issue with the two Toyota dealerships in my area is that they both tried to make it sound as though they are getting a completely brand new battery straight off of a manufacturing line when that really isn’t the case.
As for cycling through so many new cells, that’s likely due to the age, high mileage, and use of my Prius or another mechanical/electrical issue that I just haven’t figured out yet. As I mentioned, I’ve cycled through batteries replaced by both the Toyota dealership and the local guy, so I’m assuming the issue is less related to the cells and more with my car.

 

I wish you were here with this form a few weeks ago! The MVA definitely conned me into thinking that I would be fined for not having an accurate odometer reading when I applied for renewing my car’s registration next year.

 

Then shouldn't it have said "I bought new COPs . . ."?

 

Hey guys, I'd like to offer some insight here so people don't confused.

- When you buy a new OEM hybrid battery from a Toyota dealership it is 100% a new battery from the factory. It's not new old stock that's been on the shelf for 10 years. It's a new battery manufactured within the last 2-3 months in the same factory in Japan where they still make the exact same modules that Toyota continues to use in their newest hybrid vehicles being sold. For a Gen2 Prius the P/N is G9510-47031 and the list price is $1950 +tax. When you buy that part you're getting all new modules, new wire harness, buss bars, hardware, and case. The only thing that isn't included is the end section of the battery case with the relays and the ECU. Those parts get swapped from the old battery to the new one prior to install. There are also a few other minor pieces that get re used like the vent hose, upper air dam, and sheet metal end cap for the cover.

- I'm not going to say that a Toyota dealership will only install a new OEM battery because I have definitely seen situations where they will offer a customer aftermarket (non new OEM) parts to help get the repair cost down. It really just depends on the service dept and the technician doing the work. I would definitely expect that if a dealership replaced a battery without using a new battery the customer would have been well aware because the dealer would have initially quoted the repair with factory parts.

- When it comes to independent shops it's a completely different story. I've seen plenty of situations where repair shops will tell somebody they are putting in a "new" battery when it's really a reconditioned battery from Dorman, A1 Cardone, GreenTech, or the guy down the street that "fixes" batteries. Sometimes they are intentionally misleading the customer and sometimes it's because they actually believe that the bright orange hybrid battery that came from AutoZone was a new battery when it wasn't. Companies that push refurbished batteries also like to use tricky wording that will make it seem like they are selling you a new battery when it's not. The one that always comes to mind for me is GreenTech's premium battery built with "new generation modules" which is another way of saying we built a Gen2 battery with Gen3 modules that are still 10+ years old.

- There was a very short period several years ago when Toyota was selling factory refurbished batteries but that was only in California IIRC. The price was few hundred dollars less than a brand new battery and they stopped doing it very quickly. I'm sure they realized it wasn't going to be good for business. There were some threads on PC about that.

- In our shop we have installed a few thousand new OEM batteries over the last 7 years and there has been not one single failure of any kind on any of those batteries. If anybody had a new oem battery fail inside of 10 years I would say it was either a botched install like a tech failing to install the cooling ducting properly and cooking the battery (we've seen that a few times on dealership installs) OR it wasn't a new battery.

I know batteries wasn't really the topic of this old thread so to that I would say this. Do what ever you can to keep your Gen 2 Prius running, fix it with new parts when it needs fixing. They don't make cars like these very often and you'd be hard pressed to find a vehicle for less than 15K that would be half as reliable, especially in the current car market.

Cheers,
Matt

 

@Texas Hybrid Batteries

Very well said!!

 

Agree 100%. This should be required reading for joining Priuschat.