12 Volt Battery Location?

In the trunk, passenger side, under the floor. Lift the trunk floor, pull out the black tray over the spare tire, and then remove the little "triangular" compartment cover on the passeger side. (The battery is under that space behind the rear passenger wheel well.

 

I m pretty sure it's in the manual. It's located in the back hatch area, right side if looking from the back.

 

You have to remove the floor cover and the tray under it to get to the spare donut anyway, so might as well get used to that procedure. It's kind of dumb how you have to remove the donut to check the pressure, as the stem points down.

With the tray out of the way, you should be able to see the 12 vdc battery compartment trim cover on the passenger side, at the back of the hatch. A bit of careful prying and lifting will remove the trim cover, exposing the battery. It's a good time to double-check the clamps are tight on the posts.

Every fall and spring I also like to loosen and tighten the ground bolt at the unitbody too. Any corrosion that may have started will be removed, with a good clean ground again.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman @ Aug 7 2006, 07:44 PM) [snapback]299343[/snapback]</div>

How do you remove the tray underneath the fabric floor cover to get to the spare tire? It did not seem intuitive or possible without removing everything to look for the fasteners to get the tray out of the way. Do all cars come with the spare tire? I am hoping it is under this tray.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius530 @ Aug 17 2006, 07:22 PM) [snapback]304966[/snapback]</div>

The tray lifts out, but be prepared to juggle it a bit to get it to clear the hatch. It's a bit of a PITA to get out.

Yes, the Prius has a spare "tire." It's a temporary donut, and the only way to check the pressure - should be 60 psi - is to remove it. The stem points down. You'll also discover that the other side of the wheel is a horrid yellow color. Perhaps to remind everybody you meet that your Prius is riding on a temporary donut

 

Actually, what really helped me was this website: http://gallery.joesdiner.com/gallery/albums.php?gRedir=1

You have to go about 75% down the page to "My 2004 Prius" and click, then click on the "Prius Interior" album. You can then see some more detail about the trunk area. Also, the first time I had a problem pulling out the trunk mat, but once I saw that it could be done I figured it out.

Oh, and another interesting thing to figure out is that if the auxillary battery gets too low, there is no way to open the hatchback except by moving a tiny lever from the inside. And I never was able to move that lever. So I had to crawl into the cargo area and do all the work pulling the battery and putting it back in with the hatchback closed. (That was because there was no way to recharge the battery where the car was at.)