2005 Prius Rebuild or Replace Battery

Its neither new or belongs in your car. Move along.

 

Yep...be careful lots of nefarious people out there. A brand new toyota battery has a brand new case. Looks brand new lol.

Where did you find this one from?

 

The J in the serial number on the case designates it as a 2006 case. Case serial number letters are 2 years behind modules. "J" on a module is 2008 and "J" on a case is 2006. That doesn't necessarily mean the internals are 2006, but it does mean it probably was not from a Toyo dealer..well...I would say definitely since NEW ones don't have the electronics portion of the battery installed already. This one obviously does. I build many of these cases with 2015/2016 modules. The 47110 case IS a Gen 2. Also forgot to mention the first digit of the case # is an "H", which designates Prius.

 

Be very careful on this CL "deal" as several things just don't make sense/cents.

Possible scam scenario: con artist buys a new pack, takes out new modules and sells those as a kit, puts old but still working modules back into the new case and sells it again. When those old modules fail, the con artist has been long gone.

 

The seller could be honest and using the term "new" erroneously. We see that so much here, "I just bought a new battery for it" or "I bought a used prius but the previous owner put a new battery in it" yet they are speaking about rebuilt's that are "new to them".

 

The seller seems like they are selling the old battery from their car. If it's shipped from a dealer, the case would have lots of additional high voltage stickers on it.

You can ask for the serial numbers of the modules, but they'll be from 2006

 

You don't get a warranty with this battery either.

Engine using oil and a bad battery, time to get another car.

 

Before we go all doom and gloom on this, lets find out a serial number. There are certainly businesses out there that build gen 2 batteries with new modules. Although I don't remember the name right now, I know guys have recommended one of them many times because they ship to the 48 states and cover return shipping. Anything is possible. It's all guessing until we get some numbers. If it's still in the box then there should be some identifiers on the exterior. maybe that can help ID the source.

Just remembered ...I think that place was called Hometown Hybrids

 

There are a few places that do what you mentioned but I don't understand how they get new modules to build?

 

Although I don't have the answer, I can provide a scenario.

Joe Rebuilder builds up a supply of bad modules. He can use then to assemble a core battery. He has some connections at the local Toyo parts desk. Maybe he's even a Toyo mechanic working batteries on the side. He buys a NEW battery, (any model he wants or whatever is available since he can build whatever core is needed), turns in his core. Certainly he gets a good deal on the price, turns around and sells it (or one that he builds with the new modules) for 2k. And then he gets the customer's old battery. Clears a few hundred on the new battery and uses the old battery to do more rebuilds. Rinse and repeat to get rid of old bad modules as needed.

 

Only scenario that makes sense is the modules would be gen1. But let's see what happens in this case. There's more scammers doing this stuff than legit people making an honest living.

The red flag in this sale is the "I ordered new and then installed a different battery". New batteries are more expensive and need a core charge. Why get a different one after you've invested so much and then turn around and sell it for a discount

 

I think the $1000 2013 battery is not a bad option. Gives you about 5 years for $1000.

Remember your car has a ton of miles and 13 years old. Another 5 years would be 18 years and gazillion more miles.

And this option won't require you to sell the battery to recoup, just walk away