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electric battery dies--what to do?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by lauejp, Apr 3, 2007.

  1. lauejp

    lauejp New Member

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    I have a 2002 Prius with 119,000 miles that I loved until last weekend when the electric battery stopped functioning--the dealer is telling me that it will cost $3700 to replace it. I need some advice and help, quick, from other Prius owners who have dealt with this issue--I need to figure out whether it's worth it to replace the battery, buy a new one, other options--needless to say, I'm very disappointed, especially since the warranty on the older Prius batteries expires after 100,000 miles. Any advice, help, suggestions, sympathy, etc will be much appreciated--the sooner, the better--Thanks, John Laue

    p.s. I remember reading somewhere about a company near LA that was selling a new, more efficient battery for the Prius with much better mileage--anyone know anything about that?
     
    #1 lauejp, Apr 3, 2007
  2. dmckinstry

    dmckinstry New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lauejp @ Apr 3 2007, 12:03 PM) [snapback]417152[/snapback]</div>

    It just died all of a sudden? Or has it been failing gradually? Since it's a "first" generation Prius, are you certain it's not just connector corrosion, rather than actually battery failure?

    I think the new more efficient batteries are still quite expensive.
    I'm planning to eventually replace my batteries with the new lithium ion batteries when they get less expensive. However, I expect my current batteries to go quite awhile before needing replacement.

    If they really need replacement, you might look for a wrecking yard that has salvaged battery packs from a wrecked Prius. Find a car that has enough of a collision to be totaled, but hasn't damaged the battery.

    I think that Norm Dick (who makes Can_View) has been doing that for building his PlugIn Prius.
    I could be wrong about it being Norm, but I'm sure I've seen someone talk about salvaging Prius batteries.

    Dave M.
     
    #2 dmckinstry, Apr 3, 2007
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    First of all, it's very unusual for the battery to fail that early. I would definately suggest you call Toyota Customer care to report it as they should be interested in such an uncommon event.

    Next, did you have the recall work done on the battery for the corrosion issue and did you enquire as to the possibility of that being the cause of the failure....if that's what caused it I would think this would be replace under warranty.

    Finally, I also agree that going to a salvage battery (recent salvage so the battery won't have been severely depleted) would be a much less expensive route to go. Even check on Ebay as they often sell for around $500 in good condition and then you'd simply need to pay for the install.
     
    #3 efusco, Apr 3, 2007
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