Hybrid battery, 12yrs, 107k miles - worth it to replace?

I'm sure you can get a lower price elsewhere. These batteries can be bought from some dealers for $1600. Of course the dealer tacks on installation and whatever else....but $4594 is absolutely crazy. The parts price of $3828 doesn't seem right either. Someone is trying to empty your wallet for you.

 

107000 miles is worth replacement.
The part cost is a little high?

I would expect part plus labor to be closer to $3500.

Definitely stick with a NEW hybrid battery. I would not do a used or refurbished battery in your situation with the low miles.

You can contact Toyota Corporate office to see if they offer to chip in towards the purchase of a new battery. It may not happen, bit it does not hurt to ask.

 

No dealer will install a battery for $1600 for part and labor.

Only if another party chips in towards the cost will it be anywhere near that.

 

I only had to drive 82,000 miles to save almost $7,000 in gas over the small SUV I originally planned to buy, so replacing the battery can be cost effective if you plan to keep the vehicle.

That said, $4,594.68 sounds NUTS. I am in the process of replacing my 2005 hybrid battery, with a new Toyota battery, at my Toyota dealership, for $2,621.54, tax and installation included. I suppose they can charge whatever the market will bear, though.

With a new Toyota battery installed by a Toyota dealer you should also get a 3-year warranty. I had to educate my dealer on that point -- they thought it got the same 12-month/12,000 mile warranty as all the other parts they sold. The individual part does if you buy it from them but install it yourself, but not if it is installed by them. A new battery is expected to live at least 10 years, however. They had to call me back after they confirmed what I was telling them was correct, lol.

 

$2621.54 sounds more like it. Wholesale at $1600 plus labor and taxes.

 

That's the head-banger. Too late now, but a precautionary tale: check your fan once in a while. Toyota should put this in the schedule.

On the flip-side, it had a pretty good run, 12 years.

 

I've never heard of a fan failing, clogged with hair YES, failing NO.

If the dealer is suggesting you should replace this fan, then it's becoming clear how the price quoted is so high. Let me guess.....did they suggest you buy a new car from them and trade your car in for $500?

 

Really sorry about your heartbreaking diagnosis. We have quite a few friends and family members in that boat. I wish you well.

I agree with the others that a new battery would definitely be worth it, but not at the insane price your dealer quoted.

One other thing. I hope you were just using a figure of speech about the wiper fluid being the only thing under the hood you check. The oil level is just as easy to check and infinitely more important. The engine is also a very expensive component. I don't know how many sad stories we've had from people who didn't check their oil.

 

I have heard of the fan failing, but from being clogged. It will burn itself out, there really isn't much monitoring going on until its too late. It is either in the spectrum of "working to not completely dead" or "completely dead".

$2500 sounds much more reasonable nowadays from a dealership.

 

If you can get that price down on the battery it's a worthy investment. The cars worth much more plus it's going to last many years. Your milage is low.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Definitely replace it. I am over in the Champlain Valley - Adirondack region. I own an 05, and 08 and a 14. The 05 has over 325,000 on the original hybrid battery and the 08 over 181,000. The colder climate is great for the HV battery but these cars are driven nearly every day and nearly 100 miles each 5 times a week. I'd replace the battery. Shop around at the dealerships. I have had no major repairs and NOTHING with the engines and transmissions of these 2 cars aside from replacing the ICE water pump on each one and routine maintenance. Your car still has a lot of life in it!

 

So no monitoring of the fan? Just lets battery overheat? I'll keep an eye on mine!
With a 12 year old battery I'm sure it was done anyhow.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I would think by now that a lot of Gen 2 Prii have been wrecked with new batteries by now, I would check the junk yards. Just an idea.

 

Plenty of batteries in junk yards are core returns filled with junk. I've seen it myself.
Plus around, here junkyard prices are over $1000 with little or no warranty.
Bad investment in my opinion.

 

I could be misreading your post. But are you saying that the employee at the junk yard sold the original hybrid battery, received another core in return and filled it bad stuff....and then sold it again as an original battery?

 

Sorry. I see I was unclear.
I dontean to say a junkyard employee made the switch.

I mean it may happen prior to the car getting to the junkyard.

 

I would take this one step at a time, starting with how much you trust this shop giving you the diagnosis.

Usually a dysfunctional fan will throw a code P0A82, for battery over heating. Unless you have been driving for weeks with the dash trouble lights blazing, you may have another issue going on. Many of this era Prius have trouble with corrosion in the fan connector. it's right next to the fan. The P0A80 code may also be showing up because the battery is functioning so poorly due to the temp differential between cell block in the battery rack since the fan is not working. I think you might need a little more testing before spending $4k.

Once the fan is remedied, you can do a good diagnostic on the battery and see what is actually the true condition. If it's bad, "why" is somewhat irrelevant at this point. It either needs to be replaced or not. I would suggest a refurbished battery with a 2 year warranty unless you plan to personally keep the car until the wheels fall off. A new battery in my opinion is almost overkill. You can have a refurbed, warrantied battery sent to you for $995. There are a number of providers, I used Hometown Hybrids out of Houston. Various refurb providers have installers around the country who will actually come to your house and do it for well under $2k. Or, if you're handy, you can replace it yourself with the help of a friend to lift it in and out of the car. There are some very good videos on the internet to show you how. The real trick is having someone with the TechStream diagnostic software (and cable) on a laptop really check out the car.

At a minimum I would review the TechStream output with the dealer technician before spending any money. Good luck.

 

While I agree with most of what you said, I can't agree with the above as a good option.

Hometown Hybrids out of Houston have a reputation for doing a decent job on a refurbish battery, but that does not mean that all outfits that claim to give 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months warranty will actually go the distance of the warranty. We have seen it too many times that refurbs fail and sometime multiple times within the (2 year) warranty period. Even those suppliers that stand by their warranty, there is the inconvenience of the car being down 2-5 (or worse) days plus usually the warranty does not extend to the labor to remove and reinstall the HV battery itself, so at $250-$300 a time that gets expensive real quick.

I would caution you advising people to go the refurb route, until your situation proves that, at least yours, lasts beyond the warranty period. Even if the owner of the car with a failed battery only intends to keep the car for a short period of time, after replacement, I don't believe it is ethically a good practice to install a refurb/rebuilt, unless it is refurbed/rebuilt with all new modules. The cheapest option currently, if DIY, is $1600 which I think is reasonable to spend on a car that is in very good condition with say less than 150,000 miles. After that the decision becomes harder, depending on the length of time you are going to keep the car afterwards.

Just another view to take into account.

 

This car can run 300k miles easy 107k is nothing regrettably you must have had alot of dirt sucked up. The blower at a pick-a-part was like 20 something for the one on my workbench. as for the hybrid battery online at dealers websites often you can get a new from 1750 (that includes sales tax) there is a $1300 core charge and yes you might lose the sales tax on the core charge depends on the state. But it is a fairly straight forward swap that anyone with common sense and a Internet connection can do as long as you can lift about 70 pounds. Help from a friend/local non dealer mechanic or a craigslist battery rebuilders is probably a lot cheaper. Just ask them what they'll charge to put in a new hybrid battery just the labor, on the other hand they might just do it for a module swap I. E they get to add all junk modules into your core and walk away with some good ones from your core and maybe a few bucks.
well worth it either way
My $.02
terramir