My HV battery replacement experience - Australia.

Thanks @PriusCamper, I'd love to have those links in case i need it for the future. Appreciate it!

 

The nuts were from here: NSPIN5X12YLW - Spin Nut Yellow Zinc [NSPIN5X12YLW] - $0.35 : Bel-Metric, Metric Hardware, Metric Fasteners, Metric Bolts, Metric Nuts & Time-Sert Thread Repair and we decided on these as the best nuts a few years back due to OEM style smooth surface, unlike most others online that have a serrated edge (theory being increase in corrosion?) but over past couple years much of the online sellers have shifted to smooth surface like OEM and advantage of this link was still best price 2 years and running when last I checked 6 months ago.

But I'm thinking the best deal for this sutt is gonna change soon... I've been seeing crazy low prices on ebay lately and need to research it more. After 2 decades the scarcity/exclusivity of hybrid parts is no more.

So I'll be doing some nut&bus bar purchasing experiments soon. Also here's a pic of my collection, a fairly typical collection for someone who's into battery work for friends and family for a couple years.

 

Thanks @PriusCamper - I just ordered the nuts. The busbar link doesn't seem to work anymore. I'll look around and share what I come up with too.

 

If you order the Wire Frame (aka: voltage sensing harness) it comes with pre-installed bus bars for one side and some Toyota Stealerships sell them for only $50.

 

Thanks! To confirm - do I need just one Wire Frame?

 

yes... It's essentially the voltage sensing harness, which is only on one side of the pack.

 

sounds about right, we paid about $2000 for a new battery from Toyota, and had all the work done through them at the dealership, total cost was about $3000, would have been cheaper if I knew how to do the install myself and all that fun stuff

 

Sounds pretty reasonable taking into account the exchange rate.

 

It only takes 2 hours to install a new battery pack... There's nothing reasonable about a stealership charging $500 an hour for labor.

 

For some inexplicable reason, I had in my mind that that poster was in Australia. The last time I priced up just the HV battery it was AU$3,000 on its own, so the HV battery and installation for AU$3,000 I thought was a good deal.

Alas, the poster was from Texas, so I agree US$1,000 for labor is a bit steep.

 

The inexplicable reason is the thread title. For some strange reason many forum users do not want to start new threads so they thread-crap on an old, many times off-topic, thread.

 

I went to Toyota Croydon in Melbourne today to get some parts and asked them about the price.

New battery : AU$3000
Labour: AU$700
Rebate: AU$500

Their pricing has typically been reasonable for a dealership so maybe the labour cost is right? Might be 5 hours. That's a very high rate... I'm surprised at the earlier posts where some said it was just ~2 hours of labour. Maybe they are not used to doing it?

I didn't think of asking about warranty on dealer installed vs self installed

 

It's a 2 hour job to replace a hybrid battery pack... They're a bunch of thieves for claiming it takes 5 hours.

 

If you care to read and comprehend properly, the OP supposed that maybe that was 5 hours labour and the prices all include GST which is 10% currently.

So figuring on $175 - $200 (inc GST) per hour labour rate that works out at 3.5 - 4 hours. This is still high, but being an estimate (and not a quote) I would expect that there will be some padding in there. What is the Toyota book time for that job? Somewhere in that ballpark, so not really the villainous charlatans you intimate.

 

It takes barely two hours to flipping install the pack... I've done it, have you? Book hours is total bull and clearly you're a willing accomplice for villainous charlatans.

Also know I would of clicked "ignore" on your profile by now had you not blocked the viewing of your profile for people you don't follow.

I'm going to have to contact the admin to find out how I can get the ignore function to work on your garbage...

 

Wow, just wow. Take a chill pill buddy.

Or is no opinion allowed other than yours?

And as far as know I have no restrictions on my profile, but let me look into it so I can help you out there because if logic and reason are so upsetting to you, then I'll do what I can so you don't have to put up it.

Just by way of editorial you really meant should have, not should of

 

This.

When it comes to working on cars I'm the slowest person in the southern hemisphere and even I would find it a challenge to stretch it out to 5 hours.

Do they take a nap half way through it?

 

It was never established that they quoted 5 hours, and I think we can all agree that it would not take 5 hours. What is the book time? Something like 3.5 hours?

 

Alright I called them again because my HV battery seems screwed, clarified the information:
Good news is the price seems to have fallen!
New battery : AU$2348.31
In stock, 8 years warranty regardless of installer as long as the battery hasn't been damaged
Labour: AU$700 (4h job)

Rebate of $500 if I give them the old battery

Do you think the rebate is worth it?

 

I just found someone whom I think to be one of the best company owners I've ever spoken with. John from https://www.hybridbatteryrebuild.com.au walked me through the dtcs on the phone, and even knew all the codes by heart.. All this without me even saying I would consider buying my own through him.

His price for a new pack including fitting is the same as buying new from Toyota. He also mentioned that the person at Toyota who gave me the warranty information is incorrect and that I should check with Toyota warranty claims instead, as he has official information that hybrid batteries sold as parts only have a 2 year coverage + a distance limit.