replace battery or buy new car?

[Chipawa]

The battery on my 2001 Prius just died. Car has 130,000 miles, and is otherwise in good condition. Now I have to decide whether to replace the battery and get some more life out of her, replace the battery and sell, or just buy a nice new Gen III Prius. Dealer quoted $4400 for a replacement - seems high.

Any advice?

[spinkao]

Originally Posted by Chipawa

The battery on my 2001 Prius just died. Car has 130,000 miles, and is otherwise in good condition. Now I have to decide whether to replace the battery and get some more life out of her, replace the battery and sell, or just buy a nice new Gen III Prius. Dealer quoted $4400 for a replacement - seems high.

Any advice?

You could probably get a salvage battery much cheaper that that. Changing it yourself is not so difficult either if you are a little DIY inclined, or you can get a mechanic to do it for you. So if the vehicle is in good shape otherwise and only the battery is dead, I would definitely attempt to replace it whether you decide to sell it or not.

[bwilson4web]

In engineering, we make choices between good, fast, and cheap, pick two:

• $4.4k - covers labor new battery and disposal of old
• ~$3k - buy the new battery and do your own labor and disposal
• ~$2k - buy two NHW20 battery packs, rebuild using new modules, and your own labor and disposal of old modules
• ~$1k - buy used NHW11 battery (no warranty) and your own labor and disposal

Your profile does not indicate the area of the country. There are a few independent shops that might give a lower cost than the $4.4k.

Bob Wilson

[philobeddoe]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

In engineering, we make choices between good, fast, and cheap, pick two:

• $4.4k - covers labor new battery and disposal of old
• ~$3k - buy the new battery and do your own labor and disposal
• ~$2k - buy two NHW20 battery packs, rebuild using new modules, and your own labor and disposal of old modules
• ~$1k - buy used NHW11 battery (no warranty) and your own labor and disposal

Your profile does not indicate the area of the country. There are a few independent shops that might give a lower cost than the $4.4k.

Bob Wilson

+1 ... good fast or cheap, choose two is a tenet of my industry as well

from Bob's choices however, it appears you can achieve all three

i don't know what a 2001 Prius is worth, but if your car is in good shape and well maintained, i'd find the most cost effective and efficient means of replacing that battery, and drive that car another 50-100k

[philobeddoe]

there are a number of replacement batteries at very low prices on eBay, some with guarantees, there are even upgraded and remanufactured batteries, and sellers offering installation

check it out

[richard schumacher]

First step: get a quote from at least one more dealer. Consider that even $4400 is probably only one year's worth of new car payments.

[tomfreed]

Originally Posted by Chipawa

The battery on my 2001 Prius just died. Car has 130,000 miles, and is otherwise in good condition. Now I have to decide whether to replace the battery and get some more life out of her, replace the battery and sell, or just buy a nice new Gen III Prius. Dealer quoted $4400 for a replacement - seems high.

Any advice?

If you go to dealer for repair you are asking for death wish to suck you dry and they will. Forget about dealer and fix it on your own. I just finished fixing my 01, 03 Prius on my own and I do have a a spare battery subpack to fix yours. Not sure your mechanic skill so here it goes.

Scan the battery pack first determine which one is weak (less than 7.2V) then replace just that one. The pack has to be taken out of the car, safety plug remove then take the battery apart and measure each subpack with a voltmeter. The bad one will show 6.4-6.6V get them out and put the good one in then you are done. That is it and the part will cost you less than $100 depending on how many bad cell.

No body on this forum will show you this except me since i am the one that had the most problem on the 01 that i just fixed myself. Contact me in private with your phone number so i can help you verbally. I hate to see you or anyone gets rip off with dealer charge.

No body helps me with those Prius i bought when i was a car dealer, not at least until i found this forum. I bought a whole used battery pack from LKQ last year for the 01 and amazingly sitting in the car not running while i fixed other issues jut this week the car finally fixed and ran the battery subpacks were still good. NO code from it when i ran and drove the car

See pictures of me taking apart the battery last week. I had 4 bad cells that means i still have 34 good one. Good 7.2v and up, bad 6.4V - 6.6V. If you have RC battery charger there is a way to revive those weak cells. HOw do you think i know all this?

Read this forum title "problem car" you will see what i went through

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by tomfreed

. . .
No body on this forum will show you this except me . . .

<AHEM>

We've had two reports of individual module replacements:

• Germany - worked well and as of last year, still in service
• Florida - worked for about 3-5 months and another module failed

Understand I have no problem with replacing modules but I look at the NHW11 modules as being weak compared to the NHW20 modules. When one of 38 modules fails ... especially due to heat ... adjacent ones are likely to be ready to go too. That was the case in Florida. But I'd like to suggest keeping your "Prius skills" current when you get to Florida.

Hotter climates seem to wear out the modules relatively fast. Also, there is a distinct lack of NHW11 (and NHW20) expertise in the Southeast. It might bring in some 'bread and butter' money if you're interested. Just get the 2003 repair manual and the 2009 repair manual and you'll have the road map needed.

When you head East, you might stop off at http://www.autobeyours.com/ in Scottsburg Indiana. He seems to have figured out how to stay in business rebuilding salvage Prius.

Bob Wilson

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

• $4.4k - covers labor new battery and disposal of old
• ~$3k - buy the new battery and do your own labor and disposal
• ~$2k - buy two NHW20 battery packs, rebuild using new modules, and your own labor and disposal of old modules
• ~$1k - buy used NHW11 battery (no warranty) and your own labor and disposal

Not sure why "disposal" is on all of those. Does the Gen I battery not have the ~$200 Toyota bounty on it that the Gen II battery does? I'm not being snarky, that's an honest question. I have been led to believe that Toyota offers money for the batteries. It would seem to make sense with all that nickel in there.

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

Not sure why "disposal" is on all of those. Does the Gen I battery not have the ~$200 Toyota bounty on it that the Gen II battery does? I'm not being snarky, that's an honest question. I have been led to believe that Toyota offers money for the batteries. It would seem to make sense with all that nickel in there.

Sometimes the local Prius service center does not 'get the memo.' I've helped one user get their used traction battery recycled but I had to lean on some private communication channels.

I did some early work on battery refurbishment in the lab but stopped when I realized the structural weakness is in the NHW11 battery terminals. The "O" ring interface deteriorates. We can restore the original capacity, the battery chemistry only loses the water, but without a fix for the leaky terminals, the problem remains. This is why I recommend going with NHW20 modules and recycling the NHW11 ones.

Bob Wilson