main battery replacement issues for 2002 Prius, 80K miles

[elendilmir]

I have an 02 prius with about 80k miles on it. Now is seeming like a good time to learn more about battery replacement issues. There seems to be surprisingly little discussion on the subject here, so I would like to ask a few questions. If they are answered elsewhere, please point me there. Toyota documentation is a big plus. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, I just can't seem to find the carcass.

As one of the canaries in the coal mine, I figure I'm going to have some stories of dealing with Toyota to share soon. Help a brother out.

1) I think the battery is warenteed to 150K. Where can I verify this? Having a blown battery is no time to get my information together.

2) How much do they actually cost? I'm seeing 4,000 USD to 1500 USD floating around, as well as some questionable prices as well.

3) Has anyone else had to replace one?

4) How will I know when it is starting to go bad? Right now I'm getting about 45mpg, which has been about my norm for the life of the car, and no real problems.

[statultra]

you would know if its going bad, usually by warning lights.

I would think that you would be getting consistent turtle lights during acceleration, i believe that would indicate that your battery is going.

again , this is speculation

[elendilmir]

God I'm out of the loop. What's a turtle light?

/wince

[JimN]

Originally Posted by elendilmir

I have an 02 prius with about 80k miles on it. Now is seeming like a good time to learn more about battery replacement issues. There seems to be surprisingly little discussion on the subject here, so I would like to ask a few questions. If they are answered elsewhere, please point me there. Toyota documentation is a big plus. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, I just can't seem to find the carcass.

As one of the canaries in the coal mine, I figure I'm going to have some stories of dealing with Toyota to share soon. Help a brother out.

1) I think the battery is warenteed to 150K. Where can I verify this? Having a blown battery is no time to get my information together.

2) How much do they actually cost? I'm seeing 4,000 USD to 1500 USD floating around, as well as some questionable prices as well.

3) Has anyone else had to replace one?

4) How will I know when it is starting to go bad? Right now I'm getting about 45mpg, which has been about my norm for the life of the car, and no real problems.

1. A warranty book came with the car & it is listed on the window sticker. The warranty is 8 years/100,000 miles. If from a CARB state it is 10 years/150,000 miles. MD is not a CARB state.

3. The few replacements I remember reading about were due to abuse. Forcing the car to run without gas will damage the battery.

4. Look for erratic behavoir. The state of charge should noticeably fluctuate as the cells don't hold a charge. MPG should drop as the ICE needs to run more often

5. Battery replacement is very uncommon. Hence little discussion. Cars have gone 200,000-300,000 miles on the original battery. Toyota has bought back some high mileage taxis. The common demise of high mileage cars is collision.

[cwerdna]

Your title is a bit misleading. It sounded like you needed a replacement for your 02 Prius at 80K miels.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by elendilmir

...
1) I think the battery is warenteed to 150K. Where can I verify this? Having a blown battery is no time to get my information together.

2) How much do they actually cost? I'm seeing 4,000 USD to 1500 USD floating around, as well as some questionable prices as well.

3) Has anyone else had to replace one?

4) How will I know when it is starting to go bad? Right now I'm getting about 45mpg, which has been about my norm for the life of the car, and no real problems.

I suggest that the G1 subforum is a more appropriate place for your thread. However, following are my comments regarding your questions:

1. You should have received a warranty book with your vehicle. The Classic traction battery is warranted to 8 years/100K miles. I believe that the longer 10 year/150K mile warranty was implemented for CA and other PZEV states when the 2004 with AT-PZEV certification was introduced.

2. $4,000 is a reasonable price for a dealer installation including labor. MSRP for the battery is ~$3,000. $1,500 might be a price for a salvage battery without labor. The relatively high price of a Classic salvage battery is good evidence that numerous out-of-warranty failures are occurring, at least keeping up with the pace at which those cars are being totaled. Check eBay for current info on salvage pricing (as of this writing, I find no batteries for sale.)

3. Yes, I had to have the battery replaced on my 2001 at ~60K miles under warranty. I also have a poll going on at the G1 subforum which I invite you to participate in if you haven't previously responded. You can see the number of traction battery failures reported in the poll.

4. You will generally not receive any prior warning. In my case, one morning the master warning light, check engine light, and hybrid vehicle icon in the MFD came on. The engine ran whenever I depressed the accelerator pedal. MPG dropped down to the low 30s. I used my OBD-II code reader to retrieve DTC P3006 (Battery SOC uneven), which was later confirmed by my local dealer.

[bbald123]

I couldn't find anything for a 2002 but for a 2004-2006

Description battery, prius HYBRID COMPONENTS - battery
Year 04-06
MSRP Price $2,985.13
Core Price $0.00
Your Price $2,388.10

[statultra]

the turtle light comes on when the main battery charge is too low to continue driving with normal performance, if you floor the 01-03 prius and continue flooring it for 10-20 minutes the HV battery will be depleted and the turtle light will come on, my belief is that when the turtle light starts coming on often it indicates the HV battery no longer holds a useable charge.