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Red Triangle - 2007 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tampaite, Aug 24, 2015.

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  1. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    I have had the Prius for a little over 2 years now. Bought used and currently close to 150K miles on it and have put on about 25K miles a year.

    This evening on way back home, when I turned on the Prius, I got the Red Triangle along with a bunch of other lights ON the dashboard.
    Pressing the power button and everything would take much longer than usual - the lights(on the clock) was dim, the windows moved up and down rather slowly.

    Eventually, i had to jump start and carefully drive home. Afraid it would stop somewhere at stop signs or long red lights, i constantly kept pumping the accelerator(not sure if that was good)

    I read few tutorials online and browsed couple of forums and seems like suggestion is to replace the 12V battery.

    I followed one of the tutorial on how to check the battery and am posting am image.

    When the vehicle is in no-load(power and leg off the brake) the reading was 10.1V as shown.
    When I immediately pressed the power button one more time, the reading went down to 9.7 v.

    Is it time to replace the battery?
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 tampaite, Aug 24, 2015
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    yes
     
    #2 JC91006, Aug 24, 2015
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  3. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Thanks. Can I continue to jump start and drive for a day or two? or is there a risk of any damage to the car?
     
    #3 tampaite, Aug 24, 2015
  4. Jim Porta

    Jim Porta Junior Member

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    Big dollar risk if someone reverses polarity on jumper cables. Be extremely careful.
     
    #4 Jim Porta, Aug 24, 2015
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You can try to charge up the battery and see what happens. I would not depend on jump starting, unless you absolutely have to use the car that way.

    And as previously mentioned, make sure you don't cross the positive and negative cables while you're jump starting. It can be a very expensive lesson
     
    #5 JC91006, Aug 24, 2015
  6. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    This is my only commute to work so that's why am asking.

    Also, where is the best place to buy 12V battery you guys recommend?
     
    #6 tampaite, Aug 24, 2015
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    toyota dealer.
     
    #7 bisco, Aug 24, 2015
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  8. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Thanks. How much can I expect the dealership to charge me for the 12V battery and installation?

    Also, how are the Optima Batteries vs Toyota OEM batteries? any thoughts?
     
    #8 tampaite, Aug 24, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2015
  9. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Called up the closest Toyota dealership this morning and they gave me a quote for $302.

    Amazon has Optima selling for $150 - Is it no-brainier to order it from Amazon and have it installed on my own?
     
    #9 tampaite, Aug 25, 2015
  10. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Call the closest three Toyota dealer parts departments and ask what is the price of the 12V battery for an over the counter sale. It will probably be around $200.

    It is not a no-brainer to order the Optima from Amazon because if the battery fails during the warranty period and you want to file a warranty claim, you will need to ship the battery back to Amazon and wait for a replacement to be shipped to you.
     
    #10 Patrick Wong, Aug 25, 2015
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  11. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Thanks Patrick. will be making a phone call.
     
    #11 tampaite, Aug 25, 2015
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    someone got a toyota for $180. with a 15% off coupon. $300. isn't that bad from a dealer, but if you don't want to install it yourself, you can check with some local mechanics. they usually get a discount, and it only takes 10 minutes to install.
     
    #12 bisco, Aug 25, 2015
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Amazon actually is a very good place to get a battery. The way their warranty system work is simple, if the battery fails during the warranty period, you get to just keep it and they either refund your money or just send you a replacement. They don't require you to send the battery back as it's a prohibited item to send them through the mail (according to them).
     
    #13 JC91006, Aug 25, 2015
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you could make a good living at that.
     
    #14 bisco, Aug 25, 2015
  15. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Called two dealers for over the counter price - one, basically put me on-hold for like 30 mins and the other one, never returned the call.

    Am going to call couple of salvage yards to see if they have a newer battery(2014+) - are there risks to getting such batteries installed - i know there won't be a warranty but one place on CL is selling them for $100 each.
     
    #15 tampaite, Aug 25, 2015
  16. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    do not buy a used battery and don't get one in a salvage yard.
     
    #16 JC91006, Aug 25, 2015
  17. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    OK.

    is it possible to trickle charge the 12v battery to bring back to life?
     
    #17 tampaite, Aug 25, 2015
  18. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    if the battery is from 2007, it probably won't do much good to charge it up, it won't hold the charge for long. The reliable repair would be just to buy a new one.
     
    #18 JC91006, Aug 25, 2015
  19. hchu1

    hchu1 Active Member

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    Another battery to consider is the Exide FP-AGM51JIS for about $150 +$15 shipping from:

    Exide AGM Car Battery (Group S46B24R)

    I currently have this in my '06, it's about 3yrs old. I did not buy from the above listing, but seems like a good price.
     
    #19 hchu1, Aug 25, 2015
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  20. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    I browsed through Toyota website and its showing compatible battery to be "Toyota True 2™ Battery"

    Is this the 12v OEM battery?

    The True 2 battery has 84 month warranty compared to the 36 month warranty for Optima. It might be worth it to pay more to get another 4 years of warranty!
     
    #20 tampaite, Aug 25, 2015
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