Bought salvage 2005 Prius with 35,000 miles

Welcome and good luck on the project. I would look into (thread search) internal battery corrosion issues on the metals that connect the individual cells. That can lead to reduced performance or early failure. I would think sitting unused would promote this.

 

Other things to check are the coolant storage thermos on the driver's side of the engine compartment, as this is frequently damaged in a front end collision.

There are ways to charge the HV battery without visiting a Toyota dealer, but you have to know what you are doing. High voltage safety is paramount! Look for terminal voltage > 200V and module voltages > 7V. If you don't have that, then add 1 amp-hour of charge, or buy a salvage traction battery, and PM me if you want to sell the old one. Frequently cycling under heat is the primary source of fatigue, rather than sitting for a long time. There is a lot of good information available online for charging/reconditioning traction batteries. This is a good project to prepare you for reconditioning the pos hv battery in your HCH too.

You may also benefit by having a decent scantool. AutoEnginuity + Toyota is a good option but there are others.

 

best of luck sounds like an interesting journey/ let me know when it's up ad running I would like to know your view on the differences between cars
josacompa

 

I have rebuilt/resurrected quite a few Prius cars (1st gens and 2nd gens) including front end collision victims.

Here's a few things I have encountered that might help:

0) Unless you luck out and it fires right up with no codes (unlikely) you will need a good way to scan and read the DTC's. Search the forums, much good work has been done in this area. I use Toyota Techstream and I don't have hands on experience with the others recommended by members here. I do know that the generic OBD2 scanners (even some real expensive ones) don't do much good. You have to be able to read all of the codes and the sub codes to do much in the way of diagnosis. Might as well acquire this capability up front.

1) The main battery on the 2nd gen seems to have a pretty long shelf life. That said, if the car doesn't fire up right away, try to verify as much as you can between test starts. Unlike your Honda, the Prius has no separate starter motor. When you attempt to start the Prius, you are using the big battery to turn the electric motor in the transaxle. Repeated attempts to start a car that wont run, using an HV battery that may be at a low state of charge from sitting can deplete the battery. This causes a real hassle, because you have to get the SOC on the battery up to get the car going, You can do this without a running car, but that's a whole different kettle of fish . (This is a very common occurrence on a salvage1st gen car that has been sitting.)

2) You can use almost any 12v battery to power the car up. I have a lawn mower battery that I bought for $20 at Walmart and some 9" long "jumper cables" that I made from 10 ga wire and radio shack alligator clips that I use for trouble shooting. I can charge it on any ol' battery charger and it's light and easy to carry around. I am not recommending it as the battery to use in the car to drive around a bunch, but as a garage tool, to get 12V onto the car easily.

3) Do a thorough visual inspection under the hood before you start trying to get it to "Ready ON". Disconnect 12v battery, Pull the service plug and look at everything that may have been touched by the accident.
4) Here are a few things I found, not a comprehensive list, but things I have wasted time on and I now look for first:
- Cracks in intake manifold
- Cracks in inverter case (especially, where the mounting bracket on the drivers side bolts on)
- Integrity of all connectors, but especially the ones on the Inverter and Transaxle. Look REAL close to make sure they are not cracked. I always disconnect each connector and look at both mating sides with a bright flashlight. The orange connectors are high voltage and you definitely don't want water intrusion from a crack.
- Make sure all the coolant hoses are good. The ones that go to the transaxle and inverter are easily damaged.

Best of luck, It may be far less work than you think.

PM me if you like, I am happy to help if I can

Eric
Adopt A Part

 

This kind of thread is really interesting to me. I hope the OP keeps us up to date with pictures and such.

A quick question about the traction battery. If it was too low to start the ICE due to long term storage (and not due to damage), would it be possible to give it a little boost by hooking it up in parallel to the traction battery of a running Prius using ordinary jumper cables?

 

Don't!

• You need to control the current to protect both batteries. Just connecting a full HV battery to a depleted one will incur a high current that will damage both batteries. Keep the charging current below 2 amps to avoid over heating.
• Jumper cables are made for high current (not needed) and don't have good enough insulation for 200+ volts.

JeffD

 

:welcome:

If you don't mind the asking- what did you pay for the car and what options does it have?

 

Ways to charge a depleted traction battery:

Use someone's PHEV kit to charge it. Charging time: minutes.

Current limited HV charger, such as an old lab supply, or build your own by daisy-chaining Meanwell 48V power supplies. Charging time: 1-2 hours.


Remove the cover from the case (but don't dismantle the pack!!!) and charge individual modules. With acute attention to detail, you can use a 48V nimh charger (actually 56V) and partially charge groups of 7 modules in series. Doing the group where the service plug connects is best handled by using a bus bar from another module pair to jumper the gap. Tenergy sells a 56V 1A charger with dV/dt sensing for $27. For best results, have it on a 2 hour timer so that the string does not become imbalanced. Charging time: 1 day.

Use a 7.2V charger and charge individual modules. This takes days.

 

FYI: you can charge the pack at constant current of 200ma or less without any problems indefinitely. (as long as the pack is in a relatively cool area, and it's in the factory tray with all mounts secure.)

I made a "quick and dirty" (aka "bad boy") charger out of a bridge rectifier, 2 electrolytic capacitors, and a light-bulb in series as a current limiter. You have to be careful and use common sense, but it's not difficult. The rectifier and caps came out of an old PC power supply. Just your basic voltage doubler circuit.

 

Wow Wingding! Congratualtions on such a promising "start". I bet you felt great going the 10 feet forward and back.

Keep us posted on your progress. I think your little gem will shine up so nice as you breath life back into it.

 

You probably know this, but take special precautions with computers inverter batteries etc before doing any welding. Looks like a project!!! Take pictures as you go so we can watch the evolution.

On the headlights, I like HIDs, but I'm wondering if you can put in replacement halogens instead, since you need to buy the whole assemblies anyway?

 

No laughter, but regarding the third photo I have two questions:

1. What is going on with the green bucket, are you draining some fluid into it?

2. What is the story with the MBZ 190 partially hidden in the corner of the garage?

 

what is that, a horse stall?

 

Here in Canada all Prius come with Halogen bulbs and they give off good light. At least I'm not changing them out all the time like some do with HID's. They should out-law those blue lights anyway. Probably cause more accidents than they do good? Hal

 

Hi wingding. Even if you can only run it for a few minutes at a time, if you keep it in park and just let it idle then it will charge the traction battery. Try to get it (the SOC indicator) to about 4 or 5 bars (blue) if you can. It might take a few goes but it doesn't take too long to charge a few bars like this.

BTW. Just wondering, how many bars do you have on the SOC (state of charge) indicator at the moment?