12V Battery Replacement as preventative maintenance

Hi all,

I have a 2008 Prius (09/07 build date), and was hoping to get some advice. I bought the car brand new 11/07, and it currently reads 129,045 miles on the odometer. Is now a good time to replace the 12V battery? Is the Optima Yellow Top the best choice for replacement?

Do driving habits play a part in 12V battery life? I am starting to get concerned only because I have read so many stories about 12V failure, and I would much rather tackle this as a preventative item then be caught off guard.

For some insight into what kind of driving this Prius has seen:
For the first 60,000 miles: a lot of 100+ mile round trips of mostly freeway driving, a few 500-1,000 mile interstate round trips, majority of driving was 50 mile round trips daily driving in Los Angeles Traffic.

From 60,000 miles - 118,000 miles, the car has seen mostly 110 mile round trips of highway miles 5x a week, around 64 MPH cruise, with the occasional 220 mile round trip to the beach.

118,000 miles to present - 60 mile round trip of slightly hilly terrain 5 times a week.

I have ran out of gas in the car once on the freeway at freeway speed, and was able to coast off of the freeway, and ran on the traction battery to a gas station. Was down to one purple bar. I have ran out of gas one other time (thanks wife), and the car would physically not move any further, had to walk to the gas station (1/4 mile).

Other than user error (running out of gas), the car has given me absolutely no problems. I replaced the drive belt at 90K, and had the rotors resurfaced because I was experience a brake wobble (I attributed this to the stop and go traffic of LA, where the friction brakes probably saw a ton of use). On 3rd set of tires. Otherwise, I just stick to routine maintenance at the dealership, have done a couple throttle bottle cleanings, PCV replacements, and rear brake cleaning/adjustment.

Outside of the 12V replacement, are there any other maintenance items I should be looking at for a 5 year old Prius with ~130K miles?

 

Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention my 120K service

I had spark plugs replaced at 118K
Haven't had Transaxle ATF fluid replacement or engine and inverter/transaxle coolant replacement
I typically do the engine and cabin filters myself, give them a visual inspection every few months or so.

If I were to go through the dealership for the Transaxle ATF fluid replacement, and the engine and inverter/transaxle coolant replacement, do you have any idea what that would run me? I plan on doing the PCV service, and clean and adjust rear brakes, which is about $170 on top of the $40 service coupon I have, so $210 or so right off the bat. (5k service usually runs me around $70 (NC)). Any idea on the cost of the Toyota battery? Short of having a multimeter to test the battery voltage myself, if I ask for the battery storage capacity test, is there a # that I should be looking for?

 

Okay, thanks!!

I was looking through a dealership coupon book that I have, and I actually may be better off getting the total service in the range of $500, as i have a $100 off coupon...

So if I throw in battery, transaxle, pcv, clean and adjust rear brakes, oil change and tire rotation, engine and inverter/transaxle coolant replacement, I might get to use my coupon. I could imagine this would be a semi-lenghty service, so I may also get to use the complimentary vehicle rental coupon. Awesome. My service advisor will probably love me.

 

Also, for future monitoring would something like this be of value??

Equus 3721 Battery and Charging System Monitor : Amazon.com : Automotive

 

That is pretty neat!!

So I ran the test, here are the results.

Unloaded - 12.2 V
Loaded - 11.8 V
Ready Mode - 14.0 then dropped to 13.9

 

Update:

I called the Toyota dealership I frequent, and the part cost for a new 12V battery is $199 + tax. I have decided that I am going to to do the installation myself, as I have all the necessary tools, and save some money that way.

I can order the direct fit Optima Yellow top for 189.95 on Amazon, so I will probably just go that route, as it looks like it should be just as easy to install as the OEM battery.

 

I didn't even think of that as a consideration I should make, but worst case scenario, if it fails within 3 years, I'm okay with contacting customer service to fix the problem. I work in customer service myself, for a company that is known for it's customer service, and I have even been surprised with the kind of results I have gotten just by asking questions in a nice way - new blender after it failed 4 years out of warranty, a new iPad through AMEX extended warranty, etc.

I appreciate the feedback, I decided to just maintain the order through Amazon, my battery should be here by Friday. Should I try to give it a full charge before I install it, or just plug and play?

I will maybe look at the Exide as it comes time to replace the 12V battery in my 2011 Prius.

 

In fun news, I expected Fed Ex to deliver the battery today, so in anticipation, I went ahead and removed the old battery. But, Fed Ex never showed up. So I got to put everything back together. On the plus side, I guess I'm adept at DIY 12V battery replacement now.

Patrick, IF I don't give it a full charge, will that really make a huge difference?

 

I actually don't have a battery tender, so it will just have to be charged in the car as I drive it. Upon installation, I did the display check, and it read 12.0 V unloaded...I went for a quick 20 minute drive around the neighborhood, ran a check when I got home, and it read 12.5 V unloaded. My drive time to work is usually 40 minutes, drive time home is 40 minutes, and that happens 5 times a week. I am just about due for a service, but I may extend my mileage above 5K for that one, and drive the car to and from the beach this weekend (~280 mile round trip, should be about 5 hours of drive time). If it takes a few weeks to charge, that's fine with me. I just want to have my dying battery concerns alleviated.

 

Should I assume that my original 12V is toast and just dispose of it? I feel like an expert at battery removal/installation now, and it's giving me the DIY bug with this car. I miss playing with my tools (I even organized my toolbox in anticipation of today).