Hello everyone, Wondering if the Prius will give signs of an aging main battery, or will the car suddenly turn into a paperweight at an unexpected time if the main battery dies? 2010 Prius, 120k miles - running strong. If the 12 vlt battery dies, there is no warning. Suddenly you can't start the car, period. What is one to expect on an aging Prius main battery? --- Side note: These are easy rnough to replace as a diy project, right - so long as you obtain new cells? Where are they purchased and about what do they cost?
you would just swap batteries, unless you want to go through a serious rebuilding and rebalancing, which is a major undertaking
What would be some warning signs, and how much time might you have from the first signs to replacement?
Depends which battery. The 12 volt, if you monitor, at the least with a volt meter, you should see at-rest voltage falling, give you some advance warning. A check with an electronic load tester, will measure the CCA, even better. Last but not least: if it's been 4~5 years, be extra vigalant, and/or just change it, as preventative maintenance. The hybrid battery, you can check with something like Dr Prius, or Techstream. Dealerships can do a health check (again with Techstream), for around $100. An ailing battery will start showing symptoms I think, though I've yet to see any on ours, so just winging it here: erratic charge level, quick to charge or discharge, maybe dropping overnight, generally lower level of charge displayed, hybrid fan running a lot, mpg getting worse. If it's really bad I think you get CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM and a particular code will be stored.
A thank you to everyone for all this input! I went to the ProLong site which had great info. Those products seem to be the reconditioning and gets into the reconditioning? 2010 Prius, no known signs of issues just basic age where I am thinking about it. Milage seems fine (albeit varies, and climate and tire pressure tend to play factors.) The electric only mode, this does seem less accessible these days, however I do not recall the normal baseline for expectations. No signs of performance changes othr wise, nothing unique to the idle modes that I can tell.Is there a way to get a reading on each of the cells, health check, with a meter? --- Your post reminded of a different, yet related, situation. We also have a 2012 PIP. This was purchased in 2012 as certified pre-owned, and I have been suspicious of the el tronics on this car since purchasing. This car is more of a commuter car, sits in the garage most days (plugged into a 110) - it will get a 6 mile drive each morning (on all electric.) We ended up replacing the 12 volt early on in 2012 as the car turned into a paperweight when the 12 volt died. No warning, just dead and couldn't even open doors, hatch etc. Tested 12 volt - cells were gone (no recharging them). Replaced 12 volt (and with Toyota OEM 58 TrueStarts.) I question this with Toyota corporate on warranty. Toyota requires a dealership to service for diagnsotics. Diagnostic fees are only covered by warranty if the issue turns out to be a warranted issue. Diagnsotics can get expensive (lot of billable rabbit holes,) it was cheaper to just install another 12 volt. This month, that same 12 volt died again. Replaced 12 volt. After reading some of the symptoms from ProLong site, I am wondering if this issue might be actually base battery issues.
it's probably just a lack of driving. driving keeps the 12v topped up, as well as charging. but it only charges when the hybrid battery is being charged. sitting there plugged in does nothing for either battery once the initial charge ends. the second 12v may have been defective or just not charged properly before installation. did they replace it under warranty?
a couple things you can do to preserve the 12v in low driving situations is make sure the fobs are at least 20' away from the car when parked, shut the sks off if not using for a few days, or keep a battery maintainer on the 12v.
Well, it is stored in a garage, fob in car. Guess that will need to change. That said rhe way our small home is set up, 20' seem impossible without foing to the neighbors or keep the fob on third floor.
Some folks won't agree with this but I 'maintain' the 12V batteries on all our vehicles intermittently using a batteryminder 1500. Seems to be working great so far. No recent failures. Also, the battery in our Hyundai Sonata went completely dead a while back in the middle of the winter from sitting in the garage too long ( because I like to drive our Prius v wagon ). Amazingly, the batteryminder brought it back from the dead and then some...it seems to be better than ever now.
