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Who has the most mileage on their Prius C? Any issues with the battery long term?

Discussion in 'Prius c Main Forum' started by CStar, Feb 16, 2016.

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  1. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    You have a lot of miles! Have you cleaned the hybrid battery intake and fan? The C is known for getting its little fan dirty and causing problems down the road.

    like all Toyota hybrids, the hybrid system is being used at any speed. If you have a fancy scan tool, or a app like Dr Prius, you can see the voltage going in and out of the battery pack at any speed. Any time you accelerate, or brake at any speed, it’s using the hybrid system. Also while cursing down the highway on cruise control, it uses the electric motors to regulate engine rpm, and a little voltage from the battery to maintain the best fuel economy. These are amazing cars no doubt!
     
    Andrew Facchin likes this.
  2. Reno411

    Reno411 Junior Member

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    I know it sounds stupid, but I'm pushing the car to the max. I'm doing little maintenance as possible. I live in Pennsylvania, so we get yearly inspections and emissions done. Other than oil and filter changes and tires, I let the car tell me when stuff needs to be done. If I do not hear anything, I do nothing. 7 years of inspections and emissions and all they seem to get me on is a marker light or wiper blades every other year. I'll pay the $18.99 to change the $1.99 light bulb, because I know they checked the shit out of my car just to only find that.
     
  3. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    At least check the vent! It’s super easy and could give you many miles more on the battery

     
  4. PriusC_Commuter

    PriusC_Commuter Active Member

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    Sold my 2012 PriusC Two with 115k miles to a buddy for a cheap price. I had a power door lock actuator go bad somewhere around 55k miles (forgot the exact amount, had posted something about it years ago), but other than that zero issues. The 12V battery lasted just past the warranty (as usual).
     
  5. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    @Reno411 ^^ This. It's the one more thing you really ought to do for your c, it really will make a difference over time.
     
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  6. bayareapilot

    bayareapilot Junior Member

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    I have over 317,000 mi on my Prius c it's a 2013. No battery issues of any kind. So far it just keeps on going.
     
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  7. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    Wow, that's a lot of miles.
    1) How often do you change the oil?
    2) Have you ever cleaned the EGR system?
     
  8. lech auto air conditionin

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    I use my 2012 pre-C for business mobile. For me it’s not how many miles I put but how many hours like a boat or a plane do use a timer to track how many hours.

    I leave the work by 6:45 to 7 AM every day leaving the car running all day long like a delivery or UPS truck with the air conditioning on until 7 PM.
    At 103,000 miles I had to replace the battery. But remember because I have the air conditioning running from morning tonight every day battery cycles many times every day in batteries only have a limited amount of cycling that they can handle throughout the duration of their life. But it was only $1900 and only took me 45 minutes to replace so it’s no big deal.

    never any problem with the engine never any problem with the transmission been a perfect flawless vehicle.

    This is operating in the streets and hills of San Francisco where there’s many Prius taxi cabs that easily do 375,000 miles.

    I also have a tow trailer pulling well over 1000 pounds in a custom-made rack on top of the vehicle. I have several hundred pounds of equipment on top.
     
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  9. bayareapilot

    bayareapilot Junior Member

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    I have the little over 327,000 miles in my 2013 Prius c and it just keeps going. So far so good. At this point The only cash out lay I've had is one set of brake pads regular oil changes and some sets of tires. I'm going to keep on riding my Prius c for as long as it'll go. I'm at the stage where my cash outlay for the car has been so low that I wouldn't hurry to give it away for another car if the car required some more substantial maintenance. So far same original battery seems to be taking a charge like a champ. The two Priuses I've owned and this is the second had been nothing but dependable machines.
     
  10. bayareapilot

    bayareapilot Junior Member

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    Once every 10,000 mi I have the oil replaced with synthetic which it requires. Not even sure what an EGR system is so I guess the answer could be no unless it was done during the last tune-up unbeknownst to me?
     
  11. edteach

    edteach Junior Member

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    135k and its never been in the shop for any mechanical repair but for the first week I bought it new. The water pump went out and it was replaced under warrantee. I do have an issue with the tail lights. They leak water. Its an obvious factory defect.
     
  12. Pri3C

    Pri3C Active Member

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    I used to have a Reddit account.. now I just browse but still regularly check the r/Prius and r/priusc subreddits.

    Anyway, over the past 2-3 years of paying attention to these Reddit communities, the only time I’ve ever seen a 500,000 mile post have been from these two Prius c owners:


    59732303-D2BA-4CA8-B7E7-8DAF6B508DC7.jpeg

    20A1819C-7D17-420C-8AF9-12684C5716C0.jpeg
     
    #32 Pri3C, Dec 29, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2022
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  13. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    It is even more impressive that one of the owners changed oil every 15k miles, and never changed transmission fluid. The car was still on the original traction battery, and didn't burn oil either.
     
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  14. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    This would appear to reinforce the idea that lots of regular usage will keep those batteries going.

    We won't ever hit those numbers with our car, but it's really cool to see!
     
  15. johnHRP

    johnHRP Active Member

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    15k miles OCI highway is milder than 5k miles city and many cold starts condition.
    All hybrid DCtoDC converter only can supply
    100Amps and many non hybrid needs more than 150Amps, so it is very dangerous giving jump start to regular car. Typical regular car battery has 400A+ CCA.
    PriusC inverter and transmission is purely cooled by ATF, no water cooling. Therefore, ATF replacement in PriusC is more essential than in Prius or Camry. However, the wear on ATF in hybrid is much milder because of no torque converter nor clutch pack.
    AC is part of cooling system. Without AC on, the battery degrade even faster.
     
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  16. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    I thought the inverter is cooled by coolant. Did I get that wrong?
     
  17. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Inverter has a coolant loop, you aren't wrong @PriusII&C.
     
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  18. lech auto air conditionin

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    My Prius C has 158,000 miles and I had to change the traction battery at just a little over 100,000 miles. But I am a unusual situation, severe duty.

    I start the vehicle off to work between 615 in the morning no later than 7:30 in the morning I’m on mobile business and I keep my car on and running and never turning it off until I get home at night between 6:30 PM and 8 PM. As a bounce from jobsite jobsite, I leave the car running with the air conditioning on for because I like it cold.. I even run my air conditioning when it rains outside. Unless I’m tired or have a cold and I’m a little chilly, but I will still keep the air conditioning on for defrost and just adjust the heat. Well, it’s an AC mode..

    I have 800 pounds plus of tools and equipment inside my vehicle for my mobile work
    I have a roof rack. I will usually have anywhere from 200 to 400 pounds on the roof rack. Occasionally I cleared off couple days a week. I’m sure the car like that.. I have put as much is 1200 pounds on the roof. It is very customized not normal roof rack installation.. all the support is on the roll cage, part of the frame at the sheet metal seams where it is triple plate of metal supported on the pillars.

    I have a tow hitch that I have my small 4 x 4 trailer. I tow around the small trailer only put as much is 400 or 500 pounds on it.

    Occasionally, I’ll rent a large U-Haul trailer 5’ x 9’ the trailer empty weighs 1050 pounds or more fully loaded. It will be well over 2000 pounds..

    Original engine original transmission. Amsoil every 5000 miles interval oil change.
     
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  19. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    Was your battery covered by Toyota's warranty?
     
  20. lech auto air conditionin

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    No