HV Battery Dying Fast - Need Help, Advice & Options!

It is still less than $2K before labor - if you shop some. The main Toyota parts site is hopelessly broken. It used to allow looking up a part and then it would list all the local dealers and by clicking through them one at a time the lowest price could be found. Nowadays it returns NOTHING when entering the part number for the pack. When it does find something it only lists a small subset of the local dealers. In my case it never lists Longo, by far the biggest dealer in the area. So, just to prove the point, looking at Longo Toyota's part site one finds:

https://parts.longotoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-drive-motor-battery-pack-g951047031

for $1744 with a $1350 core charge.

The OP is in Orange county, try a few of the dealers down there. The prices tend to roughly correlate with the wealth of a community, and most of the OC is pretty well to do. Anyway, a part from Tustin is likely to cost less than one from Newport Beach.

 

You live in the same region as Dr. Prius who has a Lithium upgrade battery pack that improves MPG and AC performance. They have mobile installers in your area and if you buy with my affiliate link I can offer you unlimited tech support: https://projectlithium.com/?ref=9qLPw

 

I recommend you call Electron Automotive in Orange.

They were very willing and able to help me. Be direct and honest. Say you want a brand new original HV bat for your car. They may not be the cheapest but they are knowledgeable.
Don’t get a reconditioned bat or try changing modules yourself. These cars are very complex.
Also the reality is that at your cars age and mileage other stuff will also start failing. It’s ugly but just the way it is.

Work hard and be honest and you will make money. A lot of people need good help and are tired of entitled jerks with an inflated sense of their worth.

Good luck.

PS generally you can limp around in a Prius with the problems you describe, but it’s by no means reliable.

 

The main advantages of one of these packs is you'll be able to use it on your next Prius too... They work in all Gen3 and also in the non-lithium Gen4. The most money-saving way this would work would be finding one of the many Prius that had a catalytic converter stolen and then sat for so long the battery pack went bad and then the owner just writes off the loss and sells it for super cheap, then you put in your Nexcell pack and away you go.

Also DIY install via yourself or friend or family member is the way to go because most shops charge up into $400 range for a lousy less than 3 hours of install time. And yes DIY takes way longer than a few hours if you're doing it for the first time, but when your next Prius comes along for an amazing price you'll know how to swap battery packs.

 

Given where you live and current situation I personally would buy a Project Lithium battery and hire @PriusCamper to install it for you. (can you drive up north?) That would be your best bet. The Gen2 is a great car. (I have 2 and love them.) For a time versus money situation...If you have time you can use your Prius to deliver....Amazon, Grubhub, Door Dash,...markets may vary but you should be able to make at least $100 a day in your spare time. $500 a week or $2,000 a month if you hustle and your new battery and the credit card bill is paid OFF. I used this trick during COvid to get ahead and pay off debt while working 2 jobs.

 

Thanks for the kind words, but I'm in the Seattle area and a drive to LA area is only a couple hours less than a drive to Colorado, so I'm most likely not available to do the job unless I could line up other jobs along the way.

 

Curious what was quoted price?

 

Glad to hear you are back on the road. Once you pay off that bill start saving for a new hybrid battery. Set aside $2500 and watch a lot of DIY videos on you tube. Jack does a great job at explaining it and it takes time but is not that hard. Or research someone in your area who can install it for you. If you budget and save now you will be prepared when it does finally die.

 

i hope that solves it!

 

What are the error codes?

I'm not buying it... Too many of us who thought it was a bad inverter on a Gen2 Prius realized later on that it was the hybrid battery not the inverter. We all have a spare inverter sitting on our parts rack for years that no one ever wants or needs because of it.

If I were you, I'd get in writing how much of the repair cost the mechanic promises to reimburse/put towards the real repair once he realizes that there was nothing wrong with the inverter.