12V battery replacement as preventive maintenance?

You might be pleasantly surprised then.

I've owned two Saturn IONs (still own one, daughter got the other one) and they have the battery in the trunk, like the Prius.

Those batteries have lasted me a good 5 years, and shown no sign of problems (and I live in Sunny So. Cal.)

Previous cars with batteries in the engine compartment have required 3 year battery replacement intervals.

 

Looks like I have to change my 12v batt too. Seems that the battery on the car it's the original one. Since I once failed to start the sistem, after 20-30 min. of AUX mode, listenig radio, Now I see the red triangle every time I start the car. And it's there because that failure. I had it once when I bought the car, but it was gone when I was at a Toyota dealer to check the status. And the tech who noticed it said that the error was created by the starting failure. Witch now make my mind on replacing the batt. And I think OPTIMA will be, thanks to your advices.
The only problem is that I can't purchase it from eLearn Aid because they don't ship outside the US, and an OPTIMA representative in EU is hard to reach.
So any suggestion you give me it will be well appreciated.

 

I read most of the replies. My ragtop jeep is 15 years old and the second replacement was 2 years ago. My dodge diesel is 6 years old with the factory batteries and a diesel engine is very hard on the 2 batteries during the winter. I have a 94 Lebaron since 2000 and I replaced the battery in 2003, Most of the time the batteries last me about 6 to 7 years. I hope to get about the same in my Prius. Measure the voltage after the car set for a few hours. If about 12.7 volts or higher the battery has a full charge. I would replace if below 12.4 volts. A battery tester works on other vehicles but not sure I they can be used on a Prius without disconnecting the battery.

Does anyone know how much current the Prius pulls of the 12 volt battery?

 

~ 30A for a few seconds.

 

At the risk of ruffling some feathers, I would suggest that any 12 volt VRLA battery of about 30 amp hours would be suitable for Prius. The venting feature is for the rare catastrophies that probably will never happen to you.

If your battery does dribble (or strongly emit) sulfuric acid, it might be good to have already put a lot of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) under it in the tray. I really can't get too exceted about hydrogen gas release, but probably a good idea to neutralize the acid as soon as it appears.

There. Consider your feathers ruffled.

 

Patrick Wong thank you for the answer on the current. I figured it would be low. I see that you are a DIY person, what repair manual are you using? I am planning to get one soon.

 

Hi bushface,

I'm using the official Toyota repair manual which is around 4,000 pages. You can either buy paper manuals from your dealer for ~$400; or you can download repair manual info from techinfo.toyota.com

If you decide upon the latter, a subscription costs $10 for one business day and $50 for one month access. A warning - it is cumbersome to download the many .pdf files that make up one manual. However you will have access to tech training info as well as the New Car Features manual that provides "theory of operations" content not found in the repair manual.

If you decide that you want the NCF, download the NCF for 2004 plus all model years up to your year, so that you can see changes from year to year.

 

we just replaced our 12v battery, about 2 weeks before the 4 year mark. when DH had the scantool plugged in at the dealer, it flaked out because of low 12v power... had to charge it. so it was time to replace. that was about how long we expected it to last anyway.

for the record, i drive my car pretty much 7 days a week (especially in the last several months) and we've lived in nc the entire time we've owned the car.

 

Hi Galaxee,

Did DH install the GS battery from the Toyota dealer parts dept, an Optima, or some other brand?

 

Hello Everyone,
I just bought an 06' Prius with just 25K one week ago. Unfortunately, this past Monday morning it was dead as a door nail-- not a happy feeling. The day before I had been in the car with the ignition on for about 30min learning the nav, audio settings. etc. Also, I had the smart key function turned on. After researching this problem, I've turned off the smartkey and carried an extra 12 volt battery for the past week. I did the voltage check (on elearnaid.com) and the voltage was normal. So, I'm wondering if I should try to remove the battery to have it checked or should I just order one of their optima batteries. Can the battery be checked without being removed from the car?
Thanks, Jesse

 

got the battery from the 'yota dealer this afternoon.

 

Hi Jesse,

Congratulations on your recent purchase.

You should not leave the car IG-ON (where the instrument panel lights remain on) for an extended period of time as this places an unusually high drain on the 12V battery. Rather, you should make the car ACC-ON (where the multifunction display comes on but the instrument panel lights are off) or else READY (where the car can be driven.)

Since you have a backup 12V battery available, I suggest that you just drive the car for several hours (or else leave the car READY and in P) to ensure the battery has recharged. If you don't note any starting problems over the next few days, then you can put the backup battery away.

It is only necessary to turn off the Smart function if you plan to store your car for an extended period.

Enjoy your new Prius!