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2002 Prius, needs HV battery replaced - what other issues can I expect?

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by Gen1Judy, Apr 12, 2011.

  1. Gen1Judy

    Gen1Judy New Member

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    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
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    I have a 2002 Prius, 122k miles. Have already replaced transaxle (17 months ago), as well as the steering rack a few years ago. I don't go to the dealer anymore and am lucky to be near Luscious Garage. They will put in a rebuilt HV with Gen 2 parts for $600 less than a new Gen 1 HV battery. My question is - what other repairs and maintenance can I expect over and above the usual if I do the repair and keep the car for another 25k or so miles (2 or 3 years)? Trying to decide if it is worth fixing this car or better to use the $ to move onto something else. There are some new things out there that look interesting, but I'm a bit shy about being an early adopter again. Has not been a good experience with this car.
     
    #1 Gen1Judy, Apr 12, 2011
  2. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    There's also a guy up in Healdsburg that does HV battery service, for $1600. Prius battery parts

    As with any car, it is impossible to know what, if anything, will happen next. But for you, the two big ones have happened, transaxle + battery. A fresh hv battery will almost certainly last 25K miles, and the 17 month old trans should go that distance as well. Beyond that would be potentially smaller repairs such as wheel bearings or the inverter cooling pump. Given the alternatives, keeping the car should be a good bang for the buck.

    On the other hand, if gas hits $5 or $6 this summer, then you could probably get a good price for the car if you sell it.
     
    #2 seilerts, Apr 12, 2011
  3. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Bummer. There are at least 2 Priuses at Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity - Hybrid Electric Vehicles that were taken to 160K miles, the maintenance histories are there but one of them has really messed up dates. I'm going to drop them a note about that.

    Since you're in Oakland, I'm curious if your commute or where you live has lots of hills. Since Oakland can get pretty hot, I'm wondering if the car is out in the sun most of the time or are/were you able to park it in the shade or an enclosed area. I'm just trying to see how much correlation there is (if any) between HV battery failures, hills and high temperatures.

    When I was living in CA, as a precaution, since my work had no covered parking, I tried to park my Prius in locations where it'd get fewer hours of exposure to sunlight (i.e. blocked by the shadow of buildings as the sun goes moves across the sky) to keep the temps down.
     
    #3 cwerdna, Apr 12, 2011
  4. Gen1Judy

    Gen1Judy New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2009
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    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Interesting info @cwerdna. I looked at the repair records on the link, and saw that the rack and pinion repairs were done under warranty. I had to pay for mine. $800+, as I recall. I doubt I will ever buy another Toyota.
    Oakland only rarely gets above 80 degrees, only for a few days here and there in late summer. I commute about 18 mi each way to Walnut Creek most weekdays, where I have inside parking. When in Oakland, it is outside and can get hot. Also, for three years I worked on a project on the north coast and left the Prius at home for 5-6 months a year, outside. I would drive for a couple days every 2 or 3 weeks, when I came home. I asked my housesitter to drive it every so often while I was gone, but I don't think she did. I'ved lived in Oakland for 6 of the 8.5 years I've owned the car. The first 7 months, it was in Dublin (hotter than Oakland, but this was from December to June, so the cooler months). The next two years, it was in Orinda and outside most of the time, as I commuted on transit to San Francisco. Orinda is also quite a bit hotter than Oakland in summer, and colder in winter. Both the Orinda area and Oakland area I live in are hilly. I go up a pretty steep hill within about 2 blocks of my house most mornings on my way to work. Hope this helps, but I bet the main factor were the idle months it had during 2006-2008.
     
    #4 Gen1Judy, Apr 14, 2011
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Thanks! I don't know if this is the right thread, but in these posts: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...y-drain-startup-hot-days-only.html#post637324 and http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...y-drain-startup-hot-days-only.html#post637870, Patrick made some hypotheses about hills.

    He's one of our resident repair experts. I don't recall if he lived in AZ at the time he needed HV battery replacements. It might've been So Cal, before.

    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...80380-traction-battery-life-usage-vs-age.html and http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...traction-battery-failure-113k.html#post863727 has a comment about heat. bwilson4web was an excellent source of info and experiments who sadly doesn't post here anymore. He also had a 1st gen (aka NHW11), like you.

    About the idle time, I don't know where the equivalent 1st gen TSB is but http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...f-prius-not-operated-3-months.html#post831752 has a TSB for the 2nd gen that advises turning the car on for 30 minutes (no need to drive it on, you just have to have it fully powered up), every 2 months of idle.

    Sorry to hear about your experiences.
     
    #5 cwerdna, Apr 14, 2011
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