2006 battery dying: time to say goodbye?

Toyota has decided to compete with the not so successful battery rebuild re-sellers and made a big order of replacement modules so they could drop the price for a set of Gen2 replacement batteries... In the US prices have been reported as low as US $1900 and in Australia they're going for the equivalent of US $1700. Who knows? Maybe they'll drop prices even further soon?

If you / friend can handle basic car repair you could relatively easily pull your own hybrid pack and put a new one in. There's plenty of You Tube videos on how to do it and you'll have the satisfaction of fixing your car with a battery that may go 5 or 10 more years without an issue.

Toyota dealers overcharge for 5 hours (twice as many hours as it takes) to install the new pack because if they do the work it comes with a three year rather than one year warranty, which you'll never even need to use.

One way to do this new battery purchase so it helps both yourself and another Prius users is find someone in your area who's trying to repair their own battery back and could benefit from some of the healthier modules in your battery pack. You're going have to return your old battery core to Toyota to get core deposit back and if you can find someone with a bunch of bad modules sitting around they could swap out with some of your good ones before you do your core return.

 

yeah let it go, had a good run. Let someone else get the mileage benefit. List it for $1000 and go shopping for a new car

 

One state too far away.

 

You can call me and we can talk options.
My shop is in Madison, WI but I travel all over the state.

There is not full videos on how to do a battery from the dealer. It involves more steps that a plug and play from other aftermarket suppliers.

I'm always happy to answer questions even if you ultimately go somewhere else. I don't want to see people get ripped off, because there are a lot of scammers who have crept into the hybrid battery space over the decade I've been working on hybrids.

Look forward to helping out.

 

Boo!!!!

 

I'd love to read some of the stories you've experienced or heard about of over the years? Have you ever posted a list of them? All the folks I've talked to when I first started researching made me think it can get pretty ugly out there...

At this point in my learning I'm thinking the best way to approach this business of rebuilding packs is to have a handful of friends who's battery packs you work on and just leave it that. I mean they're gonna need your help more than once on the pack in coming months / years and if you give 'em a fair rate because they're a friend, as well as the understanding that there's a reason there's so few legit shops who go near the process of rebuilding them.

 

I know many people who would be happy to buy it for 1k.. I'd list as is and sell it. Things go downhill after 200k imo.

 

Unless you have the expertise to DIY repairs, after 200k and a failed battery, the ONLY real option is to get rid of it

 

Prius pollute way less, have way better gas mileage than other cars and are super reliable up too 300K miles or higher. So given that sensibility that's been built into this car, let's show the same sensibility by taking good care of our old Prius for as long as humanely possible and not just throw it away for a new one because we can't do that with our planet, we only have one and it's resources are limited! This hyper-consumpitve society is gonna kill this planet if we don't start acting more sensible about our wants vs. our legitimate needs.

 

I advised the OP to sell it for $1000 to someone else that can benefit from it.

If you can't DIY repairs on the prius, at 200k miles, you'll be paying the mechanic really high prices just to diagnose problems. Dealers normally charge $125 per hour and then ask for additional diagnoses time.

Then there's the repair costs that can be $2500 for just a catalytic converter

Not sure that's in the best interest of the OP.

 

Yes... You have clearly demonstrated the fear/prudent-based thought process that goes into justifying getting a newer one... And glad you didn't say anything about what's wrong about our hyper-consumptive society, because that would get in the way of that line of thinking.

Heck I might even agree with you if you're selling your Prius Gen1 that has 300K miles on it. I see those ones on Craig's list in good condition with no warning lights for less than $2K. Talked to one lady who's daughter has been driving a Gen1 with hybrid battery warning lights on for over three years now... That was more than I'd ever think possible.

But wouldn't it be cool if 8 years from now the Prius Gen2 forum was alive and well because Prius owners desire to keep their car on the road was stronger than their fear/prudent forethought?

 

He's being very realistic.. As good as these gen 2's are.. my gen 2 started going south at 175k.. I kept it and repaired most of the things myself.. my expenses have been 2k (700 of it a used battery) so far since.. and if someone else did it.. probably around 5k.. worth it? absolutely not for anyone else.

 

I think the retired gen2 cars get exported to Asia. Cambodia is filled with gen2 cars now. They are not thrown away.

I drive a 2005, I don't think I would ever sell it. But I'm a DIY guy that has tools and resources and I don't pay the dealer $500 to find out what's wrong with my car. I can't say everybody had that skill, tools, and/or time.

 

Sometimes I think being realistic has more to do with how much money you have in your bank account than considering risks/facts of what's realistic and unrealistic. As I've said before... The gap between rich and poor in the US has gotten so horrific at this point that 2/3rds of Americans have less than $2k in emergency savings in their bank account. And what's being realistic for people with so little savings has more to do with praying that nothing goes wrong, rather then simply ditching a car because they want to get another one early on...

 

This is my first post so bear with me. I just bought my first Prius 5 days ago. It is a 2006 with 168k miles. I bought it knowing it needed a new hybrid battery for $1200. After doing a bunch of lurking on here I found my original plan of just replacing two modules in my pack was probably going to be a short term fix. I found a legit guy who lives about 100 miles from me that refurbishes Prius Hybrid Batteries, and he even sells new third generation (yes I checked the date codes with the information I found on here) modules if you want to go that route. He came to my house last night and took the old battery out and put a new one in. He was able to do this in about an hour and fifteen minutes, and he was talking to me while he was doing so. I was able to get all new generation 3 modules for $1900 plus my old battery, installed in my garage. Today was the second time in my life I have driven a hybrid vehicle and I drove 49 miles and averaged 57.6 MPG. I think if I was in your shoes I would find someone who knows what they are doing and get a refurbished battery. My car had the original battery replaced at two years and 16k miles ago according to the receipt. The second battery was a rebuild by Falcon Hybrid Solutions. I am hoping it only lasted two years because it was a college girls car and she let it sit for periods of time. Your asking price is way low in my mind. There is currently a 2006 Prius on Craigslist near me with a bad hybrid battery and it has 299k and the guy is asking $1200.

 

Priuscamper,
I'd be happy to chat with you as well if you give me a call. I have plenty of good stories. Plus I'd like to hear more about your campervan ideas.

In fact recently I just helped a customer who is camping/short term living out of her Prius.
Set up a 80amp 12v "house" panel for her Prius. Has 6 available separately fused circuits. Only use 2 right now. Light circuit heavier outlet for a 1500w inverter and/fridge. Basic electricity monitor.

Maybe someday I'll post a separate thread about it.
Back to the original poster... I do want to talk with you about options. Can quickly discuss things and hash through what works for you. Everything from diy to selling.

Look forward to hearing from you.

 

There is a dealer in Racine who will sell a genuine Toyota battery for $1700 and install it for another $600 = Total $2300. That quote for $3500 is a total ripoff based on old part price (current MSRP is $1950). Get on the phone and shop the dealers.

 

Please don't sell lil sparky for $350 *sheds a tear*

 

Brand new member, single post, puts up a poll on what to do. The OP is highly unlikely to do any kind of DIY work on a battery. They asked: donate, sell, fix with a refurb (not new). They did not ask how.....

Gotta say I agree with @JC91006. Sell it and move on.
When all is said and done, for the average owner that does NOT DIY for automotive work and you JUST looks at cost outlay, not all the other issues involved with hybrid/electric car use and ownership, there is only a marginally compelling reason to get a Prius vs. a good econo-car like a Corolla. When the hybrids break, they can be nasty expensive and troublesome to deal with.