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EV battery life? 4 dead cells at 116K

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by ed heim, Aug 29, 2013.

  1. ed heim

    ed heim New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2013
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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    LIFE? Told have 4 dead cells and need to replace the EV battery. Dealership service department guy claims they do not keep a record of EV battery failures. So cannot tell me if this is out of the norm. I need to know because was rear ended 2 months ago and I think the battery failure is due the the collision.
    COST? Dealership wanted $5,000 to for parts and labor. Found site on internet selling rebuilt batteries for $1,600. Dealer says 4 hours labor if I supply battery. Does this sound right?
    REPAIRABLE? Some other post says there are 168 cells to an EV battery and cells can be replaced. Is this correct?
     
    #1 ed heim, Aug 29, 2013
  2. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    Oct 3, 2010
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    Vehicle:
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    Correct, but requires some skills. Do you have them?
     
    #2 Former Member 68813, Aug 29, 2013
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
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    Plug-in Base
    welcome to priuschat! where are you located? carb states have 150k warranty. judging from info here, there aren't many failures at low 100,000's mileage. but if the accident got all the way to the battery box, it must have been pretty serious. the only way to tell would be to open it up and look for physical damage. you can read about replacing cells here, it takes time, tools and knowledge. the rebuilt and 4 hours labor sounds pretty good, or you can look for a low mileage salvage. all the best!(y)
     
    #3 bisco, Aug 29, 2013
  4. Kevine64

    Kevine64 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2013
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    How did they tell it is 4 dead cells? I didn't know there was a test for these batteries?

    How recent was the accident?

    If you don't mind could you tell us the symptoms you were having leading up to finding out you had bad cells? Not much info on this.

    I work on my own cars often but I don't think I would mess around with replacing a battery in this car. Unless your 100 confident in your abilities I would find a salvage or rebuilt battery and have the dealer replace it. 4 hours seems like a great deal to me.

    If you buy rebuilt make sure you VERY CAREFULLY read through any warranty papers it may come with. I'd also search the company your buying from. I'm not talking a bbb search but also Google forum threads and such in them.

    Hope it works out well for you.
     
    #4 Kevine64, Aug 30, 2013
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