High Mileage Prii Being Sold on E-Bay Motors

I'm one of the few that had a HV battery replacement on my '01 Prius (83,400 miles under warranty). The DTC that caused the replacement were P3006 and P3000. Couple of worthwhile notes:
1) Just a beep and the Triangle of Death appeared, along with the exclamation in the car symbol on the MFD. The Main Battery Symbol did NOT light. I find that interesting.
2) The car continued to run and operated fine for a couple more days before I got it to the dealer. This was not driving all around, just minimal, conservative driving to get all passengers home and backup car in place. (I had seen the TOD a couple of time before, so now I realized that if the car could be driven to the dealer if it was still working fine.)
3) There was only a minor MPG increase (~ 1 MPG) after replacement that could easily be due to the phase of the moon. I was hoping for a whopping increase....but not to be.
4) Most of all. What a good deal. Two previous Camry's had small engine block cracks (after a very long life) and that is not news worthy to the outside world, it's a Prius battery failing at 150,000 miles that stops the presses.

 

Who keeps a car for more then 8 years anyway? Especially in Indy your either going to get run into by some crazed soccer mom or crack head, or the road salt is going to eat the car away.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Elephanthead @ Aug 3 2007, 05:42 PM) [snapback]490239[/snapback]</div>

I do. In California rust is not an issue, although soccer moms can be. Crack heads are usually on foot.

We sold our 93 Toyota truck in June and it didn't have a spot of rust on it. It is not uncommon to see cars and trucks from the 50's and 60's still used as daily drivers.

 

There was a man who came to Hybrid Fest this year that had 300K+ on his Prius1 that still had the original battery in it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Elephanthead @ Aug 3 2007, 08:42 PM) [snapback]490239[/snapback]</div>

Me. 1983 Delta 88 replaced with 2000 Intrigue. 1989 Delta 88 replaced with 2006 Prius. 1975 LeMans lasted only 8 years.

 

For the record, the original Prius (up to 03) was never purported to have a "lifetime" battery. The new Prius, 04 and up, is.

Or in my case, 29,000 miles. ;-)

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Elephanthead @ Aug 3 2007, 05:42 PM) [snapback]490239[/snapback]</div>

I second dogfriend. I sold my 91 Camry V6 in early 2002. It was my mom's car most of the time and was in Cali originally and then spent almost 5 years w/me in WA state. My mom still drives a 96 Camry.

We have no rust probs at all.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mhawkin1 @ Aug 23 2007, 10:18 AM) [snapback]501065[/snapback]</div>

I like how they lifted their description from another auction or website (this being a 2003 model there is no hatchback):

In most other ways, the Toyota Prius functions like a regular family car. The interior is comfortable for four adults and comes standard with most modern convenience features. On the Prius's dash, there's an information display that can be used to show the operational status of the hybrid system. The vehicle's hatchback design provides extra versatility in terms of carrying items, and the rear seat can be lowered flat.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wiiprii @ Aug 23 2007, 10:37 AM) [snapback]501077[/snapback]</div>

Yes, I noticed that some of the other details (such as EPA mpg) were for the 2nd gen Prius. Of course, since the seller is a used car dealer, I wouldn't believe anything in the posting without other documentation to verify it.

 

mhawkin1, please pay close attention to hobbit's words:

"Please remember that most '01 - '03 Classics were subject to the TSB
about the battery bus-bar contacts and leakage/resealing work. After
a while Toyota took to simply replacing packs wholesale rather than
having techs dig in there and romp around with the high voltage,
which would likely count as "battery replacement". That's probably
still going on, given that the battery is one of the 8/100K warranted
items, and the TSB happened because of a manufacturing defect allowing
the battery module terminals to start growing a little corrosion."

This is the likely cause of the replacement--a known defect repaired free by Toyota, NOT a wearout issue.