Is it bad the hyrbid battery of a prius to sit for 20 months?

If you get a new car warranty any problems would probably show up before it ran out. I think the hybrid battery is covered under the emission control warranty which is quite long and depends on which state you live in. California is 15 years or 150K miles.

The 12V battery? you could ask them to check it with their battery tester and replace it if it's bad. Of course their battery tester doesn't really do a very good job. Ask and see what their willing to do.

 

I believe ours was on the lot a long time. The 12 volt was dead as a doornail: was replaced at time of sale, but the traction battery seems fine, takes and uses charge normally, as far as I can tell.

 

They should give you a great deal being that it is
a 2010 model year Prius.

Here in Oregon we also have the 10 year 150,000 mile battery
warranty.

If either battery is defective it would be replaced under warranty.

alfon

 

Why has a new Gen 3 Prius sat on dealers lot for 20 months? I thought these were in short supply.

 

Probably because the dealer was asking sticker at the time, then above sticker, and now back to sticker or a little less than sticker.

 

Check this thoroughly. It sounds fishy that a Prius would sit 20 months on the west coast.

 

right. why would the dealer not be able to sell it now for sticker or above?

 

Back to the original question.
The "traction battery", the 201V (nominal) nickle metal hydride battery WILL NOT be damaged by allowing it to even FULLY discharge. It WILL damage your wallet if YOU allow that to happen, as the only way to "get it to come back" is to have the Toyota US (for you in the US) guy fly in with the special charger. This is because you can't start the ICE with it dead. I will caveat this by saying that if you -could- actually discharge it with a load (not self discharge) you -could- damage it by reverse charging some cells, which can destroy them. But this -should- not be possible. The electronics in the Prius will stop you from doing this. But self discharge won't damage any cell or combination of cells. When parked and "off" this is the only way a Prius traction battery can discharge. So no damage.

The 12V lead acid battery, on the other hand, WILL be damaged or destroyed by fully discharging it, whether left on a lot for 20 months or in your garage for a few months. It will irrecoverably sulphate in about 3-6 months.

So, make sure the dealer will give you a -new- 12V battery as part of the deal, and make sure the car engine starts and you have no warnings on the dash and you should be just fine. I would also change the oil if it's been sitting for 20 months!

 

I would say whether or not the oil should be changed after sitting in a car for 20 months depends on the weather it's been subjected to. Lots of moisture, lots of quick changes in temperature could create condensation in the engine. Although I don't know how well the crankcase is sealed from the outside air on a Prius.

 

^Hence part of the reason why I'm already at 3 oil changes and under 9000 miles on my 14-month-old Prius.

 

The metal in the engine acts as a catalyst to degrade the additives. The additives are what makes "raw" oil "good enough" for modern engines. If you think about it, when it's been underground at high temps (I've seen reports of 200C in some cases) and high pressure and comes out ready for a refinery you know it's not the "raw" oil that degrades.

If you read your owners manual it says "change the oil at 5000 mi or 6 months whichever occurs first". It's not a conspiracy to help the poor oil companies.

Anyway, the dealer should also do this as part of the sale. If they don't I'd call them out on it, as it's a Toyota requirement!

 

I am confident that engine oil lasts much longer than gasoline. I would personally buy that vehicle and perform fluid changes on the engine oil. In answer to 20 months on a nickel metal hydride yes I think it's going to end up at a critical low charge point, but if the thing starts/drives you're probably fine, and as mentioned the warranty is so long that any problems will manifest before it finishes.

So, yes, I'd buy the vehicle if asking price is ok.

 

Hybrid battery...no. It's been disconnected for the 20-months. Almost the same as if it were sitting on a shelf---albeit a non-climate controlled shelf. Besides.....SOCAL is a CARB state. As pointed out earlier, this battery will be covered for 150K miles.

The 12-V battery will probably not fare so well. They're hideously expensive (about $250) but that's not a big deal considering the money that you should be saving by buying a year and a half old car with 10 miles on the clock. I’d also have them change the oil, but I’m not as worried about that as I am about the 12-V battery. The engine doesn’t have enough run time to generate many combustion by-products to deteriorate the OEM oil (or motor.) I don’t know what the shelf life is for oil, but it’s longer than 3 months...maybe longer than 20.
It really doesn’t matter. You can fix this issue for $50 or less, and not worry about it.

What kinda deal are they offering for this car?
MSRP?
No way. Not even close. It's been sitting out in the elements for 20 months, so it might not be in as good a condition as a 2010 with 5,000 miles that's been garage kept for the same 20 months.

Think about it.

Good Luck!

 

It is, and it isn't.

Not my field really, but both oil and engines have improved somewhat since your dad used to chant the 3 months/3000 miles mantra.
Oil does pick up contaminants from the combustion process, and there's moisture to deal with as well. Depending on who you talk to they'll either destroy your engine on the first day of the forth month, or mile #3001 - or - you can leave the oil in the motor for twenty years without much damage.

The real truth?

Who knows?!
I can tell you that I've worked on military vehicles that get the oil changed semi-occasionally (like, annually) since we never managed to put three thousand miles on our rolling stock in a year.
I can also tell you that my beloved company changes oil at the 5K mark---regardless of the elapsed time...and some of our vehicles do not roll 5K miles in a year.
Neither fleet has ever (to my knowledge) had a motor replaced....and some of the fleet vehicles for AT&T have round-trip lunar mileage, and/or are old enough to buy cigarettes.
I always advise motorcycle riders to change the oil every season or 5K.
Since I'm always getting screamed at for apostasy by the "change the oil every three months!" crowd and the "you don't have to change it until you get to 5K no matter how long it takes!" bunch....my take-away from all of this is that it really does not matter much in the long run.

If it really mattered that much, there would be shelves full of replacement motors in the dealer's service departments, since I know for a fact that folks aren't changinf oil all that regularly out there.

JMHO