Is it worth it?

So I have a chance to get a 2005 Prius with 131K miles for almost NOTHING. Actually, literally, nothing. Free, maybe a thankyou dinner.



But nothing in life is free right.... Right.



The intent is to end up with a reliable car that gets great mileage and does not look like it came from Sanford and Sons.....



So a friend has this Prius. His kid have driven it. He has driven it. The first owner was his sister.



That said the car is in need of some attention.



The 12 Aux battery tested low but good at AutoZone over the weekend with a load test.

The tech thought is odd that it did not come up as bad and needs replacement.



Current re-occurring OBD codes are P0A80 and P3017

I can reset the codes but they come back within a few minutes.

When the P3017 code arrives I get the ABS light and ! light and sometimes have rear breaks only.



I have driven the car. Sometimes it will drive ok, but most drives end with the energy monitor showing power going from the engine to the generator and the drive wheels and not the battery. The engine will rev higher when doing this.



I got Torque Pro and a Bluetooth OBD reader and watched the battery modules while parked and while driving.



H Battery temperature monitors read 91.9, 93.7, and 91.7



Battery modules read as follows;

High Live reading Low

1 18.7 17.6 15.7

2. 18.7 17.7 15.7

3. 18.7 17.7 15.4

4. 18.7 17.7 15.5

5. 18.7 17.7 15.6

6. 18.7 17.7 15.6

7. 22.8 18.5 11.4

8. 18.7 17.7 15.5

9. 18.7 17.7 15.6

10. 18.7 17.7 15.7

11.18.7 17.7 15.5

12. 18.6 17.7 15.5

13. 18.6 17.7 15.6

14. 18.5 17.7 15.6





How do ya'll interpret the HB battery data above?





One the one hand I like to tinker with stuff and think that I could replace the #7 cell or cells and get a few more miles out of the HB pack.

I assume that the P3017 would be remedied with an ABS actuator swap, although I wonder if fixing the HB issue would remedy this as well. Maybe the low 12V Aux battery has something to do with this too?



The interior needs a good scrubbing.

The ft bumper cover has a slight wrinkle in it and the ft passenger fender and door are wrinkled but functional. I will probably just get junkyard replacements and paint them to match.



So I could probably do a lot of this myself and get the car safely back in good driving condition for $2K-$3K including a reman battery or maybe less if I take my chances with only replacing bad cells in the HB.



Or





For $4000.00 I could possibly get a running driving Prius with 160K plus miles, no warning lights on, and no work needed.





Blessings,



Saulnier

 

That's pretty optimistic. You should add two more words to the end of that, like
"right now".
Exactly what I was thinking. Sooner or later they will all need something.

You could have a running, driving 2005 prius with 130k miles, with no warning lights, and no work needed for a LOT less than 4k.

Self repaired battery: <100 bucks and an afternoon of time
Replace front bumper is desired: Couple hundo for a new, prepainted bumper off ebay.
$200 for a NEW 12v battery just for peace of mind (but probably needed for both Prii)
Front fender and door from someone parting out a Prius on Craigslist: $75-125 each.

If someone were offering that 2005 to me for "basically free", I'd be all over it with only 130k miles.[/QUOTE]

I think I might order a HV battery module or two and go for it.....
Stay tuned folks.

 

@2k1Toaster Does this look like a candidate for reconditioning? Would module #7 possibly recover or would it need to be replaced?
Could any of this be from corrosion on the Buss bars? I read some place that sometimes all it takes is a cleaning and reinstall of the Buss bars?

 

Follow up question....
I got Torque Pro and a Bluetooth OBD reader.
I got PID's for reading the hybrid battery modules.
What else should I be looking at to judge the overall health of the car?
What other PID's?

Saulnier

 

So.... I bought 2 HB modules from Hybrid Automotive and replaced the one that was the worst. The car runs and drives ok at this point. I am seeing about 35mpg. I am also seeing that the Hybrid battery seems to charge and discharge fairly quickly and not maintain a steady or slowly changing rate. I am attempting to drive moderately. I am thinking the next step for the hybrid battery would be to run it through 3 charge/discharge cycle to balance the cells and see if it will perform better.

I still have the ABS light, ((!)) light, and check engine lights on but no codes showing on Torque Pro. I bought a USB to OBD cable and will try to install Techstream and see what I can do. I have noticed that when the hybrid battery is really low (like 1 or 2 bars) that the brakes will act up and I have only rear brakes. This seems to go away when the hybrid battery is more fully charged????

Saulnier

 

Oh, and I grabbed a used fender and a complete door from a Toyota salvage yard in Houston for $180.00