Lot of Priuses with dead batteries on Ebay

[blackman777]

While doing a search on "sold" listings I was surprised how many G1 and G2 Priuses are being sold with dead or worn-out batteries. I knew Honda hybrids abused their batteries, but I thought Toyota's system was golden with almost no failures.

That would be a good way to get a cheap Prius though:
- Buy a car with dead or weak battery for ~2000 dollars, then tow it to the nearest dealer for replacement. You have a car that only cost you $5000 overall.

 

[eljefino]

Why would the owner not have thought of this?

On a similar vein, look how many 1st gen saturn VUEs need VVT transmissions. They're $6000 and not available in junkyards.

 

[Donald]

Will the Prius run on gas with a dead or worn out battery? Are you saying the dealer will replace it for free?

 

[blackman777]

For free? No. Battery costs around $3000. And no Toyota hybrids do not work without battery. They aren't Hondas (which can run w/o battery).

In most cases the Ebay seller is not the owner. He's just a flipper of cars. I figure the original owner was the "It broke. Time to trash it and get a new car"-type of personality. My father is like that.

 

[Bruce T]

If the Prius only has a dead battery, it might work. The scary part is you don't know how many other things might be wrong with the vehicle. The earlier versions of the Prius were tough on transmission fluid, the struts could be bad, bad AC compressor, etc.

 

[bepperb]

You had me interested. The problem I see is that the battery is waranted by Toyota to 150,000 miles... so any car with a dead battery for a bargain basement price is up near 200,000 miles.

Is a compact car with that many miles ever worth 5000 dollars?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Are you saying the dealer will replace it for free?

He's saying it'll cost $3,000 to fix.

 

[blackman777]

Or with few miles but past the 8 year warranty. My new Civic is like that..... only 30000 but no longer under warranty due to age.

 

[bepperb]

Yeah, I guess if you could find a car 8 or 9 years old with relatively low miles you could find a deal. And 3000 is on the high side for the battery cost. But there are a lot of cars with common problems you could do this with, and not many people willing to take the chance that nothing else is wrong with the car.

 

[FutureDoc]

I would expect the "dead batteries" to be salvaged vehicles, particularly with floods/water damage.

So far a lot of the internal/academic data suggests that the battery packs are holding better than expected even after a decade. Sure, they are only holding 60-70% of the original maximum charge, but that was a lot better than the usable life of about 8 year as initially assumed.

 

[bdcardinal]

Dorman is selling replacement hybrid batteries now. We got a flier from our O'Reilly rep trying to sell them to us, since you know we work on so many Prii at a Ford dealer.

 

[KenO]

Still junk. A diesel VW is still the way to go if you're looking for long life & fuel economy.

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: KenO
Still junk. A diesel VW is still the way to go if you're looking for long life & fuel economy.


Depends, tell that to a college friend who has replaced three turbos and a lot of the electronics in his 04 TDI. Now he owns a Prius.

 

[simple_gifts]

Originally Posted By: KenO
Still junk. A diesel VW is still the way to go if you're looking for long life & fuel economy.


and more expensive fuel. $.70/gal last I checked in the Northeast.

 

[y_p_w]

There are some businesses that will recondition old battery units with aftermarket equivalents for cells that are out of shape. Apparently there are 28 cells in the most common Prius battery back, and typically only a few need to be replaced. It's also possible to salvage older scrapped units and match the condition of the cells. Toyota offers $150 for a used battery pack. I think they recycle what they can't use and then try to match the condition of the cells to battery units that need only a few cells.

Quote:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/hybrid-technology/recondition-hybrid-battery-pack1.htm

So, although Toyota can't replace the battery pack when the warranty has run out on a Prius, it can recommend reconditioning the battery pack as a cheaper alternative to outright replacement. If anything goes wrong in a unit after 100,000 miles (160,934 kilometers), Toyota can locate which one of the 28 modules is causing problems and replace that individual module. By harvesting from the older, recycled battery packs they've collected, technicians can find a matching module that has a similar chemistry and age as the other 27 modules and recondition the battery by replacing only the faulty module.

Reconditioning the battery in a Toyota Prius not only extends the life of the battery by adding another six years; it also reduces maintenance costs for the owner. At $750, battery reconditioning costs about one-fourth the price of replacing the battery pack entirely.


The other thing about these battery pack is that't they're supplemental and aren't required to go the full distance of charge. Even a battery that only has 60-70% of the original full capacity will be able to do what it's supposed to do, which is provide motion for a short distance, supplemental power for acceleration, and to absorb energy from the regenerative braking.

 

[kschachn]

Boy, that's the truth. And most diesel-equipped cars initially cost more than their gasoline counterparts. Right now here in the Milwaukee area the fuel price differential is around $0.90 to $1.00. Coupled with the higher acquisition cost you better be getting a lot for that diesel.

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Originally Posted By: KenO
Still junk. A diesel VW is still the way to go if you're looking for long life & fuel economy.


and more expensive fuel. $.70/gal last I checked in the Northeast.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Dorman is selling replacement hybrid batteries now. We got a flier from our O'Reilly rep trying to sell them to us, since you know we work on so many Prii at a Ford dealer.


Rock Auto sent out an email that they're selling the Dorman replacements as well. Only $1368.

The problem is the $1083 core charge...

 

[BearZDefect]

I'm inclined to agree with y_p_w: Typically only a few cells go bad, rendering the entire battery pack near useless. Laptop computer battery packs are the same - typically one of the 3/4/6/8/9 cells goes bad, but as a result the entire battery pack becomes useless. I know that is comparing NiCd to Li-Ion but I believe the same failure mode applies. I just wish (in both cases) that the packs were designed with easy cell replacement in mind.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

My indy mechanic took it upon himself to tear down a P1 Prius and rebuild the battery pack himself. It cost about $1,000 and now they advertise themselves as a hybrid specialist, saving a lot of money vs. dealer options.

 

[blackman777]

Quote:
By harvesting from the older, recycled battery packs they've collected, technicians can find a matching module that has a similar chemistry and age as the other 27 modules and recondition the battery by replacing only the faulty module.

Sounds complicated.
I think I prefer the Honda (aftermarket) solution of just removing the battery completely, and thereby having a pure gasoline car. Costs about $50. (continued below)
Originally Posted By: KenO
Still junk. A diesel VW is still the way to go if you're looking for long life & fuel economy.

No.
And I'm saying this as a diesel owner:
A standard gasoline car that gets 40 or better highway EPA MPG is the way to go. The gasser's pricetag is about 10,000 dollars cheaper, so you save more money overall (new). Even on the used market a diesel VW has inflated pricetag. I would look for a Civic HX which should be dirt cheap now, but still get >40 highway.