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My boyfriends 2001 prius just broke down after 245,000 miles. It is the battery pack and they want about $6000 to replace it. Does anyone know if you can get a used battery pack and is that advisable. also, they said he has to pay it in full before they order the part which has to be shipped by boat from Japan. Does anyone know where he can get one here in the states. he does not mind paying the money but does not want to pay all of it in advance not knowing when it will be here. Some please help, thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Yes, there are salvaged battery-packs available. (Unfortunately, some classic Prius have suffered premature deaths in accident collisions.) I'm not sure how you'd hunt them down though. And that price you quoted is higher than what several other dealers have... by several thousand, in fact.

Anywho, if you really do have a Prius with that many miles, we have questions for you. Like what is the current compression on each of the 4 engine cylinders?

Some salvage yards have a national parts inventor system that is all computerized. I think it might be called Smart parts. So just check your yellow pages, and give them a call.

I think Jeff meant "parts inventory system".

Yeah! A quarter-million miles is AWSOME! I remember the '69 chevys we had that needed camshaft replacements every 60K, and a new starter or flywheel nearly as often.

Like John, I have questions for your boyfriend, too! For example:

1) Yes, John's question regarding the cylinder compression is a great one...

2) How often and at what mileage did he have to change the brake pads/shoes (front/rear), and did he ever have to change any other brake parts?

3) How often did he have to change the 12-volt battery?

4) How long did the headlights last? (I realize they're not HID like what I have, but I'm still interested)

5) How often, and at what mileage did he have the internal combustion engine tuned? Spark plugs replaced? Plug wires replaced?

6) Did he ever have to replace the water pump, engine hoses, or heater hoses, and if so, at what mileage points?

Wow, an awsome opportunity to learn! (wheee!)

Try here: http://www.ozgrl.com/ (maybe)

The used packs from salvaged Prius do show up on eBay every now and then. cheapest I've seen was about $300, but usually it's around $700 or so.

This is an example of a recent auction on Ebay where the battery sold for $500.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ename=WDVW

(Ebay item #7907326785 - sold on July 3rd)

Good Luck. It might be cheaper to rent a car and wait for another auction to come up.

Mark

Yeah, and it might not be a bad idea to keep an eye on ebay for a low-mileage battery pack for my 2004 Prius as she approaches 200,000 miles. I wonder, would it hurt to keep a spare battery pack in storage for a few months or years? Maybe I would never need it, but at $300 to $500 I might be justified to house a spare.

I guess it all depends on how expensive the new ones are as I get toward that kind of mileage.

You wouldn't want to keep a pack on a shelf for that long. It'll self-discharge to the point where it won't be able to start the engine to recharge itself.

I checked out your ideas of where to get a replacement battery and got this response:
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I have a HV battery from a '02 Prius with about 6000 miles - full charge and ready to install. $850 and shipping.
=------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How can I find out if its legitamate before sending money or how does that usually work. I have no experience with this at all. suggestions please.

Holly

hey all,

I thought I already posted this but I don't see it. Ed answers some questions abuot high milage prius

here is some info you can give them rear bearing hubs replaced one side at about 65,000...the other side at about 85,000... first tune up at a lazy 165,000 miles tune ups at wal mart meticulicly every 7,500 miles'''......the back battery small one rfeplaced at 225,000 but never worked right after driving into and out of alaska on the first anniversity of 9/11 on a 2 week driving vacation batteries do not like damp coldness it seems no other major mechanical breakdowns except lots of tires and the oil pan from potholes since it rides so low..you may just send this to anyone babe in my own words thank you ed p.s you guys it is a great car onwards to 500,000 no sh**


Let me know what else to ask him, he probably does not know about compression and tech stuff, but maybe he does???


Holly

Holly,

With that many miles, he must be spending a lot of hours in the driver's seat. (Almost 100k miles per year?) What does he do that requires so many miles? Just curious.

Is the battery pack you found from a local salvage yard? Although they may require up-front money, they will usually stand behind their products (although batteries may be different story).

I'd want to know that the battery hasn't sat idle for an extended period of time (maybe longer than a few weeks). If fully discharged for an extended period of time, it may hurt performance. Tough to determine on a used unit without testing. I wonder if there are any industrial battery shops in your boyfriend's area who have experience with different products. Some battery rebuilders work with a wide variety of batteries. Fork lift batteries are an example. Some fork lifts use deep-discharge cells. These type of shops may be able to do a capacity and drawn-down test on a Prius unit (but they may need specs).

With used being 10%-15% the cost of new, your boyfriend will have to assume some risk in this transaction if he wants the low cost.

-Mark

One thought is to run two battery packs in parallel. That way the replacement stays charged and the older one can be deleted when it goes bad. Has anybody seen this approach mentioned on any of the technical websites for Prius? Just curious if it is feasible.

Mark

But wouldn't it have to be taken to the dealer anyway to have it swapped and charged? As long as it didn't physically/technically "deteriorate" in storage, shouldn't it be fine? I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not prepared to do that kind of "surgery" myself.

>My boyfriends 2001 prius just broke down after 245,000 miles. It is the
>battery pack and they want about $6000 to replace it. Does anyone
>know if you can get a used battery pack and is that advisable.

Yes you can get lightly used batteries. Do you have a mechanic who would
be willing to take on the transplant? It is pretty easy to get at the traction
battery. You just take out the back seat and its right there.

>also, they said he has to pay it in full before they order the part which
>has to be shipped by boat from Japan. Does anyone know where he
>can get one here in the states.

Ebay has them all the time.

>he does not mind paying the money but does not want to pay all of it
>in advance not knowing when it will be here. Some please help, thank
>you in advance for any suggestions.

You might also look into whether the battery from an '04 would
interchange. I've heard they are smaller, lighter, and have more
power. When someone wrecks their pri the battery usually survives.

Holly wrote:
>I checked out your ideas of where to get a replacement
>battery and got this response:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>I have a HV battery from a '02 Prius with about 6000 miles -
>>full charge and ready to install. $850 and shipping.
=------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>How can I find out if its legitamate before sending money or
>how does that usually work. I have no experience with this
>at all. suggestions please. Holly


IceHolly, who said this and how did you find them?