try google i guess. there have to be some hybrid shops out there. funny, all i ever read about are in san fran, and l.a.
Jerry, Bisco, et al, A company in LA charging $750 for refurb batt and 1 year/20k warrantee...(battery4prius) (2 yr $1200). Worth it? Seems like it may be...
have you read up on the rebuilt battery threads? how often are you willing to put up with the hassle of having it replaced under warranty? what will you do if it quits right after warranty?
Not sure what you mean by coils. I'm with @bisco on the refurbish warning. Take advantage of what lots and lots and lots of people on this forum have found out the hard way. Refurbished batteries that have just had a cell or two replaced are nothing but trouble. Unless you enjoy removing your battery every few weeks or months, taking it apart, replacing cells again, re-balancing it, and putting it back together again. No problem if you don't mind being without the car for several days at a time several times a year. Read up on the battery refurbishing threads. Lots of really good horror stories. Of course, if the vendor is coming out to swap out your battery every so often under warranty, it's not quite as bad until they go broke doing that. Except for the fact that you never know where you'll be next time that battery full of mismatched cells lets you down again. Go with a complete new or used battery (NOT refurbished) or get the kit from @2k1Toaster. If you need help there are several people here on PC who live in So Cal who would advise or even come over to help you.
Hi Bisco, it’s a very valid point. We are looking at this as a temporary solution so we can spec a replacement car. At $750 we’re willing to gamble it will last 6-10 months.
Hi Jerry, thank you for the post. “Coils” is the term the dealer used. As I told Bisco, we are going to use the next several months to look at cars and deals hoping the battery doesn’t fail within the year. Why the difference between used and refurbished? I’ll look into the kit. BTW, when the Prius was towed back, the Tech used a battery charger (self-contained) to get the car in neutral (no power at all after the stay at the dealer!) and the car started! He gave it a little charge at the house and it started again. I let it idle and it died, but I’m thinking to try to charge it with my little 4 amp 6/12V Charger. Caveats?
Are you sure the dealer didn't say, "cells?" There are no coils in any battery I've heard of. Used is simply used. Like used tires, or transmissions, or anything else. Refurbished means that someone removed bad cells and replaced them. That gets it working till the next cell fails in a few days or months. A used battery, if it still has all it's original cells and is reasonably new, is the more reliable of the two, but obviously not as good as a new battery. Clearly the 12V battery in your car is dead, dead, dead. It may be that it's so dead that the inverter can't charge it fast enough with the car running to keep the computers running and the main power relay closed. There is a way to check that, but given the questions you're asking, it might be beyond your skills. (No offense intended.) If you use your charger, make sure that its's safe for AGM type batteries. Don't go over 4 amps. And let it charge overnight. If you do that and the next day try to start it and it starts and dies again, I wouldn't recommend repeating the experiment since it's going to keep on doing the same thing till whatever's wrong gets fixed. Hope this helps.
and thanks. No offense, I routinely sound more clueless than I actually am. Well, the car has started and driven and restarted and driven and restarted and driven again over the last couple days just fine. I drove it about 60 miles yesterday. However, today when I started to drive it I drove about half a mile and then the red triangle of death and the red car of death showed up on the display. However, it was still able to drive so I turned around and took it home. So now I’m puzzled. I did buy a new 12V and will try just replacing that. Any insights on why it would get those errors and still run?
What Bisco said. Also, there's no sure fire way to tell why you're getting those symptoms and the red triangle without reading the codes. There could be lots of reasons. You'll need someone with a Prius-capable code reader. I remember you mentioned that a dealer read the codes, but was it a Toyota dealer, a hybrid specialty shop, or just a used car dealer? It seems to me like any half decent dealer shop would have told you by now exactly what's wrong and given you a list of options.
Towed on its wheels, it would damage the inverter assembly, and probably the electric motors too. You either tow it on dollies or tow it with the front end wheels off the ground
No, but died after a couple days (!!?!!). I changed out the 12V (original 2007/179k miles) but it ran only for a few miles before triangles of death. Going to try refurb batt (used if I can find one)
Just the main red triangle of death on the dash and the car of death (! Thru it) on the MFD. I guess it wasn’t the 12V but a bit leery that a hybrid battery change won’t fix it (dear was not sure if it was the battery or something else) and I’ll be out a grand for a non-running car. (Dealer offered $250 trade-in!)
For some, the car may not move. Bit this still depends on which of the MGs are affected to warrant that
