Which of the following do you feel will occur first? The battery in your Prius will fail and have to be replaced with the same or a slightly upgraded version. You will willingly replace a perfectly/adequately functioning battery in some performance enhancing modification. (exponentially superior battery technology emerges/plug in modification etc...) Other critical systems will fail before the battery, rendering battery status irrelevant. Something else?
fluids.. brakes.. then spark plugs... oh.. tires.. and maybe a few bushings or something... i dont' see the shocks going.. but it's possible.. but yeah.. i see the battery failing before engine.
The batteries have alerady proven to be well managed and long lasting in both the old platform and the new platform. I do not anticipate any sudden failure of any system in the vehicle. Nor will I randomly replace the battery with another technology unless Toyota offers it to us.
YC15 the famous Vancouver Taxi had brakes struts and suspension bushing replaced but that was operation as a commercial vehicle so underwent mandatory inspection. I'll hazzard a guess that if you haven't pulled your spark plugs in under 10,000 miles and put Never Seize on the threads that the most work will come form pulling the cylinder head and installing thread inserts to replace the stripped spark plug holes. Did both of ours at under 6000 miles and they all came out tight. I see lots of broken off spark plugs and stripped threads in the cylinder heads. Why Toyota and most other manufactures that use iridium spark plugs and aluminum heads don't use Never Seize right from the factory is totally beyond me, other than to generate revenue for thier dealers.
Frank: My 2000 GMC Sierra had a 5.3 litre Vortec V8 with aluminum heads. In 2002 I got a tank of bad gas after a fishing expedition to Red Lake and had to replace the fuel filter and finally all 8 AC Delco $$$ pricey plugs. I just about gave myself a hernia trying to get those plugs out. I didn't f*** up the threads too badly, but the plugs made a horrible screeching noise as I wrenched them out. For the new plugs I lightly smeared the threads with Loctite Nickel Grade Anti Seize. Hope the guy who bought my truck appreciates that when he changes the plugs ... j
By 300k miles, I expect 9x coolants, fuel injector and butterfly soot cleanings, 6x tires and alignments, 4x 12-volt battery, 2x spark plugs, and 1x struts, suspension wear-parts, brakes, valves, and windshield. This list is a mix of high and low-confidence predictions. Light bulbs, radiator hoses, thermostat, A/C drive belt, wiper blades...only 4 1/2 years, too soon to tell. Come to think of it, will probably have to get the A/C recharged at some point. When the front seat covers start looking worn, I'll pull them off and sit on the "new" seats underneath. The HV battery, transmission, ECUs, fuel tank assembly, and touch screen are "maybes". The engine is a "probably not". For any of these, would be looking to the salvage parts market. Exhaust system? Oxygen sensors? If my power steering does not develop the shakes by this August, the extended warranty expires and replacement would be on my dime (salvage again). As to whether to replace the HV battery with new from Toyota, or build one from the better modules from 2 salvage assemblies, it's something to work out later. I don't expect that a higher-capacity alternative will ever be available for the NHW11 because they are few in number, and the battery ECU could not be reflashed with ie, "Lithium programming". All bets are off if I fail to maintain vigilance and allow somebody to run into me. Don't want Tochatihu to be a donor on the salvage parts market. If I'm young enough and there still is gasoline, I'll think about another 300k.
