2003 Prius battery life and pre-buy checks? - GreenHybrid

usernamenumber · #1 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 08:25 PM

Hello all,

I am currently looking at buying a used 2003 Prius with 75k miles on it (good carfax report with an extended bumper-to-bumper warrantee for 3yrs/35k). When I mentioned the Prius to my dad he brought up a point that I hadn't thought of. Like any rechargable battery the Prius' battery must eventually lose its ability to hold a charge. Some googling shows that this is indeed an issue, but I haven't found much guidance as to exactly how long these batteries last. Am I likely to have to pay $4k for a new battery in the near future since the car has so many miles on it already? Is there any way of telling what kind of shape the battery is currently in?

On a related note, does anyone have advice as to how I can further verify the quality of the car? I've called some mechanics in the area, but the only people who seem to have Prius experience are the mechanics at the dealership I'm buying it from (this is in Auburn, MA if anyone has reccommendations).

Thanks in advance for any help offered!
--Brad

Schwa · #2 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 08:43 PM

As long as the battery was serviced for a particular problem they had with corrosion on positive terminals (dunno if they fixed this by 2003 or not) then the battery should last quite a good while longer.

Unlike a rechargeable phone or power tool, the Prius always keeps the battery between 40% (what it calls empty) and 80% (what it calls full) charge, thereby greatly increasing the useful life of the pack. There have been 2001 Prii that have been driven well over 200k miles without any problems at all. Toyota is predicting at least 10 years and saying they may even last up to 15 years depending on all sorts of factors, but just like any other failure prone component it's always going to be a bit of a gamble in the used market. The 12v lead-acid car battery in the Prius will need replacing before the traction battery does.

How much are they asking for it?

usernamenumber · #3 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 09:27 PM

They're asking 13k, which they say was an error that the person who put their ad up on cars.com made (it was supposed to be 17k on sale for 16k) but are now bound to. Personally, I find this a little fishy, which is why I'm looking for what could be wrong with it. Thus the advice as to what to check or who to ask to check it out.

Thanks for the reply, though. The battery life info is great to know!

Schwa · #4 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 09:43 PM

$13k is a super deal, even for one with a few extra miles. Not a lot goes wrong with a Prius, they are one of the cheapest to maintain in the category of non-scheduled maintenance. If there was any sort of problem with the battery the car would display a warning light, so it's probably just fine. There is a "health" meter in batteries, and that's the internal resistance and it can be calculated by monitoring the voltage of the battery as it charges and discharges, but this is not particularly easy to do, so don't expect any service people to be prepared to measure such a thing.

See http://home.earthlink.net/~graham1/P.../BatIntRes.htm for some more info.

usernamenumber · #5 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 06:21 AM

A related question: You had said something about there being a possible problem with corrosion around the battery contacts. Am I right in thinking that this is something that would be visually obvious if it were the case? Where can I find some kind of diagram pointing out the location of the battery/contacts under the hood? If it does turn out to have this problem am I on my own or does Toyota have a recall/replacement program for it?

Thanks again!

Schwa · #6 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 12:52 PM

The problem is with the traction battery, hidden behind the rear sear, in the trunk. You can't visually inspect the battery, so your best bet is to check the car's service records at the Toyota dealership where it was serviced. It was an official recall, so it should have been done, unless they had solved that problem by the 2003 model, I'm not entirely certain what cars were affected by that recall. As long as the car was serviced regularly it should have got the battery service if it needed it.

usernamenumber · #7 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 01:07 PM

Thanks again. I'll do what I can to double-check but the Carfax report shows that it was in for regular servicing, so hopefully it's been taken care of (if it was ever a problem in the first place).

kirby · #8 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 01:58 PM

You should be able to have them check the VIN number in the service department and see if the battery needed that repair and if so if it was done. I did that when I bought mine about two months ago. That is a great price, I would grab it before someone else does. Even if you have to go for a new battery, you saved $4k on their error. I would not worry about the battery as others have said. By the time they start failing the prices of batteries will have dropped. I bought an '02 that only had 7,100 miles on it for $16K which I thought was a great deal - yours sounds as good or better. I think you will love the car. Unlike buying it new, you are not paying much of a premium and it will make great economic sense in terms of gas savings alone.