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Is the almost free Prius worth it?

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  dbutch@mindspring.com 
#1 ·
SO I have a chance to get a 2005 Prius with 131K miles for almost NOTHING. Literally.

But nothing in life is free right.... Right.

So a friend has this Prius. His kid have driven it. He has driven it. The first owner was his sister.

That said the car is in need of some attention.

The 12 Aux battery tested low but good at AutoZone over the weekend with a load test.

Current re-occurring OBD codes are P0A80 and P3017
I can reset the codes but they come back within a few minutes.
When the P3017 code arrives I get the ABS light and ((!)) light and sometimes have rear breaks only.

I have driven the car. Sometimes it will drive ok, but most drives end with the energy monitor showing power going from the engine to the generator and the drive wheels and not the battery. The engine will rev higher when doing this.

I got Torque Pro and a Bluetooth OBD reader and watched the battery modules while parked and while driving.

H Battery temperature monitors read 91.9, 93.7, and 91.7

Battery modules read as follows;
High Live reading Low
1 18.7 17.6 15.7
2. 18.7 17.7 15.7
3. 18.7 17.7 15.4
4. 18.7 17.7 15.5
5. 18.7 17.7 15.6
6. 18.7 17.7 15.6
7. 22.8 18.5 11.4
8. 18.7 17.7 15.5
9. 18.7 17.7 15.6
10. 18.7 17.7 15.7
11.18.7 17.7 15.5
12. 18.6 17.7 15.5
13. 18.6 17.7 15.6
14. 18.5 17.7 15.6


How do ya'll interpret the HB battery data above?


One the one hand I like to tinker with stuff and think that I could replace the #7 cell or cells and get a few more miles out of the HB pack.
I assume that the P3017 would be remedied with an ABS actuator swap, although I wonder if fixing the HB issue would remedy this as well. Maybe the low 12V Aux battery has something to do with this too?

The interior needs a good scrubbing.
The ft bumper cover has a slight wrinkle in it and the ft passenger fender and door are wrinkled but functional. I will probably just get junkyard replacements and paint them to match.

So I could probably do a lot of this myself and get the car safely back in good driving condition for $2K-$3K maybe less if I take my chances with only replacing bad cells in the HB.

Or


For $4K I can get a running driving Prius with no warning lights on and no work needed.


Blessings,

Saulnier
 
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#2 ·
Only YOU can decide if it is worth the risk or not.

It appears that there is one bad cell in the HV battery......at least one.
With careful shopping, I think I've seen where you can get a new one for about $1600 these days.

About all I can suggest is ask the seller if he will split the cost of a new 12 V battery with you (less than $100 for each of you) so you can install it and see if that helps anything. When they get weak the computers can do all sorts of strange things.

I personally would NOT take this on if there really is a hard fault with the brakes and the HV battery.
You haven't given any opinion on the wear on the actual engine itself.

If you have the money to spend and a place to DO the work (inside out of the rain), this could be an interesting project.
If you don't have the money to invest............probably not a good idea.
 
#3 ·
What did you end up doing? did you get the Prius?

Seems like a good deal to me. If its free you dont have much to loose. Can even just replace the HV battery with a used one for $600 and call it good for a while.

Not sure where your 4k number is coming from. I purchased a used 2008 prius with 233k miles on it in good condition with all records. I looked a while for it and it now has 237k miles on it.
 
#4 ·
That looks kind of like the reading the Toyota dealership got last month when I took my 2011 Prius in with a "Check Hybrid System" warning (there are twice as many cells in that generations pack though - 28). One cell in the main battery pack going bad - worse than your readings, which may be why you aren't getting warnings yet. According to the dealer they don't do individual cell swaps with the post lead-acid cell battery packs. You can get a full set of tested and reconditioned cells (which must be installed in the same order they were conditioned in - apparently this is pretty important) for anywhere from $1200 to $1900 from a number of outfits with different warranty periods. I found an outfit that offered a replacement for $1650 (which included installation) with a lifetime warranty. Toyota wanted over $4K for a refurbished/reconditioned pack and only offered a 1 year warranty.
 
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