2008 Prius Hybrid Battery

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Dang, and here I've just been replacing brake fluid when I replace pads, which is like once in my term of ownership.

I don't think I've ever gone through a new set of pads on any vehicle. It's always me replacing used pads with ceramics, and never again.

Perhaps the truck. I'm sure I've done multiple pads, and a caliper, and rotors, on the truck.

Twice a decade seems right to me. I'll have to check water content next time I flush brakes.

TBH it seems that most people I know with brake fluid/cylinder/ABS/TractionCtr/StabilityCtr/etc. problems live in humid climates, including some rather newer Toyotas that don't have a brake fluid change recommendation.

But there are cars here in dry climates that seem to never have brake problems even after well over 200,000 miles and even if the owners never change the brake fluid.

[broski499]

Originally Posted by hayden55

Thats crazy because batteries are said to be at end of life when they reach 80% capacity. Thats an industry standard by the way. So they are saying that they agree to give you a battery that just barely above end of life. They say that because statistically they start to conk out left and right below that.
(its fine though if its in a battery thats already installed in your car though)

I've heard a lot of crazy talk about batteries on priuses but the OEM batteries aren't that expensive and they really do last so much longer than everyone elses. I would never buy aftermarket or used vs going with a new oem toyota/panasonic battery. Thats the golden combo of reliability.
On black friday i saw a gen 3 battery from toyota online at a certain dealer and it was $1700-2100 (1700-2300 sometimes $2700) plus tax and the core charge was $40 (which is hilarious). For a gen 3 battery. It was mostly just the cells and bus bars though it didn't have most of the case or fan on this P/N. So realistically you could diy a new oem battery for $2500 bucks and it will last another decade +.

Some of the aftermarket companies are literally just slinging questionable second hand batteries that can be basically as bad as what you have, or they are trying to pass off chinese no name cells as their brand of cells which make Sanyo look great.

As far as the car goes if that 2008 Prius is in good shape I would keep that thing and put a good battery in it. They really do last forever. Batteries are more or less affected by age and cycles. So it seems like pretty much everyone makes it to 10-12 years, and its not uncommon to do 15+.

Pull the plug on you battery and take the case off the battery and inspect the bus bars for corrosion as well. Sometimes they corrode and that leads to extra resistance and the heat build up besides cells progressively dying and internally shorting and burning off energy that way as well.

For my gen 3 i noticed 6 years ago if i parked below half soc on the dash the next morning the car would start with 2 bars and get awful gas mileage until it warmed back up and got back over halfway, so I started parking above that and it would hold voltage and get much better gas mileage.

Now at this point I've learned from my scan gauge that the car really prefers to use the battery as little as possible for the best gas mileage. I pretty much just keep the car between 57-62% ish percent the whole time for max gas mileage. I've been doing that for probably 4 years now and i can still get high 50s. I more or less just use the battery to shut the engine off and coast and to keep the engine off at stop lights or scoot up at stop lights.

Also, take your brakes apart and clean the sliding pin holes out with a drill brush and brake cleaner, clean and lube your sliding pins with silicone lube. I use sli-glyde and replaced the bushing and bellows on them as well since they were old. If your pins are rusty replace them.
I do this once a year for great gas mileage. The big problem with priuses is most owners run around with partially seized sliding pins since the brake pads don't really wear out... until your brakes start seizing up and wear out.




Oh i thought it was interesting above. I turned off my reverse beep and seat belt chime with my iphone and dr prius.

I reached out to my local Toyota dealer and got a quote for a new battery for $1990. This doesn't include labor as I would have to reach out to their shop separately. So this seems like a no brainer to me, unless the shop is wanting $2000 for install. I'll happily pay $3000 when the times comes to get a Toyota battery in there.

I just did a fresh battery health test on dr prius and I'm still at 40%.

Reading more reviews regarding green bean or other reconditioned batteries just seems like such a gamble.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by broski499

I reached out to my local Toyota dealer and got a quote for a new battery for $1990. This doesn't include labor as I would have to reach out to their shop separately. So this seems like a no brainer to me, unless the shop is wanting $2000 for install. I'll happily pay $3000 when the times comes to get a Toyota battery in there.

I just did a fresh battery health test on dr prius and I'm still at 40%.

Reading more reviews regarding green bean or other reconditioned batteries just seems like such a gamble.

It really varies based on the person you're talking to. 2800-3200 is the low end for out the door dealer installs. Some jackasses will actually throw in a bunch of components that one doesn't normally replace, like the computer and relays to come up with a $4500-5000 price tag. It's pretty absurd. it's either done out of blatant ignorance, or deliberate to encourage them to trade-in.

DIY install gets a 1yr/12K mile warranty vs 3 year for dealer install. The reality is they fail so rarely in the first 3 years, it comes down to do you want to pay them $800/hr to install (their cost is about $1400 for the battery, so they're charging $1600 for 2 hours of labor to install), or do you want to save the $ for yourself?

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

TBH it seems that most people I know with brake fluid/cylinder/ABS/TractionCtr/StabilityCtr/etc. problems live in humid climates, including some rather newer Toyotas that don't have a brake fluid change recommendation.

But there are cars here in dry climates that seem to never have brake problems even after well over 200,000 miles and even if the owners never change the brake fluid.

I see a LOT of Gen2 ABS actuator failures here in Phoenix. Most that I touch have the initial symptoms of failure varying from 90-250K miles with typical around 140-160K.

I would not regard Phoenix as a humid climate.

The ABS actuators coupled with the poor brake fluid change interval/practices are a $hitty combo.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by broski499

I reached out to my local Toyota dealer and got a quote for a new battery for $1990. This doesn't include labor as I would have to reach out to their shop separately. So this seems like a no brainer to me, unless the shop is wanting $2000 for install. I'll happily pay $3000 when the times comes to get a Toyota battery in there.

I just did a fresh battery health test on dr prius and I'm still at 40%.

Reading more reviews regarding green bean or other reconditioned batteries just seems like such a gamble.

not bad! install takes like an hour and a half so hopefully not too high. But you never know the dealership has a high cost to run.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by S Keith

I see a LOT of Gen2 ABS actuator failures here in Phoenix. Most that I touch have the initial symptoms of failure varying from 90-250K miles with typical around 140-160K.

I would not regard Phoenix as a humid climate.

The ABS actuators coupled with the poor brake fluid change interval/practices are a $hitty combo.

Argh... wife's 08 with 125K recently started showing the initial symptoms of ABS actuator failure.

Originally Posted by hayden55

not bad! install takes like an hour and a half so hopefully not too high. But you never know the dealership has a high cost to run.

Most dealers go by the 6 hours book-time + other arbitrary fees. Pretty hard to get a dealer to get you out for less than $2800... and they're making $1400 profit on < 2 hours labor.

[broski499]

A little update on my Prius Journey.

With the federal used EV rebate and a local SCE used EV rebate I opted to trade in my prius for a Chevy Bolt.

Never had to change out the hybrid battery! Prius Dr. app still showed the hybrid battery health at around 40% for the original 2008 battery.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by broski499

Never had to change out the hybrid battery! Prius Dr. app still showed the hybrid battery health at around 40% for the original 2008 battery.

I wasn't aware of an app for the Prius, I'll have to try it out.

Curious to know at what percent of degradation people start having reliability issues with the Prius? At 16 years old, my guess is that battery is close to causing problems. My expectation for hybrids and EVs is 15 years of no battery problems, with just a handful of people getting 20 years before the battery gives out.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I wasn't aware of an app for the Prius, I'll have to try it out.

Curious to know at what percent of degradation people start having reliability issues with the Prius? At 16 years old, my guess is that battery is close to causing problems. My expectation for hybrids and EVs is 15 years of no battery problems, with just a handful of people getting 20 years before the battery gives out.

For me, my expectations would depend a lot on the design and the chemistry and where it was driven.

It seems that Prius NiMH batteries are pretty much doomed by 15 years, some dying earlier. NiMH isn't the greatest chemistry, but Toyota generally keeps the capacity between about 25% and 75%, mimimizing degredation. (I've heard that on 3rd gen they tried to use more of the battery and as a result 3rd gen Prii don't have as good of battery life as 2nd gen.)

With lithium batteries, the LFP (LiFePO4) batteries are supposed to have close to double the longevity of Li-ion batteries. I guess we'll find out if that's true.

Some EV manufacturers allow you to charge to less-than-100%. 2014 and later Nissan Leafs don't. You charge to 100% or you have to manually disconnect it every time. So no thermal management and no practical way to keep the battery from charging to 100%. The good news is some people get a new battery before the 8 years of battery warranty is up. If that happens at 7.5 years and the second battery also lasts you 7.5 years then I guess that's a total of 15 years.

[broski499]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I wasn't aware of an app for the Prius, I'll have to try it out.

Curious to know at what percent of degradation people start having reliability issues with the Prius? At 16 years old, my guess is that battery is close to causing problems. My expectation for hybrids and EVs is 15 years of no battery problems, with just a handful of people getting 20 years before the battery gives out.

This is partially why I wanted to trade in my Prius now. The Dr. Prius app would show 40 some days and 30 others. Temp having a lot to do withit.

I basically started with a purple battery every morning with the Prius. Basically it wasn't really holding on to whatever charge it got from regen day before. It also had a limited capacity and would bleed voltage when going down hills because regen was generating too much. So my estimate was it was going to go anyday.

The Dr. Prius app is cool. Lots of great info. The battery capacity test is pretty straightforward and cheap to do with a obdi 2 Bluetooth dongle.