Still driving my 2001, performing as new ! Any info on the time or other life limit on the battery?
Battery Time Limit
Nov 04, 2010
9 Replies
The car will tell you.
Which of the 3 (or more) are you referring to? There is the HV battery, 12V battery, and key fob battery.
For the HV: Remove the cover and inspect the bus bars for corrosion indicating terminal seal electrolyte leakage. Also have a shop with the proper scan tool log the min and max block voltages while under heavy drain and heavy charge currents. The bigger the difference between the 2 voltages (delta V) the weaker the pack. See:
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For the 12V: do a simple load test and check the electrolyte levels (acid). the battery will either be AGM or flooded. If there is no free liquid in any of the cells it is AGM, if there is free liquid top it off with distilled water. Either way the case plastic is translucent so it should be easy to tell.
For the FOB: just replace it, they are cheap. They are 3 for $1 at the Dollar Tree store near me.
Lab tests on the current version of the pack indicate about 180k miles under normal driving conditions. Older packs are prone to corrosion at one or two terminals, but potential life may be equally good.
Have you had to replace the other battery? You know, the one that drives the accessories? Mine (on my 2005 Prius) died after about 5 years.
--LG
5 years is a long time for the accessory battery. 3 years is normal. Decca makes a replacement that is probably better than OEM for that.
My daughter's Hyundai Accent had a battery last 7 yrs!!
My 2003 Prius finally had to have its original accessory battery replaced after 7 aand half years.
my 2004 model had it have its 12V battery replaced after six years.
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