Followup to followup on my Prius battery

[macphanatic]

Do any of the auto parts stores near you do curbside? You could buy and pay online. Pull up, open the trunk/hatch, let them put the battery in the back. Either they or you could close and go. Risk of transmission is very low via contact surfaces.

Take the battery home and do the swap. Return the core the same way.

[PeterB]

macphanatic wrote:
Do any of the auto parts stores near you do curbside? You could buy and pay online. Pull up, open the trunk/hatch, let them put the battery in the back. Either they or you could close and go. Risk of transmission is very low via contact surfaces.

Take the battery home and do the swap. Return the core the same way.

The only advantage I can see of this, is easy return of the battery under warranty? But are they likely to honor it? Unless the auto parts store is willing to do the install, but I'm trying to save some money on this, and buying the battery and doing the install myself does seem to be the cheapest option...

[Gareth]

PeterB wrote:
[quote=macphanatic]
Do any of the auto parts stores near you do curbside?

The only advantage I can see of this, is easy return of the battery under warranty? But are they likely to honor it?
Absolutely. I have a van that regularly kills batteries within 2-3 years. So, I bought 1 Bosch AGM battery from PepBoys years ago and have been replacing it for free every few years (it's a full replacement warrantly, not pro-rated, and I get a new warranty with the replacement battery - that may not be true of all brands). After dealing with an Optima warranty through Amazon, I prefer to buy car batteries locally.

PepBoys will also install for free or minimal charge (i.e. $15). Only issue is that the selection for the Prius Gen 3 is more limited (looks to be only the Optima which is $250). AutoZone has a house brand $200 AGM option in addition to the Optima @ $250.

[PeterB]

Gareth wrote:
[quote=PeterB]
[quote=macphanatic]
Do any of the auto parts stores near you do curbside?

The only advantage I can see of this, is easy return of the battery under warranty? But are they likely to honor it?
Absolutely. I have a van that regularly kills batteries within 2-3 years. So, I bought 1 Bosch AGM battery from PepBoys years ago and have been replacing it for free every few years (it's a full replacement warrantly, not pro-rated, and I get a new warranty with the replacement battery - that may not be true of all brands). After dealing with an Optima warranty through Amazon, I prefer to buy car batteries locally.

PepBoys will also install for free or minimal charge (i.e. $15). Only issue is that the selection for the Prius Gen 3 is more limited (looks to be only the Optima which is $250). AutoZone has a house brand $200 AGM option in addition to the Optima @ $250.
Yes, I see a couple of AutoZones not too far from me; the $200 battery you're referring to is, I assume, the Duralast. Pepboys has the Optima, but it's showing up on my end as nearly $300. I wonder if the AutoZone can do the install.

[Bill in NC]

Here the auto parts stores install batteries/wipers for free...though you can call your local ones and check.

[space-time]

I jumped the car to get it started and let it run unattended for about eight hours (I left it parked in front of my house, but I have Zoom cams in front, so the likelihood of theft was low), and then turned it off.

I am curios, if you leave a Hybrid car running, does it actually run the gas engine or just idle on the lithium battery? I know my Volt would not run the gas engine, unless I opened the hood.

[PeterB]

space-time wrote:
I jumped the car to get it started and let it run unattended for about eight hours (I left it parked in front of my house, but I have Zoom cams in front, so the likelihood of theft was low), and then turned it off.

I am curios, if you leave a Hybrid car running, does it actually run the gas engine or just idle on the lithium battery? I know my Volt would not run the gas engine, unless I opened the hood.

I wondered about that too. It runs the gas engine as needed to power the traction battery, and the 12V gets charged off that... but apparently that's Toyota's recommended method of charging up the 12V if it gets run down (see the post in the followup toward the end of the thread). Here's the link: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Automobile...lt_battery

[mikebw]

PeterB wrote:
Yes, I'm the one who posted that video.

... and yes, it does look VERY easy. Just a matter of having the metric size wrenches and ratcheting wrench plus the right size drivers.

Edit: oh, and the only other thing that I thought might be tricky -- if the battery terminals are corroded in any way ... I might not be surprised if that were true, given the weather conditions we have down here.

Wow, that looks even easier than if the battery were in the engine bay. No road grime or rust to deal with!

[Acer]

mikebw wrote:
[quote=PeterB]
Yes, I'm the one who posted that video.

... and yes, it does look VERY easy. Just a matter of having the metric size wrenches and ratcheting wrench plus the right size drivers.

Edit: oh, and the only other thing that I thought might be tricky -- if the battery terminals are corroded in any way ... I might not be surprised if that were true, given the weather conditions we have down here.

Wow, that looks even easier than if the battery were in the engine bay. No road grime or rust to deal with!
I don't think you'll find any corrosion with the battery housed in the boot and not in the engine compartment. Maybe a bit of light, white oxidation at most. The two I have switched look pristine.

[macphanatic]

PeterB wrote:
[quote=macphanatic]
Do any of the auto parts stores near you do curbside? You could buy and pay online. Pull up, open the trunk/hatch, let them put the battery in the back. Either they or you could close and go. Risk of transmission is very low via contact surfaces.

Take the battery home and do the swap. Return the core the same way.

The only advantage I can see of this, is easy return of the battery under warranty? But are they likely to honor it? Unless the auto parts store is willing to do the install, but I'm trying to save some money on this, and buying the battery and doing the install myself does seem to be the cheapest option...
The battery warranty isn't impacted by who installs the battery as long as the failure isn't due to damage or installation issue. I've had self installed batteries covered under warranty. As long as you don't drop the battery or over torque the terminals that causes physical damage, there shouldn't be a warranty issue.