Buying a Generation One Toyota Prius

What to look for when buying a Generation One Prius Hybrid ( 1997 - 2000 )
Model : NHW10
Dimensions : 4305L 1595W 1465H
Year Manufactured : 1997 - 2000
Petrol Engine  : 33Kw, 1500cc
Electric Motor : 30Kw,  225 Nm torque
Max RPM : 4000, ( 0 - 100 ) 14.5 Secs
Battery : 288 volts, 57 Kg
Fuel Economy : 20 Km/L or 5L/100Kms

For those who don't know anything about and have never driven a hybrid - BEWARE. You can easily end up buying a lemon. Buy from a reputed dealer and one who knows and can support this new technology.

Look for the following
1) Vehicle must have a good reconditioned battery and a Power Jockey Installed.

Hybrid batteries last between 7 - 10 years. By now if the battery has not been reconditioned and a Power Jockey installed, the battery will soon fail and the car will be inoperable.




2) Check to ensure that the vehicle is fully maintained and serviced.
     Spark Plugs : 20,000 Kms if Irridium 100,000 Kms
     MAF Sensor : 80,000 Kms
     Oxygen Sensors : 120,000 Kms
     Service parts wear out and have to be replaced for the vehicle to operate efficiently.
     If possible a scan should be done to ensure that the sensors are working correctly.

If you take care to inquire about these two aspect of the vehicle, you can be assured that the vehicle will work for many years. The Battery Clinic assures us that the battery pack can last the life of the vehicle with the occasional battery repair and cell replacement every 2 to 3 years costing about $400.

The Petrol engine is tough and very reliable. It should be able to clock up 500,000 Kms and still show little wear and tear. For one the engine does not work all the time and it red lines at 4000 RPM compared to a normal petrol engine at 8000 - 12,000 RPM. Wear and tear compared to a standard vehicle is less than half.

In New Zealand a fully reconditioned and Power Jockey equipped Generation One Prius sells for more than $5000. These vehicles are sought after because they still have a fuel economy of 20 Kms/litre. 

The Electric motor will easily last the life of the vehicle. In 6 years of working with these vehicles I have not seen any motor fail.

Spare parts are available from wreckers and are well priced. Don't fall for those astronomical prices quoted for new parts by Toyota dealers. They are priced not to sell.

Great opportunity to own a hybrid vehicle

One fact that goes unnoticed is that the Toyota Hybrid not only saves money on fuel but also cost less to maintain. The weakness is the HV battery.
The HV battery In the Toyota Hybrid was expected to last between 8 to 10 years. The HV battery in the series 1 hybrid manufactured between 1998 to 2000 are failing or have failed. The problem is that a replacement battery cost more than the car is worth.
The Battery Clinic is the only company that specialize in restoring and reconditioning these HV batteries and give them a new lease of life. We charge a fix fee of $1500 for this service.
Knowledge is power and we have had a few people bring in vehicles that they have bought for $2500 - $3000. We recondition the battery and they get a very good cheap vehicle for their commute.
This car still drives like new - very smooth and still gives the good fuel economy. At $5000 and the likelihood that the battery will last for another 5 years your cost of vehicle ownership is as low as it gets.
Our company owns 3 series hybrids for 3 years now and the only maintenance cost are the tyres, and oil. Because of regen from braking, brake pads do not wear out as fast.

Hey Bro - It could be the 12 volt battery not the HV

Before you blame the HV battery in your hybrid vehicle, check out the 12 volt battery.
1) The dashboard lights up, the gear shift box shows, but when you turn the ignition key nothing happens. Sometimes you will see the dash dim and nothing happens.
2) The car starts but idiot light such as power steering etc shows but they still work and the vehicle seems to be working eratically.

Unlike normal petrol vehicles the 12 volt battery in the Toyota Prius Hybrid is not used to start the petrol engine. The problem here is that the 12 volt battery does not have enough charge to power the computers. Check the voltage of the 12 volt battery. It should be at least 12.5 volts.

If the battery is weak change it and presto - you are away again. This advise will probably save you some money as the local mechanic who may not know too much could charge you many hours to discover this problem or to not discover this problem!

Air Flow Meter, HEV Battery And How To Maintain A Hybrid

The Air Flow Meter

In a hybrid vehicle the single most important sensor is the Air Flow Meter. We cannot overstress how important this sensor is.

In the Generation 1 Prius 54 Kwh of power is provided by the internal combustion engine. If the
air flow meter is not working at 100% this full amount of power is never available. In a standard vehicle with 90 - 110 Kwh power you will not notice much difference, however in a hybrid the loss in power is compensated by the electric motor. This drains the HEV battery and usually leaves the HEV battery undercharged, leading to early battery failure.

A new HEV battery can handle this adequately but a reconditioned HEV battery with reduced capacity would struggle We have put in a perfectly good HEV battery is a vehicle with a faulty air flow meter and noticed the battery going down to yellow very quickly.


HEV Battery

The next most important component of a hybrid vehicle is the HEV battery. Assuming that all cells are working the battery always gives the full voltage and current to the electric motor. However how long it can maintain this depends on the state of the battery.

So the difference between a reconditioned HEV battery and a new HEV battery is the duration that the battery can maintain full power to the electric motor. As long as it can provide this power the battery will not out the triangle error.


However because the ICE motor charges the HEV battery the ICE motor is the more important component in this power chain. Keeping the ICE engine working at peak efficiency will keep the HEV battery healthy as well.

How to maintain the ICE motor.

Fortunately there is not really much to do to keep the ICE working at 100%.

1. The Air Flow Meter - If there is lack of power on acceleration clean or change
2. The Spark plugs - Change every 10,000 kms
3) Change motor oil when dirty.
4) Top up coolants in both reservoir

Loss in compression in the engine is a normal feature in standard vehicles. However in the hybrid vehicle even after clocking uo 150,000 Kms there is no appreciable loss in compression. This is because the engine does not run all the time and it works at much lower RPM. ( Notice that the motor oil is seldom black, and there is usually no oily deposits on the spark plugs. )

Battery Computer Fault - Series 1 Prius

Just last week we had a series 1 prius that has the battery charge indicator going wild. It would go halfway to full then to yellow with the tortoise appearing. By now our reconditioning process is perfected so we reconditioned it found the battery pretty dead but fixed it sucessfully even changing 6 dead cells.
When we put it back in the car we had the same problem so we drove it around thinking that we had to equalize the cells. This did not work so we had to take the battery out again. We tested the battery again with 100 amp load and found it to be very strong.
The suspicion then fell on the computer. We loaded the battery into another vehicle and lo and behold the same symptoms appeared. Wild jumping of the charge level indicator even though there was good power when the car was driven.
We changed the computer and all problems disappeared. First time that we have ever encountered a computer failure even though it did not bring up a battery fault.
What happened here was the computer software malfunction in the charge input sensors. This triggered a low battery to show the tortoise and reving up the petrol enging to charge and put in more power. It then sense that the battery if at full power immediately and went to half and 3/4 level immediately. Round and round we go as though there was very little charge in the batteries.
Anyone had this problem before?