Hi Guys. I am new to this forum, though I have visited here couple of times in the past since acquiring my 2001 Prius about 15 months ago. Today, whilst on the road in a typical weekend traffic slowdown I suddenly noticed a momentary loss of power before the car reluctantly started moving again from a stopped position. This happened 2 or 3 times during the span of about 20 minutes of traffic crawling. I usually drive with the 'Energy/Consumption' display, and I noticed the wheels, battery, motor diagram acting rather erratically, and at one stage the battery diagram which usually shows fully green charged, dropped right down to the bottom. A few moments later, the battery charge started filling up again and now shows fully charged again. I was able to get back home without any further incidence, though the experience was quite unsettling. I bought my car at an auction for a real bargain and have been extremely satisfied with the car, thanking myself for the savings every time I go for a gas refill, which does not happen very so often now unlike before. I am an avid hybrid fan and have been recommending a hybrid to whoever is ready to listen. Since owning the car I have clocked up about 40K and the current odometer is over 200K. I have to go out to work again tomorrow ( Saturday ) with a 100km to & fro trip, and the local weather forecast is for snow & rain for the whole day tomorrow. My concern is being stranded on the highway in inclement weather. Is my car problem due to the auxiliary 12v battery, the main traction battery or some onboard computer problem? Please assist. Thanks
It sounds like the traction battery is about to die on you. Are any warning lights on? Usually when you see the traction battery SOC gauge move up & down rapidly, that is a good clue that the battery is near-dead. The Classic Prius SOC gauge usually registers at the 50% or 75% levels, when the battery is working OK.
Negative. No warning signs or lights as yet. Was able to get to work this morning ( about 40kms drive ) without any problems, traffic being much lighter. I was keeping an alert eye on the Energy/Consumption display as usual and only once did I notice the square battery display there (with the negative & positive terminals shown) momentarily drop 1 level and then it was back to the full charge display again. This too happened when I had stopped at a traffic light. If it is the traction battery, what are my options besides its replacement which is a hefty $2000+ or even more. Since it is already an 11 yrs old car with about 211000 kms on it, is it worthwhile to spend 2-3k on it?! Would appreciate any suggestions or inexpensive remedies from anyone on the forum. Thanks
Your best bet is to learn how to rebuild it yourself using packs from two 2004-2009 Prius. You can get a ReInvolt(.com) battery, but shipping USA -> CA is the usual nightmare. Even if you deem it not worth fixing, it should be worth $2K+ CDN on craigslist.
Thanks Patrick & 'Seilerts'. Appreciate your comments/suggestions. Is there a way for me to check the battery status without opening it up physically? I know for someone experienced & with prior knowledge this would be very easy.
Seilerts already mentioned the least-costly alternative which is for you to invest some "sweat-equity" into the repair. This assumes you can do this without killing yourself. There's not much you can do regarding battery evaluation, without opening it. You would want to evaluate the physical condition of the modules (looking for bus bar corrosion, for example) and measure module voltage, looking for one module whose voltage is substantially below the others. However if you don't have any warning lights on then the module voltages may not vary very much at this time. My guess is that dealer replacement of the traction battery will cost $3K or more. You might check the market value of your vehicle in your area, but I doubt it would make economic sense to spend that amount on repairs, when your transaxle, inverter, electric steering gear, etc. could die on you tomorrow and you would then face another four-digit repair bill.
If you can drive the car with Techstream (Toyota dealer diagnostic system) hooked up you can see what the 19 battery blocks are doing while under load (ideally driving uphill in reverse since that will use 100% battery power) If you can't get Techstream you can get similar data out of ScanGaugeII programmed with Gen1 Prius specific Xgauges...but you can only see 4 variables at once so min block voltage and max block voltage would be good ones to monitor. I have not tried Torque (Android app) with Gen1 Prius but it may allow you to view battery block data as well if you can enter the PIDs.
