I have my 2004 Prius in the shop for a replacement of the HV battery pack. The car has approx. 120,00 miles on it. The battery failed with all the lights, warning symbols ect. I just got a call from the dealership that its going to take longer than expected to get the car back to me. They have the battery pack replacement, but when doing the replacement, they noticed that the cables were "corroded." The cables for the battery need to be replaced before they will complete the repair. But the cables need to be ordered and won't be in soon. Is this common? for these cables to corrode? The dealer is going to replace them at no charge, so I'm guessing this is not something expected. Also, would this problem have caused the HV battery failure? Thanks
This is the second recent post on corroded cables on the Prius. There was a post a few days ago where the 12 volt main feed cable had corroded through completely inside the insulation cutting the 12 volt supply. That cable is made of aluminium and if the HV cables are also aluminium the problem is going to manifest itself more often as time goes by. This will be especially true in damp, humid, and salty environments. Aluminium although a reasonable conductor corrodes easily and is difficult to terminate reliably. It is possible "but difficult to now prove" that the battery was not at fault and that it was the cables causing problems. Were you given the fault codes for your battery failure, if so what were they? John (Britprius)
Oh man its aluminum? How stupid is that? Disimilir metal=Galvanic action. With no lubrication at the connection and throw in battery off gas and that's a guaranteed rotted wire.
Yes, very true. I'm always suspicious when you get told something like: "Oh yes we replaced that part, but now we've found another problem". I always think perhaps they really meant to say: "Oh yes we replaced that part, but now we've found the actual problem".
Let's face it. From the sound of it, the real problem was not the battery but the cables. If the problem was correctly diagnosed, we all know that cables are less expensive than batteries. I'm certain its hard to diagnose between the two unless you begin to take everything apart. The good thing is they're not charging you for the cables too. I've seen numerous instances of people having work done at the dealer and the dealer misdiagnosis something, finds the real problem later and charges the customer for both. At least this dealer is not charging you for both.
Pictures from post. 07 wont start with out jumping from under the hood(has new 12v battery) John (Britprius)
