Letting the ICE warm up for 1 min before blasting off has made a huge difference. that, combined with better understanding of the 4 phases, and utilizing them to glide more has improved my early commute tremendously. My SOC isn't fluctuating, and my mileage has improved. This morning, same 3 miles:
Good job Jeff, Keep it up. It takes time to learn how to drive the Prius "economically". It took me over a year to master it and I still don't get the best MPG, but I am happy with my overall average that is being reported by fuelly. Ron
OK.. I've been doing this for a few weeks now, and it works great. But I'm reasonably certain that I never had to do this before with the original battery. Over the weekend, I took off without doing it, and before I got off my street, my battery had dropped to ONE SINGLE BAR!!.. The ICE started suffering.. pressing the accelerator would make it barely go for a second. This doesn't seem normal to me. Is this unique to only some vehicles, or is this common to all Prii?
Good question jefe, I understand your point and I agree. My advice about warming the engine is what I tell people who have aging battery packs that are showing signs of lost capacity (like mine). In terms of battery longevity it's probably good advice for everyone, but I agree that you really shouldn't *have* to do it with a new/recond battery. To be honest, I think this behaviour indicates that your battery pack is not a very good one. I'm not really sure what you can do about it. You could probably play it either of two ways: 1. Forget about "babying" the battery like I was suggesting previous. Thrash it mercilessly and hope that it dies in warranty. I'm not joking here, this is something I'd be considering if I just paid $2000 for a battery in that condition. The thing I'd be worried about though, if I did this you could bet it would last out the warranty period and then die the next week or something. 2. Try to make the best of the less than ideal situation by using the techniques to reduce the stress on the battery. Yeah it's a bit of a dilemma. You could also try ringing reinvolt and tell them you're not completely happy with the battery, see what they suggest. We've had other cases where people were dissatisfied with their recondition battery (other companies besides reinvolt) and they've taken the hard line of "if there's no error code then no action will be taken". I'm not sure if reinvolt would be any different, but you could always give it a try.
Jeff, I have been following this string closely. If you do call Reinvolt, please post what they said about it and what they offered or did not offer to do. I do agree with uart that it sounds like your pack is not the best one out there. Who knows, the pack may last a long time or as uart stated, it might fail one week out of warranty. All of us know that the packs don't last forever. To make a long story short, I would definitely like to hear their response if you have the time to share it here. Best of luck to you. Ron
You should check the 12V system for a parasitic load. A parasitic load can pull the 12V battery down and the HV system will try to charge it. You need to have the basics checked before replacing parts.
Two things I noticed that aren't normal. 1 - Driving with a dirty MFD 2 - Driving while recording video .
Well I did call ReInvolt yesterday and described what I was experiencing. I was disappointed in their lack of response. He basically said "You should be fine." And I said, well I know that my original battery was not this sensitive during ICE warmup. And he said, "Are there any engine codes? No? You should be fine." I asked "have you had other customers report similar experience" and he replied "no, not really." I get the impression that unless there is a demonstrable problem (i.e. trouble code or triangle) they aren't concerned. so at this point, I'm tempted to just commit to uart's #1 and just punish this battery for the next 15 months and see if I can get it to fail.
I have checked the 12V. And I monitor it daily. Admittedly it is lowish. It runs in the 12.2V range overnight. hovers at 13.9 while driving. I intend to replace it in the next month (need to get through a 6-year-old's birthday party first )
I don't think the 12 volt is going to make that much of a difference, but I would definitely like to hear what you observe after you make the change. I can understand ReInvolt's attitude, as they are handling it like any other mechanic would. (No Code, No Problem) Maybe it will all sort itself in time. FWIW, my MFD stays pretty dirty too. Ron
Hi folks, I'm back with an update. As you recall, I got a remanufactured battery from Re-Involt back in June. I started noticing problems with the new battery. It depleted quickly in the mornings. If I didn't let it idle for a couple of minutes before backing out, the battery would be down to one pink bar before I got out of my neighborhood. Called Re-Involt and they said it would be fine. Fast-forward to 3 weeks ago, I finally got a code. I looked up Re-Involt only to find that they have been bought by Dorman Products) so I called Taylor Automotive. When I gave them the code (p0a80) he said it was too generic and they needed a more specific code. I kept clearing out the code and driving. It got to where it would throw the code every time I started it and eventually it gave me the extra code I needed which indicated that one of the cells was not charging. So I called Taylor Automotive back and told them the new code. They had me come in 2 days later and installed a replacement. The replacement took only 2.5 hours. The new owner seems like a nice guy. I guess they will continue to service hybrids. He told me that Dorman was only honoring the parts on the 18-mo warranty and not the labor. That's a shame that they couldn't do that just for the transitional period. But the new owner didn't charge me, he ate the labor cost. So yay that guy. The new battery has my Prius back to normal. As a test, with a 7-bar charge I started up one recent cold morning and drove to the edge of my neighborhood and it didn't even drop a bar. Hopefully this battery really will last me the rest of the life of my Prius. Thanks again for everyone's feedback and help during this "crisis".
what is so sad about this is,,, there are sooo many crooks out there that just want to get in our billfolds, and think if they just put the customer off and stall and stall they will g0 away! they dont have an answer so just try to BS or stonewall. they knew what they were doing or did not care. BUYER BE WARE!!
My experience with ReInvolt (now Dorman Hybrid) has unfortunately not been so smooth. The ReInvolt battery we purchased in 2013 died just short of its first birthday. After several phone calls and finding out Dorman purchased ReInvolt we finally had the warranty replacement battery arrive at the installer. It is now TWO MONTHS later and Dorman has yet to reimburse the installer for the installation charges under the warranty as they have in the past. Both the installer and I are quite upset at this unnecessary delay. I have tried on a couple of occasions to speak directly with David Taylor at Dorman Hybrid but was referred instead to sending him an email. Some issues, when they reach this point, really do benefit from a good "old-fashioned" person-to-person voice phone call. Did I read your post correctly that Dorman is NOT honoring the labor under warranty?!
The more I read about remanufactured batteries, the more I think a brand new one is the choice long term. Anyway, waiting for a minute before leaving and letting the car advance in hybrid states is doing good to your battery. That's when the engine is completely cold (as in first morning start). The computer tries to protect the engine and uses the battery almost exclusively.
Steve at autobeyours is an honest good guy,, give him a chance..he does great battery work!. he is there EVERY day working,, and his wife is there,, so you know she will kick some butt if there are ANY issues! just an honest guy! I drive almost 4 hours to have him do my work!! the best advice he EVER gave me was JUST DRIVE IT!!
Hi folks. Well, the story continues. A few days ago, I noticed my battery (now #3) started behaving oddly. It would again deplete before I got out of the neighborhood. I started letting it warm again like i do in colder weather. But today, I got the dreaded problem code: P08A0. ARGGGG!! Is it possible that I have gotten 2 defective batteries from them? Or is something about my Prius killing them? Give me some ideas of things to check. I'm pretty sure the warranty on the original battery is a one-time replacement. So I'm out of luck for any warranty, as the replacement did not come with a warranty. I may contact Dorman about it just in case.
