My Prius Battery rebuild experience

Well... Yeah it actually might.



But generally you have some time after it first throwing a code to when it death spirals. Weeks usually. Sometimes months. The car has told you it is dead but you can give it amnesia by clearing the codes and keep going. The next time it tells you, by throwing a code, it is worse than before. And so on. Ignore it long enough and it will eventually strand you at the side of the road best case. Worst case damage the battery enclosure, ECUs, or the entire car. All of which are money.

 

I read on here somewhere ages ago that running the car that way will further damage the modules by running them too flat.

The car stops putting charge into the modules but will take charge from them.

If you intend to completely replace the hybrid battery (or modules, eg from a wreck) then continue.

If you intend to rebuild/recondition your battery then driving the car will make this task more complex and expensive.

Note: Hopefully someone with an actual clue will come along soon and clarify/correct this (ie I'm low-level novice at this).

 

Yes

He uses an electric wrench just to speed the process up. I think you need 2 Torque wrenches though.

 

You should use a torque wrench to get the correct spec's instead of just "by feel". You don't need 2 different ones, but it helps as the nuts on the batteries are torqued to a low inch-lb value whereas the big bolts are torqued to a much higher ft-lb value. It's unlikely for a cheap torque wrench to be calibrated for both value ranges. The important one is the nuts on the battery. The bolts that hold it to the car are less important in my view. But to do it right, every nut and bolt on the vehicle has a spec from the factory.

I personally do NOT recommend using a power tool for any of this. Yes it will take longer. However, I have seen the effects of people using power tools installing my modules as well as others. It is VERY easy to slip and now you short two modules together. It may only be a second or two, but you will melt bus bars, fuse/weld terminals and basically cause at least 1 battery module worth of damage. Go slowly. Take your time. Be methodical. Be safe.

 

You NEED at least 1 torque wrench to do the job. The harbor freight inch pound one will work for the bolts electricity flows thru.

Some auto parts stores rent tools. Have you checked to see if you can rent one?

 

You should really do some research and figure that out by yourself. You need to be prepared.

 

Inch....pound.....torque.....wrench.

 

48 inch pounds is the spec .

 

I guess technically it could be call just torque wrench.

But torque wrench come in many scales, drive sizes, and other variatons.

Scales
Inch pound
Foot pound

Drive size
1/4 inch
3/8 inch
1/2 inch

Can be
Beam type
Click type
Electronic

So my more specific reccomendation for you is a 1/4 inch drive, click type, inch pound torque wrench.

You can look at YouTube videos to see how to properly use it.

 

That doesn’t mean it is not a thing. It just means you haven’t heard of it.

Now imagine you are the person writing instructions to describe precisely how tight “when it gets tight” is. Then you will get an understanding of being able to say, “tighten to 48 in*lbf”. A very precise statement that has no ambiguity.

 

The proper procedure to open the rear gate when you have no power is listed in your owners manual. I suggest you reference it.

 

You are probably best to phone newpriusbattries.com and have them advise you.

As Bob mentioned, in the owner's manual:

Put a folded rag over the catch hook so you can still close the hatch but so it won't lock, to prevent getting in this situation in the future.

 

Well I can tell from you still having all the original orange plastic and wiring harness you haven't followed the manual which says to fully remove it. You need to get that out of there so you can start to install the new wiring harness.