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2015 not charging while coasting, ICE won’t turn off, odd acceleration

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Markdizle, Jan 7, 2020.

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  1. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    Second time this has happened. Car doesn’t seem like it’s charging when coasting, the ice always wants to stay on when stopped (well after she’s warmed up), battery fan in the back seat seems to be on more then usual, and the acceleration is really funky. Seems like it’s constantly trying to charge the battery with the ice on/ revved up higher, but won’t regenerate?

    Other than that the car runs great, excellent mpg. I changed the 12v battery 6 months ago, oil is fresh, no codes/ warning lights on the dash. Just north of 50k miles on the clock.

    Help!


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    #1 Markdizle, Jan 7, 2020
  2. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    If by 'coasting' you mean in N, that is correct, it does not charge in N.

    If the battery fan is on, the battery may be over heating. That would limit charging.

     
    #2 JimboPalmer, Jan 7, 2020
  3. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    By coasting I mean decelerating in D, not N. Car sat for an hour+ while I was running, maybe the battery could have still been hot because I was going downhill for a few miles (1.5 miles tops) prior and topped off the battery?

    I did take her for a drive about 30 minutes later and all was well. Just want to catch a problem if there is one before it turns into a real issue!

    Thanks for the link, I did clean the fan about a year ago but doesn’t hurt to clean it again.


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    #3 Markdizle, Jan 8, 2020
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    agree on cleaning the hybrid battery cooling fan again. have you owned the car since new?
     
    #4 bisco, Jan 8, 2020
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  5. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    I’ve had it since 2017, absolutely zero problems except for this. Going to clean that bad boy today and report back, I couldn’t imagine it being dirty already but you never know


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    #5 Markdizle, Jan 8, 2020
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if you don't know the history, and fan cleaning doesn't help, you may have to dig into the battery and look for corrosion.
    do you carry shedding pets?
     
    #6 bisco, Jan 8, 2020
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  7. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    No pets in the car while I’ve owned it


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    #7 Markdizle, Jan 8, 2020
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  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how many battery bars when it happens?

    it's not hot out, correct?
     
    #8 bisco, Jan 8, 2020
  9. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    1 pip from full, after maybe a 2 mile drive somewhat down hill. It’s been rather cold out and car has sat for at least an hour before this happened, both times. You think it would have cooled off in an hour??


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    #9 Markdizle, Jan 8, 2020
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it shouldn't even be hot to begin with, in those conditions
     
    #10 bisco, Jan 8, 2020
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  11. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    No way the temperatures of the car, ambient or the battery are too hot in H. Beach in Jan. :confused:

    Most of these signs point to a weakened HV battery state. Assuming yours was purchased in Cali., you have many years left on the warranty but it's going to have to throw the appropriate codes first.

    You can get a cheap wireless OBD transmitter and a phone app to monitor it.
     
    #11 fotomoto, Jan 8, 2020
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  12. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    Do you have one that you would recommend? I gave a Carista OBD thing, I ran the diagnostic tool and nothing came up.

    Happened again for the 3rd time, all 3 times I went to the same place to go running! I checked the fan mesh filter thing and it’s clean. Oil is topped off and smells like oil.

    I’ll probably take it in soon, I’ve never had to take a car in for service before (always been able to fix myself). Any recommendations near Aliso Viejo, CA? Dealer or small mechanic that is good with hybrids?

    Car drives PERFECT until I go to this one spot to run, so weird!!!


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    #12 Markdizle, Jan 23, 2020
  13. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Some variation happens to my car at a certain stretch of my commute. Car would suddenly dip in instant mpg on the meter and rev up higher at the same stretch. When I looked at hybrid assistant app as I’m on the stretch, you can see the engine temp not yet at 190F so engine revs up. After temp is 190F, mpg meter goes up again. Same with SOC, once on the stretch, if temp is Already 190F but if SOC is below 60%, ICE revs up til SOC reaches 60%. Mystery was solved.
     
    #13 Grit, Jan 23, 2020
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  14. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    Update: still happening! Not very often through. I can still reproduce it by driving 25 mins home from work at freeway speeds (65mph), park for a bit, then drive down the big hill for a run in the flats.

    I got the Dr Prius app that connects to my Carista OBD2 port and have been monitoring the batter temps. From the very short research I have done it seems like my battery temp is higher then usual.

    Weather here is cool today, about 70 avg across my timeline.

    Home from work, middle battery temp (temp 2 in my screen shots) is about 108. Drive to my running spot and park, battery gets up to 110.5 (mostly downhill, 2 miles max).

    Park for 1.5 hours, battery temp is up to 126 from just sitting and it’s getting cooler out!

    I just checked the fan filter and it was really clean. So my battery temp went from 110 to 126, after sitting for 1.5 hours in cool weather. What gives?!

    First screen shot is when I parked before running, second is when I got in the car after 1.5 hour run. Pretty sure the high batter temp is my problem IMG_8926.png


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    #14 Markdizle, May 20, 2020
  15. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    IMG_8927.png


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    #15 Markdizle, May 20, 2020
  16. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Is the app configured to turn on the HV fan at a certain temperature and do you hear the fan spinning up and on? With default setting, this app doesn't even turn on my HV fan even after 100F.
     
    #16 Grit, May 20, 2020
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  17. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    Yes it turns on, either when I force it in the app or the car determines its time (not sure what temperature that actually is) but the fan does work. I’ll have to pull the whole fan assembly out this weekend and clean it


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    #17 Markdizle, May 20, 2020
  18. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Sounds lke you need to bump up the fan speed and crank your AC up to high before you take off driving. Your SOC is beyond 65%, you should be seeing orange bars like crazy on the screen, at 72% you should see red bars and numbers. And that app HV fan management has horrific, I like hybrid assistant better one touch and the fan comes on. If you don't manually override the settings, the fan will spin incredibily slow.
     
    #18 Grit, May 20, 2020
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  19. Markdizle

    Markdizle Member

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    I searched the iOS App Store for hybrid assistant and didn’t find anything? Is there a way to keep the fan on without using the app all the time?


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    #19 Markdizle, May 21, 2020
  20. Maarten28

    Maarten28 Active Member

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    These are crazy numbers. 76-77% SOC is way above what the Prius wants and at that point regen is already severely limited and it might start running the ICE to burn some of that SOC off. 80% is the absolute limit it will go and you will know when you reach that because the engine will start running at mid to high RPM.
    If you drive 2 miles downhill then that is to be expected.

    Also battery temperature is very high, also in the range that regen and electric power is limited, so the ICE will run more often when accelerating. The small fan on the right in the rear seat should be running at that point. Is it? Can you check if it is clogged?

    What is the ambient temperature? I've noticed clear performance issues when the outside temperature is in the 95-105F range. Make sure you run the AC so the HV fan can get some cooler air on the HV pack.
     
    #20 Maarten28, May 22, 2020
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