hybrid battery water damage

my thought is, go to another dealer. battery should be sealed from water. if you do need a new one, warranty should cover it. finally, if you do need a new battery and toyota won't pay. you can get a used one or a rebuilt from reinvolt. have it towed to another dealer asap. or a private prius repair shoppe. what lights came on when she died? did the dealer give you the list of trouble codes?

 

stay tuned, i'm sure you'll get better advice from the more technology minded members very soon. all the best!

 

what was his reasoning for no warranty coverage?

 

Sounds like he has no idea. Get it to another dealer before this guy drains your funds.
At least get the codes and post here as mentioned previously.

 

if it actually is water damage, perhaps it got in through a DEFECTIVE protective casing. i'm yelling at the dealer, not you. could be rain/puddles?

you also can bypass the dealer and contact toyota regional directly. see the back of your owners manual/warranty booklet.

 

Yes, go to another dealer and don't mention a thing about the plants.... sheezzz, that couldn't have had anything to do with. I suspect a faulty inverter and they just want to blame it on you.

 

well done. i don't know the specifics of the waterproofing, but unless you had a leaking 55 gallon drum back there, i would think it would be well protected.

 

What a crock! Its a wonder he didn't tell you it was because of you driving through a big puddle. Plants?!?! You'd have more worries from normal grocery spills like leaking milk and juice containers and coolers of beer than plants. Jeez I've been hauling plants for all 6+ years in mine.

Umm not for nothing but you didn't buy this car used? Might have been a "flood" recovery car.

 

For the sake of argument, let us assume that the dealer is on the up and up and the OP has been hauling leaking 55 gallon drums of water around with plants floating in the water.

The Prius will generate codes (usually 5 digits, alpha, number, number, number, number) which show what the car thinks is wrong, this can greatly illuminate why the dealer is making his estimates. We need those codes.

www.reinvolt.com and others sell rebuilt HV Battery packs for under $2000, installed. I also seem to recall venders in New Mexico and Colorado who frequent PriusChat who do HV Battery work. I hope they chime in.

Used inverters on ebay are not uncommon. You would still need an Automotive Electrician in Austin.

prius 2010 inverter -wire | eBay

 

This whole situation smells fishy. Find another dealer.

Tom

 

I can't speak to waterproofing of the HV battery pack but I can tell you the Altima Hybrid's manual (uses technology licensed from Toyota plus an unknown # of parts sourced from Toyota) has a warning about water inside the car:

The whole thing sounds fishy and we REALLY need the codes to have more to go on. Without codes, we're just taking shots in the dark. We have a number of repair experts here on Priuschat who can guide the OP further, once we have the codes.

Besides, the Prius FB page, the battery pack prices are also at http://pressroom.toyota.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2727.

 

NEVER admit anything that will in any way infer that this could have contributed to the problem. It would not be factual, as you see the dealer used your own statement against you. But, the dealer did not know it was factual! Compris?

 

She was hauling plants not fish. lol

 

This is the only thing I could find on internet that fit that the above facts. This guy says if the gasoline motor (ICE) is messed up, it could take out hybrid battery. I do not even know if he is discussing a Prius. But I found nothing saying moisture could damage NiMH batteries, except what CWERDNA found in the Altima manual.

ICE common cause for hybrid battery failure

ICE common cause for hybrid battery failure

January 20, 2011
Poor performance of the Internal combustion engine is a major contributor to hybrid battery failure. When more power is required then the ICE can provide the electric engine kicks in drawing on the battery. If the battery does not get the opportunity to get charge up before it is called upon for a discharge the capacity drops even further. If this continues then the point may be reached where the weakest cell in the series fails under load.
Causes for poor performance in the ICE are varied but the usual culprits are
a) MAF sensor
b) Spark plugs
c) ignition plug in coils
d) throttle body
e) air filter
f) oxygen sensor
g) engine oil and coolant
h) Clogged catalytic converters