Hybrid Battery Warning Light, then GONE!

Yes, I would not be surprised if your traction battery failed soon. 9 years old, so it is due.

 

Mine gave the triangle warning after sitting for several hours in a parking lot on a 95 degree day. Then I let it sit in the shade for about an hour and all was well. But I knew, after reading several posts here, that it meant that the problem would return. In addition although the warning triangle was gone the engine would rarely turn off anymore and it seamed to be getting worse. I simply upgraded to the newer gen cells, 2004-2009, and all is well. In fact my mileage is better than ever. I found a few bad cells in the pack and used them with some of the good ones to turn my corded lawnmower into a rechargeable cordless mower. I have some good cells leftover from the old pack for sale on eba. Or just upgrade to the newer 2004-2009 cells. I have some of those for sale on ebay too so you can save some money and just buy one used battery pack from a 2004-2009. I bought 2 packs, each newer gen 2 pack has 28 cells and the old gen 1 packs have 38 cells,. Thats why you have to buy two gen 2 packs to rebuild 1 gen 1 pack. Thats why I have 18 gen 2 cells leftover as I only needed 10 from the 2nd gen 2 pack. Check your local wrecking yards they might have some gen 2 packs for cheap. I got mine for around $500 each, both from a 2007. I have heard that the gen 3 packs use similar cells to the gen 2 packs but can't confirm it yet and there weren't any gen 3 packs available when I did my rebuild. It only took about 4 hours with the help of my wife and my cordless impact driver to disassemble the 2 newer packs and rebuild my gen 1 pack.

 

I couldn't find a online how to. There are books for $40. But it is really so simple that once you take it apart you will realize just how simple it is. Here the basics.

Following this guide doesn't make me responsible for and injury, death, or vehicle damage, or any other consequential damages that may occur.

1: Obtain 38 gen 2 cells, I got mine by buying 2 gen 2 battery packs from a 2007. 2: Disassemble the new battery packs. Be careful you can kill yourself here. Individually the battery cells are harmless together they are strong. So wear thick leather gloves and make sure you keep one hand free at all times to ensure you don't accidentally touch the wrong thing and hurt yourself. Disassembly include removing a bunch of 8 & 10 mm nuts and bolts and a few 12mm ones. Once you have removed the bus bars from the new packs your out of danger of hurting yourself with the new packs since now the battery cells are by them selves. All you will need from the new battery packs are the cells themselves. Although the bus bars copper strips are compatible and if your gen 1 battery pack bus bars are discolored make a free replacement. 3: Disconnect the negative from the 12volt auxillary battery in the trunk. Pull the orange disconnect plug from the gen 1 battery pack from the trunk. Then remove the gen 1 pack from your car, make note where everything goes. Disassemble the gen 1 pack paying close attention to where everything goes. You will need to know in order to put it back together. Pay attention to which cells the temp sensor plug into. Pictures are great for this. Take extreme caution and where thick leather gloves and only use one hand to reduce the chance of touching the wrong thing and hurting yourself. 4: Install the gen 2 cells where the gen 1 cells where. You will notice that there where 2 8mm bolts holding the gen 1 cells to the pack, but you can only use 1 8mm bolt to attach the new gen 2 cells to the gen 1 pack. This is fine. You will find the last 10 cells more difficult to install and they will be splaying apart. This is normal, just use a screwdriver to carefully align them so you can install the 8mm bolt holding them in place. 5: Reinstall the clamp bars. Making sure that the cells are perfectly aligned. This part can be tricky just take your time and keep the 8 mm bolts that hold the cells in place loose until the clamps are installed but not tight and the cells are aligned then tighten every thing up. 6: You will notice that the temp sensors that snapped into place on the gen 1 cells won't do so on the gen 2 cells. Not a problem, just push them in like they were in the gen 1 cells then use 2 small zip ties for each temp sensor and secure them to the mounting ears on the new cells that line up with the mounting ears on the temp sensors, it will be obvious when you do this. 7: Put the rest of the battery pack back together using the newer copper inserts for the bus bars if yours were discolored. You will find the top cover a bit difficult to reinstall. Its just a tighter fit now, not an issue. Just make sure all the bolts holding the cover down are started before you tighten any of them up. 8: Reinstall the gen 1 battery pack that now has gen 2 cells into the gen 1 prius.

I hope that helps others do the same as I did. Remember your responsible for your own health and safety. Following this guide doesn't make me responsible for and injury, death, or vehicle damage, or any other consequential damages that may occur.

 

Well there is a wrecking yard near me with 1 newer pack left and they want $520 for it. They are in Chicago, IL. You could just buy one pack and 10 cells from me. I have some on ebay/craigslist. Reinvolt has a warranty if I understand correctly. I found the swap fairly easy for a first timer, just tedious, but I am a ME so I like that sort of thing anyway. I think the reinvolt kit is around $1700 plus shipping with a warranty so you could save a ton of money doing it yourself but if you make a mistake its your problem. BTW what is this voice input kit from japan in your signature? Also do you know where I could buy a new spindle motor for my dvd navigation? The motor that spins the DVD?