Anyone ever need to replace their hybrid battery?

Because they don't get paid to diagnose problems, they get paid to fix problems.

Same reason why when a $0.01 button membrane gets gunk on it in some electronic device making it not power on, you replace the entire thing and not take a little isopropanol and clean the membrane.

 

Who is "we"? If "we" is Toyota, the approved repair procedure is to replace the entire battery with a new assembly. I suppose the justification for that is that replacement of an individual module has a high likelihood of another module failure in the short to medium term.

If "we" is the individual DIY owner who is willing to trade time for a cost savings, then it would be reasonable to do as you suggest in your msg.

 

A suspect battery, that is, a car with a marked driveability problem but no trouble codes, is rare. Usually, the trouble code pinpoints the problem. If Toyota has a remanufacturing program where they recondition modules taken from cores, then they are much better off to have a centralized facility. On labor, it takes just as long to pop a new battery in as it would to go in and pull the cover off for an inspection.

 

My issue: the local Toyota dealership just pulled DTCs P3000, P3006, P1445 on my 01 Prius and declared I need to replace HV battery, HV battery ECU and fuel tank. After searching threads here on subject, I see I need more detailed diagnosis before any such thing. I've asked them for info codes to pin point source of failure and to actually test the battery voltages. They agreed and another tech said the problem may be just the HV battery needs replaced ($2299+tax+core+labor).

I know I can replace the pack myself. However, if the battery test indicates one or two bad modules, what are my options to get the existing battery pack refurbished? I don't have equipment to test existing or replacement modules. Is there anyway to avoid spending $3000. on a 11yr old car? Do you know of any success in just replacing a bad module or two verses Re-Involt or new battery options?

 

The only equipment you need for testing high level is a volt meter. More is needed for capacity testing.

I would recommend against replacing the battery with another NHW11 battery. The NHW20 cells are superior in every way. The ReInvolt packs for the GenI are actually GenII cells. I would recommend that.

Doing it yourself, you are basically playing roulette. Are those really the only bad cells? And if so, and you replace them with cells that are much healthier than the rest, they will just discharge into the rest of the pack and heat up more than usual because they cannot be balanced. It is not as easy as picking out Cell N and replacing it. You have to make sure it is a good "match" like an organ transplant.

 

Thanks for the valuable info. I'm seeing that it wouldn't be beneficial for me to get into module swapping in an old battery, unless I want to do it all over again in who knows how many months. I've started a new thread "Replace HV Battery: Toyota vs Re-InVolt" in this forum. I'm hoping to get more owners to report their experiences with replacing HV batteries.
http://priuschat.com/forums/generat...8-replace-hv-battery-toyota-vs-re-involt.html

 

Just had my 2005 battery go bad - big red icon, bad battery codes - at 116,000 miles. Would have liked it to last to 150-200k, but the Texas sun has said otherwise.

But, I estimate that it saved me $6000 over its lifetime. Trying to spend less than the dealer-estimated $4600 for a new replacement so I can keep some of that money! Just got off the phone with Re-involt, about to place my order with them after doing lots of research here. I think the walk-away cost to me may be under $3000, which means I preserved more of my investment.

This is almost exactly the same mileage my ex's battery failed at - 117,000 - she's got a 2006 Prius. Interesting that the one year difference didn't matter as much as the mileage, in this admittedly small sample.

Thanks to all of you who posted useful info about non-dealership options! I think as the Prius fleet ages, more folks like that should be able to do good business, undercutting the dealerships and reusing the good parts of the batteries in the process. Even more environmentally friendly than recycling.

 

i looked online and there was a HV traction battery 2004-2009 for 1000$ or best offer... when asking the guy he said it had full charge when they pulled it from the vehicle 2 months ago.

He said there is a 30 day warrenty with the battery (how would that work?) I'm approaching 250,000 km for my 04 prius and am worried about the SOC (since idling from the normal 6-7 bars in 5 mins or so already brings it down to 3-4 bars with the day time running lights off).

How much does the HV battery goes for at the dealership? I believe they quoted 4 hours for labor?

 

First off, don't even worry about the battery yet. Just sitting there doing nothing it consumes about 2A to 4A from the HV battery at 200-240v. That is 400Wminimum essentially, just for being parked. So sitting in READY for 5minutes, it will drop.

When it does come time to replace it, you can buy salvaged ones for cheaper than that. But $1000CDN is pretty respectable price for a known tested good pack. Installation takes about an hour. 10 minutes is the actual installation the rest is carefully removing interior trim pieces. I am sure the dealership would love to charge you 4 hours though if that's what you ask.

 

good to know 2k1 ^ thanks for the info guess i'll keep driving it until it rusts haha

 

Look on Car-part.com for a battery near you. You've got some time. There are lots of very cheap batteries in junkyards in Canada.

 

I had to replace some modules in my HV battery at 106k( with the technical help from a few great guys on this forum) . I have 118k miles now and all is well. I have spare good modules in case I need to do this again. For someone who does not care to go through the work of replacing bad modules I would buy either a rebuilt battery from a battery rebuilder like revolt or just buy a battery from a wrecked Prius. I have a hard time putting $4000.00 or $5000.00 for a new battery into a 2006 (which my is) when after you are done you could get into an accident and the insurance is not going to pay you anymore for having a new battery. I will replace modules again if I ever need to.

 

AWESOME SITE! many thanks!

 

Just another data point. Had the dreaded triangle of death, red ! car, check engine and VSC lights come on the other morning. Pulled the codes and got P0A80 indicating the nimh modules were out of balance. Took to dealer and they confirmed the HV battery needs to be replaced. Fortunately my '05 only has 71k miles on it so it will be free. Phoenix temps probably played a role, and having my AC out most of last summer due to a rock to the condenser probably didn't help either. Have to get that fixed before summer roles around again ...

 

Lucky that it was still under warranty.

If you plan to keep your Prius for much longer after the HV battery replacement, maybe consider parking in the shade more or in areas that receive sunlight for fewer hours of the day. I tend to do that in the summer in CA.

 

Driving without AC is horrible for the traction battery. I am willing to bet that was a major contributor. If you need the window down, the traction battery needs the AC on.

 

I bought 2006 Prius off ebay last year and had to have the Hybrid battery replaced after a few weeks. I was so happy it was under warrenty. The car had benn in a collision and was registered as a taxi so who knows what happened to it. It had about 34000 miles at the time.

It is running great now. I replaced a 2001 Prius which I sold locally to someone who was giving it to their son as a first car.

 

Do I read that right? Taxi and 34,000 miles??? If so, that's probably the earliest HV battery failure I've ever heard of.

My 06 currently has past 61K miles and it's not high at all high mileage for its age vs. some of the folks here.

 

I have been bragging about my 06 being virtually trouble free for 135k miles. Yesterday I left for work and before I was a block from the house the same lights you got appeared on the dash. The "Master Warning Light" (that's what I think it's called), the amber brake warning and the check engine icon. The display showed the little red car icon with the exclamation point on top of it. Oh $#!+, what does this mean? The vent fan was also running at full speed.

There is well reviewed Toyota only repair shop near by so I took it over. They ran full diags (for about a third of what the local dealer charges) and determined that block 10 of the HV battery was in trouble (high resistance). They suggested calling Toyota customer service to verify my warranty status and get it to the dealer if it was still covered.

For all the complaining I do about the nanny-state of California, Toyota verified that my battery pack was still under the CA 150k mile warranty and I should take it in.

Dealer took it in (the $245! diagnostic charge would be covered if they found a warranted problem) and they came to the same conclusion. The next problem - they don't actually have the battery that their computer said they had in stock. Lead time is at least one week, maybe two.

The dealer techs assured me that it was safe to drive until the new battery arrives. One thing I noticed in driving it between shops was that the charging and discharging looked normal, but the ICE never stops. So I am taking it back and will continue using it to go to work and hope it doesn't go completely to hell on me during the wait.

 

Im very curious what some of these 100k plus mile traction battery fans look like. I know I pulled a HUGE hunk of hair and dust out of my fan at 130k.