2002 Prius Hybrid Battery Dead! Toyota Denies Warranty!!

DTC P3006 shows that at least one of the 38 battery modules has a substantially lower voltage than the others. So the traction battery needs to be replaced.

I do not think that the idea of buying replacement Classic modules is good (unless your intent is to implement a short-term fix so that you can sell the car and make it someone else's problem) because those modules are 8-10 years old and won't last much longer.

Hence, I would suggest that if you have a longer-term orientation, that the following 3 possibilities would work:

1. Buy a new traction battery via your local Toyota dealer's parts dept for ~$2,300. One year warranty.

2. Buy a used battery populated with 2G modules from ReinVolt for ~$1,500 plus shipping. One year warranty.

3. Make your own used battery with 2G modules, no warranty. If you compare the cost of doing #3 with #2, that will help you decide whether #2 makes sense.

Good luck.

 

BrittonJ1, I have a same situation with my prius, how did you resolve your problem, my prius revves up just like you mention and brake light comes on, restart fixes it, but somehow cant get rid of this symptom, i have had it looked at and they tell me its the main battery, i need it replaced, before i make that extra spending want to make sure if you resolved problems with your prius.

Sam

 

You more than likely have 1 or 2 bad cells in your pack, just as the code says. The symptoms match with the self diagnosis of the car.

 

so a new or regen battery is what I need i guess.

 

That is one option. One or two of a set has failed. Pick your analogy. If you had 38 dinner plates and 1 or 2 got broken, you could (a) throw the other 36 good plates away and buy a new set of 38 matching dinner plates. Or (b) you could find 2 used dinner plates that pretty closely match the other 36 you already had. Buying 2 is much cheaper than buying a whole set, but it is harder to find a matching replacement then buying a new set where you know they are all the same.

(a) would be replacing the pack.
(b) would be replacing the individual failed modules

Another option is having a 3rd party pack built of second generation cells from Re-Involt or a place like that. $1.5K USD versus the $3K to $4K a dealer will try to charge you with. A module is a few tens of dollars. The hard part is finding one that has similar characteristics and capacity to the others you have or you imbalance the pack.

 

thanks 2K1Toaster for a good insight, I will try to get in a Gen2 Battery since most of these modules in my Gen1 seem rusted and hanging by then thread...i wish i could find something cheaper.

 

Did you ever do the TSB related to the corrosion on your terminals? The older Panasonic cells in the GenI had a problem where they corroded. I am not too familiar with the details, perhaps google can aide there.

If your plan is to rebuild your pack yourself with GenII modules, you will need 2 GenII packs and pick the closest matching pairs from that. If you just don't want to mess with it, Re-Involt is a good option. Even better if you are in close proximity to them.

 

My belief is that if you replace two old Gen I packs with Gen II packs, they have lower internal resistance and probably higher capacity than the other modules. It is likely a better solution as those modules might not track well with the older modules, but at least they won't be the lowest voltage packs and they won't lead to excess heating. It would get the longest life out of the remaining modules. But likely if some are bad, then fixing the worst ones will lead to another module being the weak link in the chain and that will start overheating and losing capacity. So it is a lot of work to replace one or two modules for a possibly short term fix.

 

While I haven't tried it myself, things I've read suggest that the module dimensions may differ enough to frustrate the attachment of the bus bars.

-Chap

 

thanks for all your deed back, but affter hearing some expert opinions, I am leaning more towards Re-InVolt's now.

 

Hi Solag,

Can you kindly advise where do you get the G2 battery module for less than 600$!!

Regards,

 

You need 1.5 Gen2 batteries to make a Gen1 pack. $600 for 38 good gen2 slices is a heck of a deal, and way below market value of good gen2 slices. Hopefully the cells you got are truly good and will last more than a few weeks...otherwise welcome to the world of "whack a mole".