I am sitting here days away from Christmas with such a dilemma. My prius had to be towed to the dealer yesterday because it finally turned off and wouldnt turn back on. Over the course of the month, I have had several times the car stalled, losing all power, I would have to shut it off, wait a little while, restart and was ok to go again, once i did a little driving around to get the battery back up to a 70% charge. This happened when I would first start it, within 5 - 10 minutes of my drive. Yesterday morning when it stopped for its final time, it stalled within the first 30 seconds of driving it. When I shut it off and tried to restart it never would. The dealership had to call in the error codes to their main technical support and they were told it meant that that the battery was too low to properly run the car. The dealership suggested recharging the battery, but offered no guarantee that that will fix the problem..... has anyone ever experienced this and can offer any suggestions?
We're they talking about the 12v battery? I have heard that before. They last about 5 years. Best to have it replaced.
You are in the Prius v forum, but your user info says you have a 2002. Do you have both? Or wrong forum? Or wrong/outdated user info? If you have the 2002, then it could very well be a dead HV battery. Or not. Did you notice swings of the battery charge going really full to empty fast? Charging quite a lot just off of regenerative braking? Did the turtle ever appear? It could be the inverter not putting out the right charge, or it could be the battery is dead enough so that it just cannot sustain the power needed. Or a myriad of other reasons including things like one of the MG windings has shorted. Have you ever done an ATF drain/refill?
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Main battery dead after 10 years, sounds pre-mature. But I'll leave that to the experts. Maybe it is something else. When the dealer comes back with detailed information let us know what they say. There are always less expensive options many on the board can suggest.
If it was a 2004+, then yes that would seem early failure. However, the pre-2004 "classic" series use inferior cells and metal terminals making HV pack failures more common then hoped. It is a function of age with the way the bus bars corrode and the individual cells gas out. 2004+ cells are far better and it is what has been used in all Prii since (except the PiP).
When my HV battery in my 2002 failed at 100k I had the local Toyota dealer replace it, and I specifically asked my service guy whether the battery would be refurbished or just old stock that's been sitting on a shelf for some 10 years. He claimed neither; he said that the batteries are still being produced, so it will be a brand-new battery. Assuming this is really true, one would hope that the design has been improved by now.
