Master, engine, VSC and engine lights all came up at the same time

Based on this info, I believe it's safe to assume the hv battery is bad.

SM-N900P ?

 

I recently had to replace my HV battery for at most $3,500 at the dealership (I'm currently looking to get a goodwill warranty). Now im worried the inverter might be going out some time down the road which is at least $4k as indicated above. If that happens I don't know what I'll do. One thing is certain I'll never buy a used prius again.

 

You can buy inverters cheap on ebay and install in 1 hour. No worries

SM-N900P ?

 

Are you serious? I do see them going for $350 on eBay and I had no idea they were that cheap. If they are so cheap why does it cost $4k to replace at a dealership?

 

Because the price of a new part at the Toyota dealer is far more than the price of a used part given relatively low failure rates and demand for the used parts.

If you must rely upon dealership service and require new parts then you'll continue to pay large four-digit amounts.

If you can DIY install used parts or find an independent to do that for you then you can clearly save big $$$$.

 

This is a dead giveaway IMHO that the traction battery had issues (ie likely at least 1 weak battery bank) and needed to be rebuilt or replaced but I always start with replacing the 12V aux battery first since if that is bad too it can mask the root cause (good to rule out before going on with more expensive fixes). Hopefully the riceroni4 did not actually get a traction battery from a generic auto parts store since I wouldn't be very trusting of the quality of any replacements you'd be getting through that avenue (without having a significant warranty.....typically much better to get a rebuilt pack from a hybrid specialist on PC or go through a Toyota dealer).

Through Toyota you are buying a new part which is quite expensive to manufacture and thus you'll pay full price for it. When buying used the supply of inverters is growing (they are solid state electronics and don't typically get damaged, at least on this model of Prius.......early highlander hybrid inverters on the other hand are much harder to find as they did have a design flaw which caused them to fail prematurely). Basically simple supply and demand as Patrick pointed out above. I'd definitely go the used route if you need one in the future.

 

A rebuilt battery from Napa should be better than the ones you get rebuilt from a Hybrid Shop, the Napa battery is most likely from Dorman and carries a 3 year warranty from a nationally recognized company.

 

She mentioned a price of $900 which is extremely cheap if that is indeed a Dorman pack for the Prius, but I agree if she did get ones of those then it should be fine.

Dorman actually bought out Re-Involt, with the main difference being they now offer a national brand/warranty.

 

1. Burning smell: could be the inverter coolant pump has failed, that is located behind the driver's headlight.
2. Clicking sounds: the traction battery case contains three system main relays which switch the positive and negative battery connections. Those relays are controlled by the traction battery ECU. If the relays are clicking, that would imply that there is something wrong with the traction battery ECU or the wiring to those relays.
3. I am surprised that some of these problems were not visible to you at the time that you bought the car. Were you totally unaware of any driveability issues at the time of sale? If yes, that suggests the vehicle seller was less than honest in their dealings with you.

Unfortunately, it now appears that you will incur substantial cost to have the car restored to proper operating condition. Good luck with the dealer troubleshooting and repairs.

 

This is really tragic because most people buy a car like this to save money and if you end up shelling out a bunch to fix it then it sort of negates the reason for buying. Unfortunately sometimes people dońt disclose everything they should when selling either. That being said don't get too down because once you get the car straightened out it should be solid reliable transportation for many years after that.......hang in there.

Few questions which may help us help you:
1) Where did the new HV battery come from? Brand? Warranty?
2) Who did the install on it? Qualified? Warranty on the work?

I have to say it sounds like a bad install on the HV battery (ie maybe pinched wiring, arcing, etc) but hopefully you can get to the bottom of it quickly.

 

Is the op actually a 45 year old man that chose their avatar picture to get more help with vehicle diagnosis?

 

It doesn't matter whether the OP is a 22-year-old beauty queen or a 70-year-old Social Security pensioner. A reasonable question (and even many unreasonable ones) about Prius posed on this forum will receive respect and a reasonable answer.

 

X2

My advice would not have changed regardless of who was asking.

 

I don't intend to hijack this thread by any means, however the very same symptoms have appeared on my car about 2 weeks ago.

It is also a 2006 prius with 150 thousand kilometres on the clock and just 5 weeks out of the warranty. I brought it to the main dealer for diagnosis and he did also include that the hybrid battery was bad. They spoke to the toyota ireland customer care who simply refused to put forward any good will gesture for replacing the battery or even contributing a part on doing the replacement. It is quite disheartening to see that such a good car and in such a good condition could come up against this problem.

i wonder if there is any specific system in the car that tells it that it is out of warranty and the battery can safety die now.

I have had this car for a little over two and a half years and i really am quite fond of it but to have to foot such a big bill in the first few years of ownership does leave a bad taste, in fact it nearly wiped out all of the fuel savings that i have accumulated over the last 2 years so it is really quite demoralizing.

Toyota Ireland seem to be very very very mean to be applying there warranty down to the letter .

5 weeks does not seem like a very long time battery warranty was out by and the very fact that i was still under the mileage limit should have definitely helped me in getting the benefit of doubt.

What's worse is that here in ireland we do not have any Prius hybrid battery refurbished suppliers so there is no option but to have but to go to the main dealer for a new hybrid battery.

Although i don't think there's anything else wrong with the car, i just am quite scared that after having spent such a big amount on an eight year old car if something else fails or if the battery goes bad again next year is that not too big risk to invest in this car.

So i would definitely like to hear experiences of people who have already replaced the hybrid batteries on a generation 2 Prius.

The exact codes on my car were P0A80 , P3017 .

Finally i would like to know if there's anything else i should make sure before i actually go and spend the money on the battery, i forgot to mention that i did change the auxiliary battery as well and i know for sure that that was bad because it was the original battery and testing it on the MFD with the car in ignition on mode the battery voltage drop 9.6 with any kind of load.

I did think of trying to get just two cells and replace blocks 17th of the battery but i stopped because the age of the rest of the cells is also over 8 years now so there seems to be a possibility of another one cell failing once i get this one done and so on and so on. that is why i thought that it might just be better to buy a whole new battery.

Looking forward to hear from all contributors. thank you very much

GT-I9100 ?

 

The nature of these hybrids is just that it will eventually have battery failure. It's just unfortunate yours happened right out of warranty. Would you have felt differently if you got another year of use before the battery quit? The result of it would be the same.....battery replacement.

If the answer to the above question was a "yes", then your solution would be to simply replace the weak/dead cell with newer working cells. That bandaid solution will give you more time before the entire battery pack weakens and you would need to replace the entire battery pack. This would bring you back to the "I've had the car longer now, so I feel better in paying for a new battery".

The end result is the same, you can look at it differently if you like.

 

1. There is no system that tells the traction battery it is OK to die. My 2004 has 170K miles and is still on the original battery.
2. What is the possibility of buying and installing a used battery from a salvage yard?
3. It is reasonable for you to replace the failed modules as a short-term fix. Good luck with your repair decision.

 

Thanks for your feedback Patrick.

Do you do anything special to keep the battery lasting longer?

Do you know if the battery is the same as the one in generation 3?

I also happen to get water collected in the spare wheel well every few months, do you think the build up of water might have anything to do with the premature failure of the battery?

I think the possibility of of getting a battery from a salvaged car is pretty remote considering how few of these cars run in Ireland, but I'll have to look for over in Uk?

What's further disturbing is that Toyota Ireland don't offer any money back for your old battery unlike UK or USA?

So my option really just seems to be to get a new battery.

Can you comment how easy is it to balance the cells, as I think replacing the block of batteries might be less invasive than the balancing bit? Abby guide on this appreciated.

Many thanks once again for your kind response.

GT-I9100 ?

 

Keep it cool, by keeping the battery fan clean. Use window screens when parked in the sun.

Not the same. Improved supposedly.

No.

You can look over these threads for some more help on that. It is a bit time consuming:
Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement | PriusChat
Prius Battery rebalance thread | PriusChat
There are a couple of other longish threads, if I recall correctly.

 

It has been stated by Toyota somewhere in the past that the battery pack in the Prius had been designed to last the life of the car. In my mind that means something longer than the 150k that our poor friend in Ireland has experienced and the OP of the thread.

Are these, early, failures the norm now, are we going to tell ourselves that 8-10 years is all you get, that the warranty basically is defining the lifetime of the hybrid pack?

When I bought my first, and current Prius in 2009, I read about the rare and low failure rate of the traction battery. I recall reports indicating that most failure were in fact due to vehicle collisions or some strange misadventure. The nickel metal packs were long lived and reliable it was said.

Should we put aside $1500-$3000 mentally in our cost to drive these cars now? I've been totally impressed with the reliability of mine to this time, and plan to dive it for many years yet.

Roland