Prius II Lottery Loser (battery issue)

You should have a battery warranty of 10year / 150k miles on your Oregon car.

 

+1

You are in a CARB state and right on the edge of that warranty. Make sure to get it checked out ASAP to see if you are covered.

And in many cases where you are just outside warranty, Toyota will pay something anyways if you call up Toyota Corporate and just ask nicely. Sometimes they pay for the part, you pay for labour. Sometimes 50/50, sometimes if you are barely outside (like you probably are) they pay the whole thing anyways.

 

I would ask that the service manager at the dealership call into Toyota for you in hopes of getting a "goodwill warranty". You are technically in a CARB state and you are not too far outside your warranty period. Toyota might provide assistance if asked.

 

I was curious and found this out about Oregon and CARB. LINK
If I read the Oregon bill correctly, signed into law Jan 1, 2006.
CARB standard takes effect on all 2009 and later model year vehicles.

Bummer. You're one year and 20k miles over, for the HV battery warranty; original warranty of 8year/100k miles

Beg/plead with the service advisor/manager to ask Toyota to do a good will gesture. If you have been bringing the Prius to any Toyota dealership for regular service, you have a better chance. If they extend the good will, probably looking at $2k; $2,000/120,000 miles = $.016/mile. Sucks that you're already facing this large bill so soon. But, if you do get a new battery, and it lasts 120k miles or more, you know your per mile cost (just under two cents).

Search on PriusChat, Gen 2, Technical Forum. You'll find lots of HV Battery discussions. This thread here looks like it will suit your needs: Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement

Do you know if the transaxle (think transmission) fluid has been drained and filled? Hopefully the original owner did it at 60k mile intervals or shorter; if not or never, that will be another costly repair (part price: $2.6k new, <$1k used). I know from experience.

Good luck.

 

on the other hand, not having driven a dodge ram for the last four years makes you a winner.

 

If the fan problems had been ongoing for some time, then this may have hastened the battery failure

 

Hi Rex,

Be aware that the fan can get clogged up with dust, lint, fur, hair etc. There is NO filter in the duct work and it is common knowledge here on Prius Chat that the fan can do that over time. Once the fan is clogged, it has trouble keeping the battery cool. Heat destroys the battery.

The fan can be cleaned, however it takes a while to get to the fan since it is hidden behind body panels on the right rear (passenger side) wall of the cabin basically over and above the right hand rear corner of the battery when you are standing behind the car looking in the hatch.

I have a feeling in the end Toyota will hopefully extend the "Goodwill Warranty" to you. If that happens, I think you will be pleased in the end results.

Also, you might look into getting a reconditioned battery from "Dorman". Dorman bought the rights and patents from "Reinvolt" which imo is the industry leader as far as reconditioned traction batteries are concerned. The warranty they offer is actually better than the warranty Toyota offers on the replacement battery they are selling today. However do not discount the warranty of the battery coming from Toyota. It is my understanding that the batteries are new, whereas the batteries coming from Reinvolt are actually used batteries that have been reconditioned by a process of testing each module within the traction battery, replacing bad modules, and then recharging all of the modules as well as balancing the entire pack. That process is basically what some of the folks here on Prius Chat have successfully completed on their own.

Dorman Hybrid Drive Batteries

You really have a lot of options at your disposal to get your Prius back on the road. A failing traction battery does not mean RIP Prius. It simply means the Prius needs to be repaired. Is it expensive? Well yes it is, but a lot of repairs on vehicles today fall into that category of being expensive. Maintenance and repairs is all part of owning a vehicle. Think about it like this. Transmissions go out every day. You don't hear folks complaining about that very often any more. That is because it is common knowledge to most individuals today. However the fearmongers today have convinced the world that the Prius is cursed because of the traction battery. After a while that will go away as more folks purchase, operate, maintain and repair their Prius. It really is just a thing that happens to a hybrid vehicle that wont happen to a non hybrid. Something else to consider is that your Prius does NOT have a lot of expensive items that a traditional vehicle will. Things like a starter, alternator, and other items. The technology of the Prius is impressive to say the least. Having driven and owned two Prius I am convinced that the Prius is one of the best cars out there that is available to us today.

I also agree with the previous poster about the transaxle. It is a good idea to drain and refill said transaxle at least every 60,000 miles with the OEM fluid. A flush is not needed nor required. A simple drain and refill is all you need to do. Over time the fluid gets contaminated, and the fluid will break down if it is not drained and refilled. Another thing that needs attention is the coolant fluid which is actually two separate loops. One loop covers the ICE, whereas the other loop covers the inverter and the transaxle. The fluid should be changed at the first 100,000 miles and thereafter every 50,000 miles. There are other items that should be maintained and or replaced as time goes along but honestly the Prius is a LOW maintenance vehicle. The only real "major" maintenance takes places at 100K and a slightly "major" maintenance at 120K. All the rest of the time it is simple oil and filter change along with tire rotation.

When it comes time for you to look at your next Prius, I think you will be very pleased with what you see. From my view point of coming out of a used 2009 Gen II which is similar to your 2005 and then getting into a new 2013 Gen III unit was like leaving high tech for the time of that era and entering into a whole new realm of technology that seems to belong in the future rather than today. Toyota spent a lot of time and effort long before the first Prius ever rolled off the assembly line. They continue to research and develop the Prius today. They are also the industry leader in the "hybrid" aspect as well as help other manufacturers today with the technology. Read the attached file on this message when you find the time. You can also save it to your computer to read later on. I think that will give you a better idea of how the "Prius" came into the world we live in today.

I wish you the best of luck. I see you just joined Prius Chat yesterday. With that said, I have to add "Welcome to Prius Chat"!

Ron (dorunron)

 

Rex,

You worry or fear about the reconditioned battery is valid. However Dorman does offer a very good warranty on their batteries. Furthermore, several here on Prius Chat have done this work on their own.

I do agree it is a whack a mole type of thing, however if one is in a pinch and doesn't have the big bucks to get a "NEW" battery $3500 plus) from Toyota, rebuilding on your own (DIY) can usually be done for around $500.

The word I hear on the issue is that most of the reconditioned batteries are holding up well. A few reports of modules going bad later on as the pack continues to age. The thing is this. The traction battery consists of individual cells that are packaged into modules. The modules are then all connected together to form one big battery. So it is a natural thing that at some point a cell will go bad, or several cells within a couple of modules will fail over time. Look at your battery powered devices like a computer mouse, or a digital camera etc. If you were to remove the dead batteries and measure each one of them with a multimeter a lot of times what you will find is that one battery is dead, but the other one is still fully charged. Other times you will find that both batteries still have some life in them, but the voltage is considerably lower than when the battery was new. What you found in that mouse or camera is the same thing you will find in the dead Prius traction battery.

To make a long story short, most who have gone with a rebuilt or reconditioned battery have been happy with their experience and have continued to be able to drive their Prius further on down the road for less money spent on the battery rather than buying a new battery. Chances are the new battery will last longer than a reconditioned one. But who is to say what might happen next with your old car. Toyota says the life expectancy of the Prius is 180,000 miles. Sure, there are a lot of Pri out there with more than 300,000 miles on them. That speaks volumes in itself. However those same Pri for the most part had to make repairs at one point or another. That does NOT apply to everyone, but is a fair and general statement. 2fas4u, a member here on PC went over 400K if I am not mistaken with basically no repairs. I am sure he did a lot of maintenance. Quite a few in the 200K club have reported the traction battery is still original.

As I said in my last post. Toyota really worked hard on this hybrid thing. They are the leaders in the industry. If it were not for the engineers at Toyota and the dream of the individuals depicted in the pdf file I posted earlier, I don't believe "hybrid" cars would exist today.

Ron

 

IMHO, anyone who buys a Prius has by definition already lost. In this game every spin of the wheel lands on 00, house numbers, everybody loses. The only winning move is not to play.

 

huh?

 

Best of luck to you dude. If you really own that 2007 Prius in your profile, I guess you are a loser too.

Ron (dorunron)

 

So, I have very similar error output to RexLex, and actually mine is a 2005 also, but mine currently has 170,000 miles on it..
Here are all of my error codes:
Hybrid Control:
P0A08 - DC/DC Converter Status Circuit
P3000 - Battery Control System
P3102 - Transmission Control ECU
HV Battery:
P0A80 - Replace Hybrid Battery Pack
P3021 - Battery Block 11 Becomes Weak
P3022 - Battery Block 12 Becomes Weak
ABS/VSC/TRAC:
C1259 - HV System Regenerative Malfunction
C1310 - HV System Malfunction

Obviously I can't be covered by a warranty with that many miles, and a whole new or even reconditioned battery is expensive.. So, what I want to do is replace the bad cells manually.. Besides, I am a very DIY-type person..
I know can be dangerous if you aren't careful, but I am going to buy lineman gloves and any thing else I need to fix this hybrid battery..

One of my questions is: With those error codes, it probably IS only just the battery cells that need replacing, right?..

And, so, my next question is, where is a good guide or link on how to do every thing that I need to do to test and replace the cells that are bad?.. If some one could post a good link or two, I would appreciate it a lot..

And, the error codes seem to say that block 11 and 12 are weak.. Is this reliable information?.. Can I trust the car, and not have to test which blocks are bad?.. (Also, is a block the same thing as a cell?..)

 

Son, I do, in fact, own that '07 and I'll tell you straight that girl is the ace of spades. She's as temperamental as Southern belle when the month turns red for her. I swear to God almighty that car is nothing but trouble in definition and spirit. And this is coming from someone who's sloughed his way through two wars (Gulf and Iraq) and has seen his share of GM crap over the decades.

Am I a loser? Yeah, by your definition, probably am. When you get up to my years on this Earth you'll probably be a loser yourself, son.

 

"With those error codes, it probably IS only just the battery cells that need replacing, right?"
Maybe not. P0A08 means that the DC/DC converter within the inverter is not working. Was the car subject to a failed jumpstart at some point in the recent past?

"And, the error codes seem to say that block 11 and 12 are weak.. Is this reliable information?"
Yes, P3021 and P3022 are providing reliable information but you need a digital multimeter to determine exactly which battery modules are bad. There are two modules per block.

Further, since the failing blocks are next to each other, you might consider replacing at least one additional module on each side of the failing blocks. A failing module will generate excessive heat which will damage adjacent modules. So, it would not be out of the question to replace at least six contiguous modules from blocks 10 - 13, unless you like the idea of continually opening up the battery case to replace failed battery modules.

There are many posts about how to test modules, charge/discharge modules, etc.