Recurrent Power Failure After HV Battery Replacement - help!

how many miles on her?

they shouldn't replace the 12 volt battery when they replace the hybrid battery, but you should have it tested to see if it needs replacing.

regarding the gas gauge, how many miles are you driving before refueling? if it was at one pip, take the service manager to the station with you and see how many gallons it takes.

is the replacement hybrid battery new or rebuilt?

 

One way the fuel gauge could drop so much would be if the 12V battery died, which would cause the fuel gauge memory to be lost and reset when the car was turned back on. It would take a while for the correct fuel gauge reading to register.

I agree that the 12V battery should be checked and if there is any doubt it should be replaced now. If the 12V battery is weak, any DTC logged by the vehicle ECUs will be lost so the dealer tech would have to replicate the problem before s/he could say much about the root cause.

When the car died yesterday, exactly what warning lights came on? Did you take a sharp photo of those lights? If so pls post.

 

If you google for DTC P3190, this document shows up: priuschat.com/attachments/cip3190a-pdf.19548/
Print it, take it to the dealer and ask them to troubleshoot it the proper way like toyota clearly instructs instead of blaming it on low gas.
Or go to a different dealership that is not as lazy and incompetent.

 

9 years is a long time for the 12V battery. Many people would be proactive in replacing it before that time, but most people experience some sort of failure earlier. 4 years is rather too short, and most will get more life than that. $320 to replace the 12V is about what Toyota charges. Some places less. It is such an easy DIY job that no one with opposable thumbs and a youtube video would have a problem with it.

 

That C 2318 does point to week 12V battery. I'm surprised it would trigger the other codes. The lesson from this is test/replace 12V first before doing enything else.

 

$320 isn't bad because the list price of the battery is ~$180 and you have to pay for the labor time associated with diagnosis and replacement.

It is true that 9 years is an extremely long service life for the battery, I usually recommend that owners replace the battery proactively from 4-6 years depending upon how cold their winters are and how many miles the car is driven (the more, the better for battery longevity.) Besides avoiding the no-start issue you had, another benefit of changing the battery at a time and place of your choosing is that you get to shop around and satisfy yourself that you are getting a good financial deal.

You should be happy that your car has no other issue besides the 12V battery, and pay the invoice with a smile.

 

12 volt diagnosis can be tricky when it first starts to fail. you can read many threads here on the subject.

 

Yes, I understand your point of view.

When you pay for service on a time and materials basis there is no guarantee with regards to the outcome. The dealer will say they exerted their best commercial efforts on your behalf.

Good luck if you pursue this in small claims.

 

No, but small claims court is a waste of your time. Go to work instead, and find a better mechanic.

Oh, and use some of your time saved reading up on reasonable preventive maintenance. This forum is a GREAT resource. Get smart, then you will not have to fight to get even while behind the eight ball.

 

Driving the transition from 5N to 134E 5 days a week, I thank you for not breaking down when I was there!! It's a nasty transition, I hit it about 1:05P, the traffic is usually light to medium! Glad you made that OK!
The fact you got 9 years from that old battery amazes me!
What dealer did you take it to?
When I have a problem, or just maintenance I go in prepared! You did good by checking in here!
Welcome back, I hope you get many more miles out of the Prius!

 

Always amazes me how so many dealers cannot test the 12 volt battery. Takes 30 seconds from the comfort of the front seat.
I highly suggest you become familiar with this. Look at this Youtube:

Dash INFO service information question | PriusChat

As I mentioned in that thread we always want to see the second button push that puts a load on the battery and tells the true capacity of the 12 volt battery. The other deciding factor is if any time in its life if it ever required a jump start. That usually means premature death for that little AGM 12 volt battery. It would not be surprising that the dealer killed the 12 volt themselves while replacing the Hybrid battery by leaving the doors open all day while working on replacing that and had to jump start it themselves.

Here's the bad news:

P3190 is also reported sometimes with engine throttle body issues. Its mentioned prominently in that pdf you just read about P3190.
Hundreds of posts about this here on the forum.

Mainly the throttle body needs a good cleaning. This is a standard maintenance issue on many modern cars. Modern cars there is no mechanical linkage from your foot pedal to the throttle body like back in carburetor days. Prius throttle body butterfly is actuated by a little motor instead controlled by a computer.
The problem there is if the butterfly gets gunked up the little motor may not be able to power through it. Where if you had linkage you would be alerted by a bad feeling pedal response and then report to your mechanic the gas pedal is messed up. He would know exactly what that means. You have no pedal response feedback with a Prius making you unaware of the "gunkiness" of the TB. Only a P3130 nag of poor engine performance. The dealer should have checked the TB first thing.

The gunkiness will prevent the throttle body from opening properly and will exhibit poor engine performance and eventually engine shutdown.

Very bad side note is if not maintained the butterfly eventually gets corroded and the throttle body will require replacement as that little motor will not be able to open it easily. Seen that alot here. This is not a Prius issue but a modern car issue. Thats after the car gets towed in. At the Toyota dealer that's a $2000 day for a new TB. A simple thorough cleaning will prevent this. You'll be back at this knucklehead dealer asking him why they didn't check that also even though the P3190 mentions that. There are hundreds of posts on this forum about throttle body cleaning.

Good Luck.

 

I think you were lucky to get your Hybrid Battery replaced under warranty 1/2 a year ago.

IF....big IF......

But if the majority of your regular maintenance has been done at an independent shop?

Then I think it was lucky and nice to get Marina del Rey Toyota to swallow the labor charges on the 12 volt replacement.

Some owner responsibility is called for.

9 years is a long time for any 12 volt battery, and the OP wasn't even sure if it had or hadn't been replaced in 09/10.

As Ed points out above, it is possible you have additional issues.

The Throttle Body could explain the unclean acceleration mentioned in the original post.

I would switch dealerships, as it seems you have little trust in the one you are using now.

And I would strive to have one entity handle the majority of the maintenance.

Yes, "maybe" Marina del Rey should of caught the 12 volt battery issue 6 months ago. But with either a 4 year old 12 volt, or more amazingly a 9 year old one, especially if maintenance is being handled primarily through an independent Shop?

 

Forget the battery install labor, the dealership did not charge the diagnostic fee. I presume OP argued that the weak 12V should have been identified back when the traction battery was replaced. <<shrug>>

A reasonable argument, although not one that would win in court. Since she is not what the dealership would call a 'good' customer, they dropped charges to get rid of the nuisance.

It worked this time, but as I said earlier the simpler and more productive approach in the future is to be an informed car owner. E.g., if she had spent 10 minutes learning how to replace the battery herself she could have saved all the time and hassle she spent getting the charge dropped, AND she would be wiser for the future.

None of us can be experts in everything, but a little effort invested in knowing and doing basic stuff goes a long way towards not living as a victim or a sucker and hoping that a court or a lawyer will resolve problems.