Question about dealers work and battery.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Rian, Aug 28, 2014.

  1. Rian

    Rian Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I have had a bad acculator for about 30k miles and have had no other problems with the car. Finally my brakes needed to be replaced since I was using them more without the acculator working at 203k miles.

    I take it in and get them to put new pads, rotors, and calipers that I bought myself on the front. Of course they tell me that I need a new acculator and that is it.

    So I get a used one from salvage and have them put it on. They took 2 days to put it in saying that they had a hard time bleeding the system. They tell me that now my invertor coolant pump is bad and my hybrid battery is going bad.

    I ordered a pump and just installed that myself and the car is throwing 2 codes now

    P3013
    P0A80

    Is it possible they screwed something up taking the invertor, fuse relay, invertor pump all off to do the acculator? Because it was not having any other problems before they did the work.

    What the car is doing now

    With those 2 codes the cars ICE is turning on and off when parked or at a light every 10secs to charge the battery. Sometimes also the hybrid system is turning off completely, like it shows on the mfd as the engine and electric motor running to power the wheels. No juice is going to or from the battery, and acceleration is extremely poor. 0 to 20mph in like 45secs and not much better after 20mph.

    Thank you
     
    #1 Rian, Aug 28, 2014
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    This car is past it's designed service life at 203k miles. It would be reasonable to think those parts have failed. Nobody would know whether or not the dealer tech was competent enough to replace the parts in question.

    However your HV battery seems to be an issue now and possibly a transaxle or inverter problem too. With those major issues in the horizon, would you be willing to invest money in fixing those parts on a car with 203k miles?
     
    #2 JC91006, Aug 28, 2014
  3. Rian

    Rian Junior Member

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    Well, I owe 5k on it still and repairing it plus loan amount would still be cheaper than buying a new car.

    What made you think that it might be a transaxle or inverter problem? I have not had any problems accelerating unless the hybrid battery system stops charging and discharging the battery. Turning the car off and back on fixes that atm.

    Is the battery or the inverter the possible cause of it disconnecting the charging process?
     
    #3 Rian, Aug 28, 2014
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Well your codes you have now point to the HV battery. Hopefully if you replace that, it should fix your problem with it not charging and your sluggish acceleration. If it doesn't then you can see if the MGs in your transaxle or your inverter could be the cause of your problems.

    Either way you look at it, it'll be expensive. Less than a new car for sure, but a new car will be 0 miles vs your fixed car will be at 203k miles and waiting for the next major component to fail.
     
    #4 JC91006, Aug 28, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2014
    dorunron likes this.
  5. vskid3

    vskid3 Active Member

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    JC has a good point, even if you replace the battery, the rest of the car will still have 203k miles and be a ticking time bomb for repairs. I would say to cut your losses and sell it for cheap, but owing $5k on it puts you in a pickle.

    The codes point to the battery, but 45 seconds to get to 20mph seems pretty excessive. The electric motors alone can get it to 20mph much faster and have a fraction of the power the ICE has. Happen to know anyone with a Prius who would let you borrow their battery?
     
    #5 vskid3, Aug 28, 2014
    dorunron likes this.
  6. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Vehicle:
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    Rian,
    Where are you located?
    I know people looking for high mileage cars... but as vskid3 noted, owing $5K on it makes it a challenge for you.
     
    #6 ericbecky, Aug 28, 2014
  7. Rian

    Rian Junior Member

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    I live in Jacksonville, fl.

    When the battery cuts off I guess 45 secs was a bit long, perhaps 20 secs or so. The rpm's stay between 3k and 4k, around 3.7k when staying the same speed.

    I drive 40k to 50k a year delivering pizza for past 5 yrs. So just selling it and getting another used one is probably not going to work. I know the history of this one and can do alot of the smaller work myself.

    I will have to replace the engine, trans, and ecu eventually but have heard of other prius's going the distance over 300k. I do not know anyone to borrow a battery from unfortunately.

    Is priusrebuilders, com any good? $950 for a rebuilt gen2 or $1350 for one with gen3 cells?

    Thanks for your input about my problems. Just trying to figure out all the possibilities.
     
    #7 Rian, Aug 28, 2014
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