Battery Vent Odor

I have replaced the stinky rubber tubes with 14x10mm silicone tubing. 3h of work. 1h to get the tubes out and 2h to put everything back together. I'll report back in a few days if the stick has disappeared.
The black pipes removed are rather odorous.

I have followed this video to take a battery out.

The difference is once all the bolts are off, you leave the battery in the car. You can keep the contact cover on the battery. This is the cover on the left side that covers the orange HV cables.
Wear gloves as otherwise you fingers will smell.
After removal off all the bolts, you can just take the top cover off.
Then pull the pipes. Remove the end plugs from the pipes.
reinsert the end plugs on the silicone pipes and plug the new silicone pipes on.
I have used a 5mm punch to manually "drill" a 5mm hole in one side of the silicone pipe.
1/4" or a little smaller should do, too.

Then bolt everting back together again in reverse order.

Before starting the work, remove the battery ground connection, then the HV safety plug.
When done, put the safety plug back in, remember to push the tab down at the end, and then reconnect battery ground. It will spark a little.
The Prius should get into ready again if started. Sometimes, it needs one restart cycle.

 

Little update. The smell / stink is gone.
I have vented the car a few days with the windows open during daytime to let the residues evaporate. The removed tubes themself smell rather tar like aromatic. But once the smell is diluted, it smells exacly like the car did.
The smell is now gone. My clothes and hair also do not smell from horse stable anymore after a drive. Well worth doing if your Prius smells like a horse stable / urine / cow farm.


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The only concern I'd have now is that during the airing process spiders or (worse) mouse/rat got in. Just be cognizant for the next few days, for spider webs on the dash, or (shudder) droppings.

Congratulations on solving this. I think this thread should be pinned.

I suppose Toyota doesn't want to know.

 

I'll be darned. I swore the previous owner of the wife's 2008 Prius must have had horses. The car smelled like horse manure when we bought it three years ago. I could live with it because my mom had horses but it smelled like a barn, though the odor seems to have diminished over time.

 

I've just purchased a 2009 Prius and I'm experiencing a distinct nauseating chemical smell that has permeated the interior of the car. How many of you have actually replaced the vent hose and what were your results?

Ive - at what stage in your posted video is it possible to open the traction battery cover to access the hoses? The video shows full battery removal, but it seems like we would only need to proceed to the point where access to the hoses is possible? Silicone tubing was suggested - is this standard silicone tubing available at Homedepot etc or should I use some type of special heat tolerant tubing?

I may just be really sensitive to this particular odor, but I am really struggling to drive car without the windows open.

 

You proceed to the point where all the battery mount bolts are off. then you slacken the access panel on the left. it is the one removed in the video to disconnect the HV cable. no need to remove the panel, just slacken it. you need to take the bolts off. then there are 4 or so smaller bolts and nuts on the back of the battery (view direction from boot). they hold the cover if the battery is not bolted in the car. remove those, they are obvious once you look at the battery. wiggle the cover to spot any bolts that are still on and pop it off. the silicone hoses are always heat resistant to 200C. it is a material property. best is to source them online. home depot will likely only stock PVC tubing, the clear stuff. it is not as elastic and will harden over time. You need 10x14mm silicone tubing and a 5mm hole puncher. the next inch size down from 1/4" should work. Silicone is very elastic. .


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Watched the dismantling video - seems quite daunting as I've never really worked on cars before. I'll likely still give it a shot next weekend when I have more time.

In the meantime, I've taped over the battery vent (by the rear passenger seat) to test if the smell is indeed coming from the tubes. Don't worry I don't plan to drive with tape over the vent...I just want to see if the smell dissipated a little over a 24 hr period with the car parked in my garage.

What is the total length of tubing I need? i found some 10mm (0.4")/14mm black silicone tubing on Ebay. Also do I need silicone endcaps like the ones you show in your pics?

 

If anyone in the Atlanta area or nearby has a Prius and has replaced the tubes please let me know. Maybe we can meet up and I can get confirmation that the tubes are actually the culprit. Many have described a horse piss smell - I'm not sure I could identify a horse piss smell - sounds awful. The smell I am experiencing seems to be more of a chemical plastic smell - but maybe its just my perception.

 

It'd be nice if Toyota would step up on this.

 

just use the end caps from the OEM tubes. you need about 1.5m. I'd buy 2m just in case. the battery vents into the cavitiy with the 12V battery and the trunk. blocking the air intake will do very little.


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volatility of the stink is very low. After removing the pipes, it will take several nights or days to vent the car with open windows. If you cannot do that, drive with the windows partly open front and rear or at least do not use recriculation for AC.


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my mother-in-low commented yesterday how much better the car smells or rather not after using it again first time since removing the pipe.


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if you PM me your mailing address, I'll send you a tiny piece of rubber pipe in a letter as a smell sample. it is kind of funny as the pupe pipe smells rather armoatic and rubber like, but the more you dilute the smell, e.g. throug hdistance or let it sit in room for a few minutes, or smell your fingers after touching the rubber, the more it smells like horse stable/piss. similar effect as in perfumes. only in dilution, they smell as intended. too much and it plainly stinks, sometimes not even recognizable what it actually is.


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ive - great idea..I'll pm you my address.

 

Maybe some government agency would be interested in finding out what the smell is. I mean, things that smell nasty are often bad for us.

 

Is it safe to assume that if my local Toyota dealership replaces the tubes, that the new tubes will not have the same issue? I may insist that they install a silicone tube fix which I don't mind making.

 

some folks in Germany have reported that the replacement tubes were as stinky as the ones in the car. only a second replacement set was OK. I'd go for the silicone as the OEM replacement tubes cost more than €200!!! The silicone tubes are 15 minutes of work and $10 for the silicone pipes..


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Would the tubing below work? Its got a 10mm inside diameter and a thickness of 3mm so the OD is 16mm (not 13mm!). Under $10 shipped to me so price is right.

5 Feet 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 12mm Premium Silicone Vacuum Hose Pipe Tube Racing Turbo | eBay

even cheaper..

Blue 3 8" 10mm Vacuum Silicone Hose Intercooler Coupler Pipe Turbo 1 Foot | eBay

 

3mm Wall thickness means 16mm OD. both offers should be ok


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Doh! Yeah 16mm. Thanks