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symtoms of a dead 12v battery vs. HV??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Oge15, Nov 13, 2015.

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  1. Oge15

    Oge15 New Member

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    My 2008 Prius won't turn on so I jumped and it and it started running, then died again when I tried it the next day. So I'm pretty confident it's the 12v battery but I need to be sure. I don't want to take it to Toyota in fear of breaking the bank. What are the symptoms of a dead 12v battery and a dead HV battery and how do I go about replacing it somewhere cheaper because I'm not going to fool with trying to Change it myself.

    Pls help y'all, being car-less sucks.
     
  2. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    It is easy to tell the two apart.

    Faulty 12V battery won’t start the Prius. So nothing will turn on, no instrument panel, no fault lights etc. So you have to jump start it. After jump starting it will work. When jump starting be carefully wrong polarity jump start can be catastrophic.

    Faulty HV-battery will first cause battery level quickly fluctuating between 2 (or even 1 bars) and 7 (or 8 bars). Then faulty HV-battery will cause fault lights to be on (fault lights can also be on for some other reason). Super bad (or empty) HV-battery would cause Prius not to get to ready. So then you would only get fault lights and couldn’t run.
     
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  3. 48mpg

    48mpg Member

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    most places like advanced auto will install it for free but the battery is around $150 ...don't be cheap the battery is the only way to start the car
     
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  4. steve k.

    steve k. Junior Member

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    The Optima from Amazon is 153.00, mine have lasted 4 years.
     
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  5. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    It’s reported here and many other places that quality of Optima batteries have been fallen in recent years. So probably if you buy Optima now it’s not as good as yours was. I think that you might as well just get the OEM.
     
  6. steve k.

    steve k. Junior Member

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    I just bought two so time will tell....
     
  7. Oge15

    Oge15 New Member

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    I called advanced auto they said they couldn't install it, do you know another place ?
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if you don't have a mechanic, you'll have to buy an oem at the dealer.