Dorman battery appears to have failed after 3 months

welcome! yes, remanufactured batteries are a huge issue. doorman is one of the better ones, but it's impossible to replace a few bad cells, and know how long the other 200 are going to last. your best bet is to get the warranty done and move on. we are coming to realize that if you don't want to diy cell replacement (cheap, but labor intensive) you're better off with a new oem battery for about 2 grande. all the best!

 

I've not installed a lot of Dorman batteries, but I've not heard of any problems on the few that I've put in. Of the dozen or so that I've rebuilt, I've only had 1 early failure. It was an oversight on my part when I combined two packs for a gen 1 car. I believe it is usually a cost-effective option if you don't want to DIY.

 

Wait a min I thought the dorman and napa batteries were remanufactured by replacing all modules with equivalent kind of cells.
I didn't think they were playing the same game as some peeps out there but fixing the batteries by replacing some cells
I thought they just used new modules from some chinese manufacturer instead of the original panasonic yikes.
that is both sad and bad :....-(
terramir

 

nope, sorry. replacing all the cells would bring the cost too close to a new oem.

 

The chances are, no new cells were installed, just charged used cells, I agree with bisco, just pony up the cash for a new battery and enjoy the next 150,000 miles (or get a non-hybrid)

 

Dorman bought the ReInVolt business from Dave Taylor (Taylor Automotive : Automotive Service and Maintenance in Sanford, NC). I have one of Dave's ReInVolt batteries in my 2004 Prius which was installed in April, 2011 at 195k miles. My Prius is now at 289k miles and the ReInVolt is still performing well 4.5 years and 94k miles later.

Dave's process was to fully test and balance large numbers of used, low mileage, salvaged modules and select a set that were well matched to provide a reliable re-manufactured battery. Dave also replaced the "bus bars" with nickel plated ones to avoid future corrosion problems. His experience with Prius (HSD) and Honda (IMA) batteries showed that a three year warranty was justified which Dorman now uses to back up their batteries.

Dorman is a high volume supplier of these batteries and their workmanship may not be up to Dave's level, so just get a warranty replacement and odds are in your favor that your problem will be resolved.

JeffD

 

I was interested in ReInvolt, browsed the site extensively when our Civic Hybrid's battery was failing. It was kinda disconcerting when he was bought out by Dorman, seems a "bad karma" move all around.

 

Dorman is still the best refurbished battery out there. Where else can you get a nationwide 3 year warranty from a reputable company?

 

it seems to me that doorman should require their dealers to be able to read correct codes for warranty service.

 

unfortunately, we don't have a track record here for doorman, just a few users experiences. and they likely won't release the failure rate.

 

doesn't make sense if they sell the battery.

it would be cheaper to buy the mini vci and check it yourself.

 

Hi Folks,
I'm going to chime on on this. My wife's 2007 stopped working at 140,000 miles and registered a bad hybrid battery error in February this year (2015). I bought a Dorman battery and everything seemed pretty good for 7 months, Then I started having the same problems I had with the original traction battery (fast swings from blue SOC down to purple, then up to green all in a few miles, sluggishness, weird lurching at stop signs when the engine would fire up, etc.). As time went by it eventually refused to start again and the dash and touchscreen lit up like a Christmas tree. I had the codes read at Advanced and they said it was the hybrid battery again.

They shipped a replacement battery and I installed that. Not paying attention, I forgot to push the orange safety lockout lever down after the install, so I ended up doing an hour or two of troubleshooting to figure out why it wouldn't start. The reason was the lever, of course, but it gave me a chance to test a lot of stuff and as a result, I noticed that the auxiliary battery voltage was pretty close to the lower threshold. I decided to replace that at the same time (half thinking that may have been the problem all along). This is all a long way of saying that I replaced both batteries and hoped I was done with all the fear and uncertainty. At this point my wife wants to sell the car and doesn't trust it.

The second Dorman battery is 6 weeks old at this point and problems are appearing again (the car is up to 158,000 miles now). It hasn't failed yet, but I'm seeing ominous signs. Thursday my wife called and said it wouldn't start. No errors or warning lights, just wouldn't start. After taking the key out a few times and retrying it started. Later that evening I got in it to go somewhere and the SOC was on purple bars as soon as it started. This was after my wife had driven it for 45 minutes of mixed highway side road driving. It should have been high in the blue bars. Yesterday I drove about 120 miles and noticed that it went straight to all but one green bar and stayed there for the whole drive, regardless of hills, etc. The display would even show the gas engine charging the battery when I was driving up hills (and could have used the electric assist) even though the SOC was still in green bars. My previous experience makes me think that a well-functioning drive system has the SOC in blue bars almost all of the time except after a long downhill coast, etc. I worry about overcharging.

Are there charging components or controllers in the Prius that could be failing and causing battery problems/damage? Perhaps I'm throwing my time and money at the wrong problem? I've checked the battery cooling fan and it's running well and creating a pretty good flow of air from the exhaust duct. I can't afford to invest a of of time and money into this if the repairs are going to be over $1000. Would I be better served at this point to bring it to a dealer for a thorough diagnostic? I understand that the readers at Advanced and other shops are way too basic for full diagnosis.

Thanks!

 

perhaps you need a reading of trouble codes, instead of guessing. you sound skilled enough to command a mini vci.

interesting that they sent you a new battery based on advanced code reader, but denied the o/p.

 

I think it's still your refurbished HV battery causing issues. If it fails again (dash lights up again), then ask for another replacement......It's quite common to see these issues with refurbished batteries......no 2 are alike

 

I was surprised too. I expected they would try and blame it on another cause rather than the battery. I suspect it's because the store manager is an acquaintance. I'm sure a mini vci is in order but I'm trying to get out of the car fixing business (apparently to no avail) ;-)

 

A battery fan running all the time is a sign of a failing battery.

Brad