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Battery draining abnormally fast

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Priuswahoo, Apr 5, 2016.

  1. Priuswahoo

    Priuswahoo New Member

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    Started driving this morning from Murfreesboro, Arkansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico, everything was fine until the last 200 miles or so. I had some music on and the ac and thought that was draining the battery, turned everything off but then the battery wouldn't gain energy like it normally would. Accelerating would drop the power bar very quickly, and it would go down to one or two bars from accelerating up a small hill on the highway. I was able to milk it all the way to Santa Fe thanks to the hilly nature of the area but I'm concerned about the discharge rate and I'm not sure if I'll make it up I-25 with the elevation gain. I did check the oil a ways back and thought it was low so I topped it off. I've also driven around 2000 miles since Monday with a bunch of stuff in the car as I'm in the process of moving to boulder, Colorado. It's a 2004 gen 2 Prius, 12v battery is 6 months old but the car did sit for almost 3 months and had to be jumped a few times initially. Any ideas on what the problem may be? There's no dashboard lights on but the maintenance required one comes on for a second when I start it now, then goes away.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    could be the start of a failing hybrid battery. Is the battery original from 2004? How low was the oil? I don't think this is an oil issue.
     
  3. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Sitting for 3 months is a problem for both the HV battery and the 12V. Multiple jumps suggest the 12V is on its way out.

    I recommend you conduct the discharge test in my link. If it's less than 70°F, don't run the A/C, just the rear defrost.

    Also, a call to Boulder Hybrids might be in order.
     
  4. Priuswahoo

    Priuswahoo New Member

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  5. Priuswahoo

    Priuswahoo New Member

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    Sorry haha I'm using my phone sitting in a hotel, definitely going to get in touch with Boulder hybrid. The battery is the original and the car sat for so long because my mother( whom I bought it off of) went to Germany for a while and when she got home then had to get open heart surgery for a congenital heart valve problem. Her boyfriend failed to maintain it as he was supposed to. I'll try the discharge test in the AM and probably bring it somewhere local. Otherwise I'm probably going to see how far north I can make it and just have a friend with a truck tow the rest of the way. I'm thinking the hv is going, Boulder hybrid does battery recondonditioning right?
     
  6. Priuswahoo

    Priuswahoo New Member

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    Thanks! I don't see a link in your post btw could you post it again?
     
  7. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    It wasn't in a post - at least not in the body of a post, it is in his signature under every post.

    The one you're looking for is the second one in blue titled "How to test HV battery state of health on your Gen 2 (answer) | PriusChat".
     
  8. 48mpg

    48mpg Member

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    I had the same problem on my 05, 176,000 miles.. replaced the 12 volt with a yellow top then rebuilt the pack and balanced the cells, cleaned bus bar and checks all connections and sensor wires.. was fine for 2 weeks same error code came back, replaced a few more cells that were a little low, rebalanced it again.. same codes after 2 days, gave up and sold it. hope you have better luck without wasting the time and money I did.. its not always the battery, could be anything in the invertor or charging system. 11 year old car may not be worth fixing these days as to their low value.
     
    #8 48mpg, Apr 5, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2016