I [posted this is another thread. Please excuse my inability to find the correct spot. Hope this is in the right thread. I have a 2005 with 135K. Brought car to dealership to change all season to snow tires. For whatever reason the service advisor came out and said I should have the following service items done. This dealership always trys to up sell me. They were both under the hood and under the car. BTW I always service the car at dealership and do the required maintenance.Anyway When I left the dealer the "dead hybrid" red traingle light was on. I turned car around and dealer rechecked the car and said that codes P30000 and P0A80 were diagnosed and wanted 4400.00 to replace hybrid. It's just too coincidental. The car has operated PERFECTLY and I watch the charge screen etc. It is my belief the dealer/service tech did something to the car. They have been accused of this before. I'm having my local garage look for a possible "fix" but it seems that you need to go to a specialist for hybrid diagnoses. ANY HELP would be appreciated. I live in Sherman CT. I'm about an hour north of White Plains NY. Called a place about an hour and a half from here and they said bring car, will swap out battery for 1350.00 with a 12 month 15,000 mile warranty. The car will drive with just the engine....will I hurt it driving 100 miles to get battery swapped. HELP PLEASE
If battery was marginal (and we do know it’s 11 years and 135K miles) it can produce those codes just by leaving it in neutral for too long. You can just disconnect the 12V battery for some time to clear the codes. If those codes get back then you do know it needs the new hybrid battery.
In speaking with "experts" around the country who's only business is replacing and or servicing hybrids they found the odds of the hybrid failing with virtual no warning at all to be extremely small, especially since car ran perfectly and charging screen always showed full charge etc. The odds are just too long for this to be a coincidence.
Your HV battery is 12 years old. It was a coincidence. If you distrust this dealer so much, why take it to them for a simple tire swap anyways? Car will not maintain highway speeds in limp mode so 100 mile trip is out of the question. You can purchase an aftermarket doorman battery with 3 yr warranty from some auto parts stores for a relatively simple swap out. They are rebuilt with used not new parts. FWIW Hybrid Battery via NAPA | PriusChat GOOD LUCK!
Call Toyota corporate and ask for a "goodwill warranty" for the battery. Chances are they'll cover a good portion of the repair cost. Just explain the situation to them about the battery failing and you have only 135k miles. Google their phone number and I'm sure they'll help you get a new battery.
See post # 2 Awaiting OPs response. 16 yr old car, 135K mileage. How many start stops were done? 90 thousand times? Could be the battery expired and it is coincidence. But again see post 2.
Codes have been cleared and came back. Have driven the car to my local "guy" to see if he can find anything Toyota may have done.Spoke to Toyota, the only credit they will give is if I buy a new battery from Toyota. I have driven the car at 50+ miles per hour on the gas engine since problem occurred. Not sure what limp mode is. Having said that I am probably going to use the services of a company called Greentec. Will make the 2 1/2 hour drive to my house and install battery for about 1500.00 . Battery has 18 month warranty. Thanks to everybody who responded. My only concern is that the issue may just be that the bussbars (sp?) may be dirty or perhaps only one cell is bad and i can't find the mechanic to check and fix. I will NOT be going back to this Toyota dealer.One last thing, I was asked about the tire swap. This dealer stores your tires and changes them winter and summer as needed for no charge. I have no place to put tires, nor am I capable of doing the work, as both sets of tires use the same rims. Thanks again to all.
Can you share details of that credit, did they give you any firm numbers? If it's a decent deal: I would go that route, vs GreenTec. Don't let your dealership experience cloud the decision. Regarding snow tires: having them permanently mounted on their own rims makes things a lot easier.
I was not given any firm details about what the credit might or might not be. I was quoted 4,400. before I left the dealership to install new hybrid. So even if I got 1500.00 it just isn't worth it. It is very likely that I will be given a 2010 Prius with very low mileage in the next year and I just wanted to keep car running until then. Technically it might be cheaper just to run it with the gas engine, but I'm not comfortable with that. I agree about the rims, I just don't have anywhere to store them during off season.
You'll want to find out if greentec will come out for free if their rebuilt battery fails during the warranty period. The link I posted previously about the doorman unit failed within 6 months. Lots of threads here about remanufactured batteries. You can't continue to drive the car with a bad battery. It is used to "crank start" the gas engine so once it hard fails or doesn't produce enough voltage you're toast.
Greentec indicated that the warranty included labor and that they would come back to my home if battery failed. I am waiting for an email with the warranty and will update later today or tomorrow at latest. BTW I spoke to the "parts guy" at the dealership where I had the original issue. I asked if he had any idea about what type of credit Toyota might issue if I was to buy a new hybrid battery but he did not know. They get about 2300 for a new one. He is a good guy and I mention that because I've talked with him at length about other issues. I told him that i was going to buy a re-manufactured battery and he gave me a long technical reason why it was a mistake and that you couldn't really "repair" a battery. I'm sorry I can't be more specific. He was NOT trying to sell me a new one.
There are 28 modules in a prius battery. New modules aren't sold so these aftermarket companies combine used working modules to make a functional pack. Yes $2300 is about the price of a new pack. There is a refundable $1350 core charge for the old battery but if getting it done at a Toyota dealer I don't see a need for this charge. There are some electronics that need to be swapped out within the case also.
I would want to see some other data before confirming a dead hybrid battery. For example, show me the freeze frame data from the time of the error. This would show some mode info about the P0A80. Is there a block that is low? If so it should show up in the data. Was an oil change done or anything else? Greentec does not cover labor if done by a third party. Only if done by their tech. Also you may have to pay for warranty pack shipping if it needs to be shipped to you. $2,300 for a dealer pack is a good deal. Make sure that your 12v is up to snuff. Most auto stores will check it for free. Clear the codes. Force charge your hybrid battery. Clear any codes again. Then see if the codes return. Feel free to call if you want to talk through any of this info.
OP--yes at 10yrs + your battery can go bad at any moment and yes it is a module gone bad. Chances that the dealer tore the back seat out and messed with the battery? Lol You can fix the battery yourself by replacing bad module with good used module if you are good at DIY for about 100$. If Greentec is coming to your house every time the battery fails and needs new module that may be a fair price, check with others that have used Gtec and see how things have gone. The best way to go if you want to go with a rebuilt pack is Dorman but you would have to install it yourself. $2300 + install sounds good for a new battery unless its your car needing the $3k repair. Good Luck!
Greentec was here. It took them an hour to swap batteries. Very professional. These are the codes that came up P3000, P0A80 and C1310. They said the C1310 was a HV System Malfunction and was surprised that the dealer didn't pick it up. The battery and labor are for 18 months unlimited mileage. It was a 2 hour drive for them to come here. If battery has problems I have to get the codes and they will come back at no charge (assuming the codes are related to the battery). Total cost was 1536.00. They thought that one of the cells was probably not operating properly. If I could have found someone who could have done that type of "search and fix" I would have opted for it. I am not a DIY guy and would only create additional problems.
Fish3D, Keep us posted on how it holds up. The rebuilt/refurbished batteries are becoming readily available. It will be interesting to see how they hold up, and how well various vendors stand behind them. By reporting back, you'd be helping to inform the community.