2008 model. Had a triangle with exclamation mark warning a few times on friday. They all went pretty quickly. Today had a vibration under the car when starting. Later had the rear fan going like crazy for a few minutes. Had a Prius mechanic come out. No codes were being spat out to his reader. He said the symptoms above (vibration/intermittent triangle warning/loud fan at rear) are all indications of the battery having failing cells. He did a diagnostic from the computer and it said 1 pair of cells are nearly dead, and another pair aren't too far behind. He said that it may not last another three months, and that the next indications are the cruise control failing, and air-con failing as it goes into limp mode. Can anyone corroborate his comments/findings? If the above is true, then the choices are: - rebuild the battery for $850 - $1000 (Australian dollars). 3 month warranty. - replace with an A Grade 2nd hand battery for $1500. 6 month warranty. He keeps our old battery (no doubt to recover good cells for rebuilding other batteries). - replace with a brand new HV battery for $2500. 1 year warranty though it should last 8 - 10 years. Thoughts?
Warnings from a bad battery doesn't go away. That tech is trying to make some fast money. Most likely you are either out of oil or your inverter pump has failed. To check the oil, pull the engine dipstick. To check the inverter pump, open the inverter pump reservoir and see if there's movement in the fluid while the car is on in READY mode. If no movement in the fluid, the pump has failed. Battery failure warnings will never come and go
I'll second the above. Also a failing HV battery doesn't cause "vibration under the car". - Check your oil level as soon as possible. - Then check your inverter coolant level and circulation (coolant pump). See this post: maintenance and repair in Anchorage AK | PriusChat - It also wouldn't hurt to check the battery cooling fan for dirt and debris clogging either. See this post: Fur and dirt causing major battery problems | Page 2 | PriusChat
Thanks for your responses guys. The car was serviced about 4 months ago, where it had the coolant container replaced (had a slight leak). Will check all again though. Oh, also just remembered that he said the Prius needs to have fuel injector cleaner additive added for a couple of tanks, and then every six months, due to the Prius not always using the fuel engine/injectors (of course), so they get clogged up more than normal engines where the injectors are used all the time.
I agree, if you can get a new battery for AUS$2500, that sounds like a good deal if the car is in otherwise good shape. And if you have the money, of course. And I agree the mechanic sounds shady. If he had the diagnostic capabilities to see a failed cell in the battery, there should have been codes on his scanner for the problem.
Yeah, I wouldn't buy a battery without definite codes supporting the decision. You may want to try another mechanic or purchase your own scanner. Many here use the Mini VCI cable with an old laptop, total cost around US$75 if you have to buy an old laptop, much less if you have one around.
Who sells a good VCI cable then? A lot of price difference on ebay. I'm in Australia. I have plenty of laptops to use it with I read on some other thread (but can I find it now!??) where someone had a bit of kit which connected to an android app.
The Mini VCI is readily available on Amazon. It does not have to be the newest version to work on the old car. Computer must be 32-bit. I'm not a smartphone user, can't comment on the apps and bluetooth device. But it's nice having the copy of Toyota Techstream with Mini VCI. It's what Toyota techs use (minus support, training, and robustness of course). If you have the old computer, it's less than US$20.
