How's everyone's early Gen3's holding up?

Thanks for the welcome. It was from here I learned about the OBD2 scanner so much thanks.
Yeah, print out code was P0a80 and my mechanic said the same thing.
Only thing that’s been done to the car is break pad change around 100k and 2 tire changes all 4@ 70K and 160K. Ecopeia and then Michelin Defender. And then oil change every 12K to 15K. Oh, some software update by the dealer a couple of times when there were recalls.
No, haven’t cleaned hv battery fan. Not sure how.
Northwest suburb of Chicago. Freezing up here.

 

Here’s a link to some Gen3 maintenance videos:

Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos

#21 is for cleaning the fan.

An easy job to do when it isn’t freezing out.

Was just the P0A80 code, or were there others?

And this was collected through Techstream?

Are you the DIY type?

If on the northwest side of Chicago, you are less than 2 hours away from @ericbecky in Madison.

Hope that helps.

 

Same thing happened here just that I drove to SF from Sacramento with all the hills. At some point I had all 8 bars on HV battery and forgot to shift to B, or shift to N and brake to on 2 long back to back long descending hills. Battery began to retain charge longer when EV kicks in but not that significant, it's almost as if the lower charged modules continued to charge while fully charged cells stopped because their charge max'd out regening. But once the ATF was changed, then noticed there was significant improvement to HV battery retaining charge.

 

The Prolong reconditioning system works by discharging below the normal levels and recharging above the normal level, multiple times.
Some people have seen some short term benefit from a single "float charge" above the usual limits. You may be seeing a similar effect.
IMHO, that should be a wake-up call to get a system to recondition the battery before it totally fails.

 

My 2010 was collected by an errant Silverado pick-up on Dec. 29th and totaled by insurance. A shame really, because 2010's don't seem to age any better...



- literally a couple hundred miles shy of 150k miles, I never got to truly "own" the hybrid battery which was still performing solidly
- zero oil burn, TGMO 0w-20 at 5k mile intervals from new, never varied once from this protocol
- transaxle fluid changes at 87k, 97k and 140k
- both coolant loops drain/fill twice
- Intake manifold EGR ports cleaned at 97k
- driver side transaxle seal at 97k
- front pads and rotors at 100k
- rear pads and rotors at 115k
- original wheel bearings
- plugs and PCV at 130k
- entire EGR circuit cleaned and preemptive water pump replacement at 140k

- Winston Chin's ETC spoofer
- Energy Savers summer, x-Ice 3's winter
- H11 to H9 low-beam mod
- LED parking, interior and rear license plate bulbs

The plan was to stay ahead of oil burning/EGR/head gasket issues and go for "gen 2-style" mileage. Will start over now with a 2014 just picked up Saturday.

 

Our 2010 just passed 105K miles. It uses 'some' oil...I have not been actively measuring how much though but it doesn't seem like much. I just top it off with a few ounces every now and then.

I plan on installing an oil catch can at some point this spring. And possibly do the EGR cleaning around the same time. And then look into the prolong battery system at around 120K miles or so.

 

To the OP I say...
Keep it and drive it as long as it's possible.
With most vehicles you can reach a point where it's trade in or sale value, in my opinion is less than it's value to YOU as a paid off vehicle. If you've maintained it well, have no issues, what else are you going to get that offers you No Payments and such good gas mileage?

 

I have been in the market for a used Prius "for the kid" and noticed that the 2010s are coming down in price quite a bit. However, I'm afraid to buy another 2010 due to the oil consumption problems we have had. I know it is probably a crap shoot though. Probably will get either a 2008-2009 GEN2 or a 2011+ GEN3.

 

I believe there was a Gen 3 refresh in 2012?

 

This actually does happen, sort of. With NiCD and NiMH batteries, charging efficiency drops at higher charge levels. So the lower charged cells will charge faster than the more highly charged cells, and that will tend to bring the pack to a more uniform state of charge.

This is also why you can leave nickel based batteries on a trickle charger for a very long time. As they reach full charge, the charge efficiency drops and the cells convert incoming energy into heat instead of stored charge. I suspect this is the secret of the Prolong system.

 

Yup

What are Prolong™ Battery systems?
Prolong™ Battery Systems consist of the Prolong Battery Charger and Prolong Battery Discharger products.

A Prolong Battery Charger is an HEV power grid charger that very slowly charges the pack above its actual physical maximum capacity (i.e. above 100%). It is like a trickle charger for the hybrid battery. The slow rate of charge is intentional, so the battery pack is not damaged while using the charger. When each individual cell reaches its maximum capacity, the extra energy delivered by the charger is converted by the cells into heat. Cells that are not yet full continue to charge, until all cells reach their peak physical capacity. This forcing of all cells to their maximum capacity slowly and carefully re-balances the entire battery pack.

The heat that is created during the charging and balancing process must be removed from the battery pack. All Prolong Battery Chargers have PATENT PENDING integrated battery cooling fan control that drives the hybrid battery cooling fan to easily dissipate this heat without using the vehicle’s 12V Aux battery system. Without proper hybrid battery cooling fan control, a charger can easily overheat and destroy the hybrid battery. NEVER use an HEV battery charger that does not provide for hybrid battery cooling while charging.

Our Prolong Battery Discharger products enable deep discharge of the hybrid battery to recondition the cells and restore lost usable capacity. Over several years, crystal deposits/voltage depression form inside the cells due to this repeated shallow cycling and a memory effect is created. This memory effect reduces usable battery capacity, effectively shrinking the size of the hybrid battery and shortening its life. The only way to break down the memory effect and restore lost battery capacity is via a slow, controlled deep discharge battery reconditioning process. The reconditioning process increases the usable battery pack capacity and extends its life.


From Prolong® Battery Systems FAQ – Hybrid Automotive