OEM Traction Battery Dead After 3 Years?!?!

So to clarify, this was a brand new Toyota-supplied battery for $1600? I find it hard to imagine you got a new Toyota battery supplied and installed for $1600, but maybe you mean that was only the cost of the battery.

If the battery was not Toyota new but some kind of remanufactured/rebuilt then three years is pretty good going and the long regular commute probably helped a lot. I don't think you have too much to complain about, but very likely the product was misrepresented leading to unrealistic expectations on your part.

Nowadays the only way to go is a brand-spanking-new OEM battery if the car is in top condition to make this worthwhile.

 

3 years is the max lifespan of a refurbished battery, not a brand new OEM battery, which is good for a decade or two ...

Who did you buy your battery pack from?

Also what are the error codes? You can't diagnose what failed in the hybrid system without the error codes and subcodes.

More common than hybrid battery failure in Gen2 is corrosion in hybrid battery ECU where voltage sensor plugs in.

My best guess is you're getting advice from a mechanic who isn't good with Prius-specific problems/details so you and the rest of us don't have much to go on...

 

NiMH batteries are known to have a shelf life, though it's much longer than it used to be. Since the car is a gen 2, It's quite possible that the OEM battery was manufactured a long time back. Ask for the manufacture date if you get it replaced again.

My first Prius (Gen 1) battery lasted quite well (May 2002 to Feb 2015) and the failure was purely mechanical; two of the plastic cells cracked and leaked after a trip to Oregon where the temperature was below freezing.

 

Nope... Toyota has been selling huge amounts of brand new OEM NiMH after they contracted with Panasonic in 2017 for a huge new order soon as they realized they could kill the competition refurbishing old packs at same price point.

But the proof is in the serial number on each of the 28 modules that indicates the month and date of manufacturer...

 

This not a concern. Toyota new batteries are manufactured on demand. A new battery is manufactured within 3 months from sale. There are a date codes on the outside for the battery build and the modules on the inside have a date of manufacture as well. It therefore is quite easy to confirm you have a recently manufactured battery or not.

 

I don’t see the OP saying it was an OEM, just ‘new’ whatever that means neither did he say where he got it.
Sounds like it was a ‘new’ old rebuild and three years or less is what is expected unless you go with GreenTec which offers four. Although no New Mexico shops for them Hybrid Battery Replacement | Honda & Toyota Hybrid High Voltage Batteries
If the OP didn’t get the ‘new’ battery at a dealer and now is repeating its mistake, paying $1,900, then history may repeat itself in three years or less.

 

Something is amiss here. The 100 mile daily commute is the perfect recipe for keeping both the 12 volt, and the hybrid pack in perfect condition. My neighbor has a 2008, original owner, with 360k miles. The vehicle has a 45 mile daily commute. The hybrid pack is original, and has never been worked on.

Back to your pack. I can't fathom a Toyota OEM giving you any problems. On top of each module is a serial number. See exactly when these 28 modules were manufactured. Also, monitor the pack in real time with something like "Torque Pro", or "Dr. Prius".

 

more detail, please!

title says oem, but $1,600. would be an amazing price unless you installed it yourself

 

That's funny everybody's mentioning the hundred mile commute My08 been making a hundred us miles daily since new almost made 300K on orig battery 270 something replace w new Toyoda this past month.

SM-A715F ?

 

Dr Prius app is one smart phone app that can read codes, not sure how completely. You need something like Carista bluetooth dongle on the OBD port.

 

Clean up the HV battery fan if you haven't already. Always park in the shade, with the windows cracked, as heat soak is real. Try not to drive it hard and park it hot, use an App that tells you the HV battery temps. Turn on the AC whenever temps are over 80, and override the HV battery fan to a higher speed to keep the battery cooler. When the battery SOC goes low, instead of pushing the gas pedal harder, pull over and force charge. The replacement battery might last a bit longer.

If you have no DTCs or warning lights on the dash, now might be a good time to recondition by cycling the HV battery with a gridcharger.

Given your location and commute requirements, it sounds like you might benefit from a new lithium replacement.

 

I know your area does not have a lot of corrosion but the batteries are very corrosive. On generation two there is a huge problem with the connector or a wiring harness. Maybe somebody else can chime in and lead you in the right direction as far as we art numbers. It is difficult to do any work without the codes. May be helpful to invest in a scanner that can read the codes.

 

I believe DR Prius App has more detailed analysis on Android because of limitations that Apple places on integration within the OS.

 

if it were me, i'd want confirmation, consider a grid charger, and maybe replace a few bad modules, considering the age of the battery, if it doesn't turn out to be corrosion.
i don't see any point to replacing a 3 year old battery

 

This just doesn't sound like the symptoms of a failing battery pack. Even when a Prius gives up on the traction battery all together, and goes into limp mode, the ICE revs at hight RPMs, but the car can still be driven at highway speeds without slowing down. When modules in the battery start to fail it will set a battery related engine code.

A new Toyota pack only comes with new modules, housing, and cables. All the other components must be moved over from the original battery. If another component like the battery ECU is faulty, getting new modules won't fix the issue.

 

Without a minimum of free Dr Prius data, very difficult to start to diagnose anything. If that’s too much, take it to another Toyota dealer and see if they can confirm that you actually did buy a new, new OEM battery from the first guy.

 

If I saw a car with these symptoms, I would be looking at (and recording) data from the engine, hybrid control, and HV battery ecu's while under high load conditions. IF the HV battery State Of Charge gets low enough then all you have to move the car is a "detuned" little 1.5L engine. Which won't move a heavy car like the Prius very quickly at all.

Even so, something doesn't sound quite right, and why is the battery gauge down to 2 bars in the first place? I might think that the ICE has problems- weak fuel pump, MAF sensor, restricted exhaust, etc that is reducing output. If the ICE can't put out enough to move the car AND charge the HV battery, then eventually the battery will run low.

Also I would consider the Dr Prius and Hybrid Assistant apps (on android) with a compatible bluetooth OBD2 adapter to get a "guesstimate" of HV battery capacity.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.