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Hybrid Battery Issue

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by ElectricJosh007, Mar 3, 2022.

  1. ElectricJosh007

    ElectricJosh007 New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
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    Base
    I'm new to this group but I've owned a few Priuses by now. I recently got a 1st gen 2002 with 152,000 miles on it from a dealer who claimed that they had reconditioned the hybrid traction battery. There are no battery related codes when I scan it and no red triangle. It does have a check engine light though. I have noticed however that no matter whether you are driving on the highway or city conditions and regardless of how economically you drive the battery NEVER, even for a second goes past 80% full it usually stays at 75 percent on the highway and goes down to 50 percent when driving in the city. I must mention by the way that I always drive with both Climate Control and the Radio off to try to maximize gas mileage. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced this issue before or a similar issue and how I might be able to diagnose what might be going wrong or not quite right.
     
    #1 ElectricJosh007, Mar 3, 2022
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome!

    i would start by reading, analyzing and repairing the check engine codes.

    after that is taken care of, find out if dr. prius app works on gen 1. with it, you can run a battery health check.
    if not you will need tech stream, which is a bit more fiddly.

    in the end, a reconditioned battery is always iffy. if you have no trouble lights, it may simply be borderline.
    otoh, what you describe for battery behavior seems fairly normal to me, but have have owned other pri and understand battery behavior.
     
    #2 bisco, Mar 4, 2022
  3. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    What you're saying is "the car is working exactly as designed". You don't have a problem. That's the way it's supposed to maintain the hybrid battery. The top limit allows enough room to absorb regen if you're coasting on a long downhill, etc.
     
    #3 TMR-JWAP, Mar 4, 2022
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  4. Trombone

    Trombone Member

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    What disco and TMR-JWAP said. Your traction battery SOC (state-of-charge) is normal behavior. Your CEL indicates code(s) has/have been set; identify and address the issue(s).
    -2002 w/156K miles here-
     
    #4 Trombone, Mar 4, 2022
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  5. Josey

    Josey Active Member

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    Agreed. And I can add that I do have one very long, and sometimes steep downhill (about 3.5mi) that I am on occasionally. It's the only time that my meter goes to full. So yeah, it's basically "saving space" for something like that. And you'll drop down to half around town, esp if nursing for fuel economy, b/c you'll be on battery only more often.
     
    #5 Josey, Mar 4, 2022
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  6. ElectricJosh007

    ElectricJosh007 New Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Thanks for the reassurance/advice. It’s just so satisfying to look at the battery gauge and see it’s all full because you know your car is functioning exactly how it should.
     
    #6 ElectricJosh007, Mar 15, 2022
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