mystery battery problems

There are many really experienced people on PriusChat. I hope one of them responds to you (that means I am not one of them). But I can say a couple of things.

By "main battery" I presume you mean the 12 volt battery. That was probably a fair price because your car does require a special battery which is not produced in large numbers. And yes there are diagnostic tests which can and probably should have been done. It depends on what the shop understood your problem to be. It appears that you have now eliminated the 12 volt battery as the cause. I would now look to the traction battery or hybrid system battery as that is the only other source of stored electrical power in the car. Is your hybrid battery still under warranty? If the warranty for the 2002 hybrid system was similar to that of the newer Prii, it should still be in effect.

I hasten to say, however, that it could another or a combination of things.

Good Luck!

Allan de

 

Vlad, I'm pretty sure they replaced your 12 volt battery with a slightly larger one. The original was 28 amp hours, and the beefier one is 33 or so. The price you paid sounds in line with what I have heard before.

It is not your only option. The Prius battery is unusual in that it is sealed, but also has vent tubes. There are alternatives (I bought one), but let's get back to that later as you have another issue

The 2001-2003 Prius warning lights often means a new engine control module (ECM), replaced free under warranty for 80k miles. Technical service bulletin EG011-03. They should find the diagnostic trouble code P3191. In your case this was accompanied by a no-start, which is less common. The ECM may be the full cure, or maybe also a fuel pump relay (36k mile warranty), rarely a new fuel tank assembly (you don't want to know the price...).

I suggest a fuel induction system cleaning, and a throttle butterfly soot cleaning, as well. If the mechanics are any darn good, they'll know what you are talking about. And be impressed that you do, too.

Please let us know the details.

DAS

 

They didn't give you one with more voltage.. just more Amp/Hours.... in other words... more juice.. it can hold more... basically a bigger battery, but still 12 volts.
180.00 is the standard retail price, although there are cheaper alternatives online, you have to do a bit of altering.

Does your car run perfect now?... that does sound about time for the battery to die "4 years".

Let us know if all is well.

 

12v battery probably was dead, and even if it wasn't it was showing signs of being unreliable. i wouldn't push really any battery past 4 years.

could be the car started fine for them when they put it back together. all they had to do was drive it out of the shop and park it. if there was still a problem they would have had trouble with it and continued working on it. they can't catch a problem that doesn't happen for them. maybe a connection was loose and the drive to work was enough to loosen the connection enough to cause problems. i don't know.

if you've got warning lights, they can do diagnostic tests with the scantool to see what the car is detecting to be the problem and work from there.

good luck

 

Sounds to me like 2 different problems. When you had to get it jumped to keep it running, does sound like a battery problem. And with the age that would be normal. But I would have also checked for any electrical draws on the system just to be sure, .

As for the 2nd problem,starting and shutting off,may be the Engine Did Not Start symptom. Yes there is a TSB on it and a ECU could be needed ( or fuel tank assy or circuit opening relay), but not all the time. A series of checks would be needed as well as a check for any and all codes that may be stored. Not just in the Engine ECU but the HV ECU's also. I always run a check on all codes on any newer Toyota because of the way they are all connected. Each ECU wants to know what the others are doing at all times.
Keep us informed on what they find out, .

 

It has been my experience in the past that most batteries you buy, no matter what the brand or price paid, are nearly discharged by the time you pay for them. They may have been sitting on the shelf for 9 months or longer.

I was warned a long time ago by an Uncle - a very competent Shadetree mechanic and full time farmer - to *never* just put a "new" battery in a car and drive it. That was murder on an alternator and especially voltage regulator. Instead he would trickle charge it for 12-24 hours before first use.

Around 2 years ago I purchased 4 VDC Electronics "desulphator" battery tenders. I use them at my hobby farm to keep the truck and tractor batteries in good condition, and have noticed much better cranking performance.

For most of December I was in China on a business trip. I took the 12 vdc battery out of my 2004 Prius and put it in the utility room of my condo, hooked up to my VDC desulphator. I had noticed that when I powered on in the underground parking, the auto headlights would really dim at first.

After being hooked up for a month to the desulphator, my auto headlights now barely flicker when I power on first thing in the morning. I'm wondering if I should remove my 12 vdc battery every week or so to desulphate it.

Otherwise 3-4 years is about the most you can expect from a battery, especially here in Winnipeg. With modern fuel injected cars, a battery starting to go bad can cause all sort of weird and hard to find electrical problems: no crank, slow crank, dim lights, etc.

With a conventional car, a lot of folks still insist on cooking a $500 alternator to extend the life of a $100 battery. Go figure.

 

Really good comment about battery shelf life. I was aware of it with small batteries but never thought about in terms of a new car battery. Generally a good mechanic would charge the battery before installation, but you can't count on it. One day while buying a new battery for a motorcycle I had, while the mechanic (battery servicer) was pouring liquid into the battery from a special container, I casually asked him what the specific gravity of the electrolyte was? He retorted, " Mr. I don't even know what your talking about"

 

I believe it.