Prius Battery Replacement (GenII) Like you've never seen - NEW Cylindrical Cells

Maybe Gen3 will have a different trend line (less gradual) but I don't think we are seeing as many early fails. It would be good if we could get CR to do another survey (better yet Toyota could give us a clue on trends)

 

a couple battery rebuilders here have said they believe gen 3 failures will be greater percentage than gen 2, based on what they have seen when taking bad ones apart.
only time will tell.

 

I agree we might have to argue the Gen3 owners are not checking into PriusChat like the Gen2 owners did with batt replacements, which is possible. Clearly for Gen2 our PriusChat surveys were always showing much higher % batt fails than Consumer Reports, which indicated that PriusChat was not representative of the general Prii population (over reporting).

In gerenal Gen2 was robust build quality with however some generic issues (poor HV batt management on empty fuel tank, brake actuator issue, Combo meter issue, etc). Gen3 seems a little less robust (more optimized) build quality but with less generic issues.

 

2K1toaster:
Apparently, because I am such a new member (we just bought our first Prius last nite!!!!) I am not allowed to send private messages. Need to talk to 2K1Toaster.

I was hoping to stay anonymous on this site. It's not like I am ashamed of being a Prius owner, but so many Prius owners (present company excluded, I am sure) are so darn smug.... don't take it personally guys, I have the same issue because I own a Ferrari, and I am the most regular guy you could ever hope to meet. I don't even like posting about my "Ferrari" projects, as so many of the Ferrari owners are incredible a holes. Not implying that ANY one on this board is smug. All the DIYer car guys I have EVER known are salt of the earh guys and gals. Talking abour "real" car guys. Great folks who would do anything for another car guy. Heck, I know a multi millionaire down in the Houston area (owns multiple Ferraris) who was responsible for bringing the McLaren F1 to market, that picked up a local transmission in Houston for me and met me and my wife in Dallas for dinner. The guy drove a freakin Jeep to Dallas to deliver a transmission to me!!! Great guy. So, just because Prius owners tend to be smug, and Ferrari owners tend to be a holes, but that doesn't mean it has to apply to us, right?

But I digress.......2K1Toaster, would you kindly email me. I may be interested in this set up. I would be glad to be a guinea pig (did I even spell that correctly?) for you. Just to be fair. I will likely be your biggest promotor or harshest critic. What ever it is..... is. Fair enough?

I just bought a 2007 Prius with 195k miles and it needs a batt pack. Also needed a BUTT load of cleaning, which my angel of a wife and I tackled today. Now it doesn't look like a $1000 Prius. It looks like a $2000 Prius. Long story why I bought the car. Anyway, please email me at bilodeaulynn at the the mail account that is "hot" and is electonic, if you would like to make a deal on the batt pack. I will check with my nephew in the morning to see the very best price he can get on one from the Toyota dealer.
He manages my old auto repair shop that is now owned by my brother.

Like I said (20 min ago) I can't send you a PM. Would you kindly contact me? Apparently, I can't even include a "real" email addrss, so at the risk of pissing off the admins, I will try code. Hey, I am not a spam bot. Okay? Once again, bilodeaulynn at the mail account that is electronic and hot. Not sure how to make it any more clear. Got busted twice: once for a link, once for a sneaky url. Let's try this one.
Fools ebay every time. Hopefully it works here as well.

 

Try writing your Email address

bilodeaulynn(at)whatever.com

 

Yeah, I tried that. It blocked me because of a "sneaky" url.

You aleady figured out the bilodeaulynn part.

Yes, it is a mail. Yes it is hot.
Thanks.

Lynn

 

[email protected]

 

You got it!!!! I just can't post a link yet.

Thanks man. Obviously, a REAL car guy!!!

Hopefully, I see a message soon.

 

All you need to do is peruse threads of interest and add something of value to the discussion until you have your post count up above the required threshold, something like 5-10, so not hard to do. Unfortunately we have arrived here all in the name of defeating web bots that troll through message boards trying to dump spam.

 

For some reason I would LOVE to see the Ferrari next to the Prius - the juxtaposition of the 2 cars with nearly opposing perspectives on "performance" would be a sight to see!

 

I am not convinced that Consumer Reports is scientifically valid though either. According to Car Reliability FAQ | Answers to Reliability Questions - Consumer Reportsl
which I admit is several years old, they get their data from surveys sent to subscribers of Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org, and typically covers 200 to 400 vehicles.

The other question is about the difference between Gen2 and Gen3 regarding out of fuel and the battery. I can report, as somebody who has run out of fuel, that even though I was trying, the Gen2 would not let me destroy the battery, and shifted into N and we coasted to a stop, with the battery intact, and IIRC one (or maybe two) bars still showing.

 

well you got me there I never did it, but one bar would be pretty scary now.
Running down HV batt is survivable on newer HV batts.

 

I ran out of gas once, on my way to the gas station. luckily I was going down an Exit ramp and the station was a 1/4-1/2 mile. I did not stop and managed to roll into the Pumps without depleting the batt mor than One bar. I did have to clear the MiL codes before the car would start again though. I just happened to have my code scanner in the car.

 

I've run out of gas a number of times, mostly for somewhat scientific, yet stupid reasons. I've never had to clear the MiL. Hmm.
I can't remember what the SOC was during these events but the car was definitely in what I would call turtle mode for a block or two, sometimes getting me to a station.
But I don't think this would ever damage the battery in particular, as the pack never gets below 20%, is that right? I tought that what we see as zero bars and full bars is 20% and 80% of actual capacity. But I'm sure you risk damage to the fuel system.
Oh, and opposing perspectives on performance with a Ferarri? Hey, I've had all four wheels off the road in my Prius. Maybe a whole inch! And I can do zero to 107 in 6 seconds. Or was it 6 minutes? Yes, that was it.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

No, actually you see 40% and 80% of the actual capacity.

No, again, and this is the problem. When the Gen II runs of of gas, it will allow the HV battery to be run right down until it will no longer propel the car. This is what can kill the HV battery if it doesn't severely compromise it. I guess they didn't expect that people would actually do this.

This is certainly different from just about all other reports I have read. Unless the HV battery/motor control ECU(s) were updated since. Earlier reports were the HV battery was so discharged it could no longer start the car and it had to be towed to Toyota to be recharged on the 1 field charger that could be hard to get hold of.


Not sure how the discussion got here, a bit off topic.

 

Dishonest editing! You left out "for each model year"! In other words, they get thousands of surveys for each and every model.
"How many samples do you have of each model?
A typical model has about 200 to 400 samples for each model year. "

 

just one real world data point, i ran my 2008 out of gas, drove it until the battery quit and the dash lit up, put in 2 or 3 gallons of gas, and she fired right up and i was on my way.
i don't think the battery was damaged, if it had enough juice to turn the engine over.
either way, it's still cooking along at 100,000 miles and 55 mpg in my daughters ownership.

 

Los Angeles area has many distributors that are selling these new cylindrical module packs. $1500 is the price they are pushing it for with a 3 year warranty......I've asked the sellers about the products they are selling and none of them know anything about it. They are just buying and selling

 

Half the price of Toyota sounds like a good deal.
Links? Sources?