2002 Prius Battery Problems?

[mosxs]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me out here before the car gets taken back to the dealer.

A family member has a 2002 Toyota Prius. It has 163495(!) miles on it. Now that you've picked your jaw up off the floor, at least 90% of those miles are "Freeway miles". The way its driven every day, only a couple of miles are "street" miles and the rest of the time the gas engine is on constantly. So the hybrid battery realistically doesn't have too much use.

Now the last two days, a warning has been popping up on the screen, along with the red triangle. The warning says "PS" then "main" with a battery and then a "!" through a car.

From what I've gathered, that would point towards the hybrid battery going bad.

However, theres a couple of other things that lead me to also believe otherwise. First, if you shut the car off and restart it a couple of times, all of the warnings go away and it runs perfectly fine. It has been extremely cold here lately.

Second, as I said, literally 90% of the time it is on the freeway and running off the gas engine. The hybrid battery/electric engine only gets maybe 5 minutes of use every day and, based on the times I've ridden in the on that route it gets taken on every day, theres maybe a full mile worth of acceleration total that gets put on the electric engine. But even then, the gas engine is on.

The car was purchased use with about 62k miles on it. I know, if I had been there when the car was purchased, that wouldn't have happened. A much lower mileage Prius, or other car, would have been purchased.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The car hasn't been taken back to the dealer just yet. It's been sitting these last two days.

It just seems odd to me that the battery would go bad with such little use. On top of that, its very odd that the warnings and such go away after a couple of restarts and the car runs fine afterwards.

Edit: Got brave and took it around the neighborhood. Did a few laps around the neighborhood, put a few miles on it. The electric engine seems fine. It was running and driving as good as the day it was purchased.

Maybe the 12v battery is going bad? Or a bad sensor or something?

[tochatihu]

You really have to have the Toyota shop read out the diagnostic trouble codes (and info subcodes if any) before we can diagnose.

You do not mention any symptoms occurring, so I would not be quick to suspect a problem with the HV battery.

[donee]

Hi Mosxs,

The way the Prius transmission works, the battery is used on the highway too. Especially if its hilly. When the car goes up a hill, the battery adds in its extra 30 hp. When the car goes down the hill the engine and regeneration recharge the battery. So, your conclusion that the battery has had little use is incorrect. This is how a 70 hp internal combustion engine can move a car like it was a 110 hp internal combustion engine, yet use gas like it was a 50 hp internal combustion engine.

The battery is designed to last at least 150 K miles. At 168 K miles if it is bad, well, its done what its supposed to.

Things do not last forever.

That being said, I am sure other will chime in with more experience with the earlier generation Prius battery. There may be ways to revamp it without a complete replacement.

[mosxs]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I've spent a good four hours over the last two days reading about people who have had their batteries go bad.

This car has none of those symptoms. It doesn't act the way they described or anything. The little bit of driving I did today for testing... it drove exactly as it did the day it was purchased.

Also, like I said before, I've ridden in the car several times on the router it is driven on every day. Once on the freeway, the battery rarely, if ever, kicks in. Being the passenger, I watch the screen and I can hardly recall any times the battery would kick in while on the freeway.

Hopefully it's not an issue with the hybrid battery.

[glennbh122]

I know this post is old, but am curious what the problem was.

The symptons you are describing, I have experienced today after replacing the 12V battery..."warning has been popping up on the screen, along with the red triangle. The warning says "PS" then "main" with a battery and then a "!" through a car".

Now, I have the screen you described in your first post, but car engine is having power problems...If I didn't know better, I would it was missing spark plugs, that kind of poor power.

Mine is also 2002 with 87,500 miles.

Glenn

Originally Posted by mosxs

Thanks for the replies so far.

I've spent a good four hours over the last two days reading about people who have had their batteries go bad.

This car has none of those symptoms. It doesn't act the way they described or anything. The little bit of driving I did today for testing... it drove exactly as it did the day it was purchased.

Also, like I said before, I've ridden in the car several times on the router it is driven on every day. Once on the freeway, the battery rarely, if ever, kicks in. Being the passenger, I watch the screen and I can hardly recall any times the battery would kick in while on the freeway.

Hopefully it's not an issue with the hybrid battery.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by glennbh122

...The symptons you are describing, I have experienced today after replacing the 12V battery..."warning has been popping up on the screen, along with the red triangle. The warning says "PS" then "main" with a battery and then a "!" through a car".

Now, I have the screen you described in your first post, but car engine is having power problems...If I didn't know better, I would it was missing spark plugs, that kind of poor power.

Mine is also 2002 with 87,500 miles.

Hi Glenn,

As you look at the MFD with the three warning icons displayed, do you find that one of the three is highlighted, or brighter in appearance? If so, which one?