Fur and dirt causing major battery problems

[Patrick Wong]

Well, once the tech realized that fur and dirt was the problem, s/he would have to remove the fan to clean it out, and also remove all of the ventilation ducting to inspect and clean if necessary. Then s/he would have to look inside the battery and make sure no fur or dirt was within. All this requires removing the hatch trim for access.

So how much elapsed time would that take - maybe three hours total?

What amount would the tech receive out of the $720 labor invoice: $150?

[galaxee]

DH's opinion is that this repair was the subjective type.

$150 just to do a general check on the car;

a little steep but considering cost of living there maybe standard
should have been 0.5-1 hour of labor for this- plug in scantool, check codes, basic testing.

$120 just for initial inspection;

this should have been included in the first charge. this is the tech milking the diagnosis because diag doesn't pay.

$150 to perform tests on the batteries;

could have been included in first charge- scantool does this pretty much automatically. just because they plugged it in a second time, they charged for a second time from the sound of it.

$200-300 to open up the battery compartment and check;

reasonable. this is about what DH would have charged.

150 to clean compartment and fans

reasonable, as above.

job was $720, could have been reasonably as low as 500. the tech probably pulled $180-200 for himself from that job depending on hours billed/per-hour charge. some of those look like flat dealer fees and not hourly labor charge billed. assuming the guy knew what he was doing from the get go, maybe it took 3 hours. it takes DH 15 minutes to get to the battery but they billed 5-6 hours to do a battery extraction for a body shop. he's done them in the parking lot in 20 minutes.

just the world of dealer labor for ya... trying to lay it out there.

[northwichita]

I use my prius as a rural route vehicle, open window, 100 miles a day on dusty roads, I've used a generic a/c filter , more of a foam material, behind the battery vent cover, and clean it monthly. I've also started to use an air gun to blow out the area as well. Interesting description of your initial problem, thanks for posting.

[lohboy]

Rondodog,
Is it possible to clean out the battery fan myself? Thanks!

PS-I have an English Mastiff who travels in my car all the time.

[maseace]

Originally Posted by lohboy

Rondodog,
Is it possible to clean out the battery fan myself? Thanks!

PS-I have an English Mastiff who travels in my car all the time.

I got to the fan on mine today to check for dirt. Took less than an hour total. Mine was clean. I have never heard it come on before so I tested it to make sure the blower worked.

[barnabas]

Anyone know how similar it would be to clean a 2010 battery air intake and fan?

Thanks

Barn

[apatel]

2006 Prius

We recently had the same issue regarding dog hair clogging the blower and over heating the battery. The battery needed to be replaced, luckily it was still under warranty.

Does the heating filter solution work? Does it provide enough air flow over time?