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Is my hybrid battery dead?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by shawnlevine, Feb 18, 2012.

  1. shawnlevine

    shawnlevine Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Good morning,

    Yesterday on my morning commute, the red triangle, brake light and check engine light popped up on my dashboard. After about 10 more minutes of driving I lost a lot of my driving power.

    The system screen showed that there was no brake regenerating happening. I could hear the battery fan going behind me pretty loud.

    Later that day I did pick up a cheap scan tool and it did not find any trouble codes. I did hit clear to clear codes and all the warning lights went off. The car then drove pretty normal for abount 10 minutes. The battery charging bars seemed to be acting wierd. It went all they way up to green real fast and then back down to 1 bar real fast. After about ten minutes all of the warnings came back on.

    The car just hit 140K that same morning.

    Any ideas?
     
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    1 person likes this.
  3. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    If you have had the inverter cooling pump recall performed, then it probably is your hybrid battery.

    I strongly recommend a visit to Mellor's Automotive in West Melbourne:

    http://mellorsautomotive.com/
     
    2 people like this.
  4. shawnlevine

    shawnlevine Junior Member

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    Two
    Hello, I bought the car used and do not know if the recall repair was done. I do have the origional letter from toyota on the recall in my documents. I see from the other posting my vin is not recognized as a recall. I will call the dealer on Monday. Thank you for the model correction. Let me know if you have any other advise. thanks, shawn
     
  5. shawnlevine

    shawnlevine Junior Member

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    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Hello, I do not think my 12volt has ever been replaced. I bought my car used so I do not know if the inverter coolant pump was worked on. My vin does not match the recalled cars, but I do have the toyota letter sent to the origional owner in my docs. About 5000 miles ago I had some front end damage repair, they did replace the radiator and some other coolant things. I will call the body shop and the dealership on Monday to see if they will do some free diagnostics. Your advise is greatly appreciated. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

    Thanks,
     
  6. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    inverter recal?? i missed that bulletin....
     
  7. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    I'm certain that he meant the Inverter COOLANT PUMP recall.

    JeffD
     
  8. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    Oops, yeah, inverter cooling pump. I fixed it.
     
  9. Marty2go

    Marty2go Junior Member

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    This has all the clasic signs of a battery module or more going bad. Usually the bars of battery charge will go up to the top and then go to the bottom a while before the red triangle will show its ugly self. Shawn had most all of the normal symptoms of bad battery modules.