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Replaced 2 Transaxles and the HV Battery and Still Not Working... advice please.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by phideltgt, Jan 9, 2012.

  1. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    If they let it sit over the weekend, a bad module will show itself.

    At this point, I think you need to pull that trans out.
     
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  2. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Wow, u are having some serious bad luck. If its the transmission, didnt u say it has a 90 day warranty?
     
  3. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Yes, I have a 90 day warranty on the transmission, so hopefully they will honor it.
     
  4. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    I went to the shop today to have them demonstrate the charge on the modules. All modules were around ~8.0V. The car sat for 3 days since they had charged it and all modules were still at or close to 8.0. I thought a full charge was 7.2v, though. They demonstrated lifting the front wheels and running the car to get the combustion engine to come on.

    They diagnosed it as a bad transaxle. I contacted the provider of the donor transaxle and they will honor the warranty and send me another one. It should be here in about 9 days. So, a couple things went my way :). I just hope the 3rd one will work and be the final fix. Thank you all very much for helping me get to this point. I will report back in a couple of weeks.
     
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    7.2V is the "nominal" module voltage rating, and a module with that voltage measurement is relatively discharged. As you learned, in practice a healthy module with a reasonable charge will measure 8+V.

    Good to hear that you obtained a diagnosis of a transaxle failure. I suppose you are out of pocket for the labor installation costs x3?
     
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  6. Agape

    Agape Member

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    phideltht, to date you deserve a hi5 or more.

    @mods, I think the Title of this thread can be soon changed to:
    Replaced 3 Transaxles and the HV Battery and (after while, and 3 transmissions later) all Working...well.

    endurance - is this the right word?
     
  7. andyprius

    andyprius Senior Member

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    You are absolutely a bulldog ! Great work. :cheer2:
     
  8. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    I hope for ur sanity this will be the last time u have to change the transaxle.
     
  9. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Good to hear 8v is where they need to be, thank you. I have actually been putting the transaxles in myself. I've got it down to a weekend - Sat to pull it out, Sun to put it in.
     
  10. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Wow, that sure would be nice. I really hope that will be the case. Thanks for the support. Endurance will work... at times I was thinking of some others, ha.
     
  11. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Me, too! Thanks.
     
  12. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Thank you, Andyprius. I appreciate it.
     
  13. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    I love this thread! It's like munching popcorn at the movies -- I can't wait to see what happens next!!
     
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  14. snead_c

    snead_c Jam Ma's Car

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    Let's all hope :

    "THE END" :D
     
  15. w2co

    w2co Member

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    and sorry you're having such a problem there.
    I have been dabbling with both gen1 and gen2 cells on the bench for quite a while now and have found that they will not sit very long without being charged, and they need to discharge and charge cycle as well regularly or else they will lose holding capability. This means the cell can show 8V+/- but not be able to handle even slight loads for long at all. Eventually they will slowly drop voltage to 5V if left sitting at which point will no longer be any good at all. Gen1 cells suffered from electrolyte loss and leakage at the terminals, the Gen2 cells pretty much solved the leakage problem, and they have better SOC levels, and hold charge longer. Your Gen2 pack showing 198.6V is typical of a good pack that just needs a few good charge/discharge cycles (my 06' is a daily driver and typical SOC is around 62, and arnd 230V+/-) The best way to do this is actually driving the vehicle up some hills and then down the other side to charge it back (actually lightly press the brake to further the charge rate). Notice I mentioned "best way" of course one could use a charger to revive a pack, but it still is probably not cycled properly, but a good starting point, at least get used to driving the motors in the transaxle. Now I would guess the real problem now is the system is not ready for some reason (ready lite intermittant) until you can get it to stay ready and the ice is running good enough to drive, there will be no charging only discharging of the pack, so there is of course another problem. You've already changed the transaxle twice! (congrats that's quite an achievement)) and the 12V as well as HV batteries, I would agree that maybe the inverter is toast. This quite often gives very similar symptoms. I would suggest some Gen2 inverters on eBay recently (from rearended 05-09 prius') and they seemed to go for around $300-400 + ship. Oh yes, make sure the inverter coolant pump is running, if it isn't the inv. is probably toast. Well all I can say is best of luck, I sincerely hope you get it fixed, it's a good car worth the effort.
    I look forward to your results.
     
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  16. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Still waiting on the transaxle to arrive, so I wasn't able to work on it this weekend. Hoping it arrives today.
     
  17. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    I wish you were closer, I'd buy all those dead trans cores from you. Anyway, good luck!
     
  18. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Thank you! Yeah, I'm gonna have 3, ha. I suppose I could break them down down and recycle the metals.
     
  19. phideltgt

    phideltgt Junior Member

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    Received the transaxle today...
    Picture of it on the dock
    trans on dock.jpg

    Picture of it loaded in my truck
    trans in truck.jpg

    I'll be able to start on it this weekend.
     
  20. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Woohoo......I'll get the popcorn :)