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2008 Prius traction battery failure

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Jason Joe, Jan 25, 2016.

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  1. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    We have had just a few 2008 batts die so far...but they are due to start failing this year. Sounds like OP bought a 2008 model in late 2007 so his 8-yrs is up on the warranty. So Toyota kindly assisted. One of our repair members here just said yesterday 75% of his batts replaced in 2015 were 2007 models.

    With the brake problems I am having on my minivan (apparently generic issue due to auto makers making cars bigger but keeping brakes smaller) I am reluctant to get anything except a hybrid with regen braking.
     
    #21 wjtracy, Jan 26, 2016
  2. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Good question Jim.

    The basic theory is that limiting the range of usage to approx 40% to 80% helps prevent any cells getting overcharged or overly discharged (even reverse biased), particularly as the pack starts to age and the cell characteristics and cell balance inevitably start to diverge. It also prevents operating in the range where charging is likely to cause excessive heating of the cells.

    Trying to improve the pack balance by "over charging and super discharging" as you call it, is only done occasionally, and most importantly, done at considerably lower current than that of normal operation.

    I hope that helps. :)
     
    #22 uart, Jan 26, 2016
    S Keith and m.wynn like this.
  3. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    Hybrid-related components, including the HV battery, battery control module, hybrid control module and inverter with converter, are covered for 8 years/100,000 miles.

    What hybrid warranty coverage do I have on my Toyota?
     
    #23 Former Member 68813, Jan 26, 2016
  4. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Except in CARB (California rule) states where it is 10 years/150k miles.

    JeffD
     
    #24 jdenenberg, Jan 26, 2016
  5. Jason Joe

    Jason Joe New Member

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    I live in Texas the 10yrs 150K only applies to CARB states such as CA

    Yes I am a daily driver. In the 2 years I have owned it I have put another 47K on it. We get weather here in TX so I also have a highlander I switch back and forth on. I'm not exactly sure what the previous owner but they put around 8K a year on it and I did learn that lower mileage isn't always the better option. I parked this car for 3 weeks when the blizzard hit us, and within that 3 week period went and started the vehicle and let the ICE run for about 20 mins (MAX heat)... from what the forums were saying. At that time there were no warning signals or anything on and vehicle was running fine. I go back on the 4th week to change back to the Prius and all these warning lights come on. At first I thought it was the inverter water pump but then Toyota plugged it into a computer and it threw the P80 code which is the traction battery.
     
    #25 Jason Joe, Jan 26, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2016
  6. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    I sure do wish we had you're old battery for testing because that code could have been stored as an intermittent code from a weak 12V battery. The end result for you was great but unfortunately, it resulted in some negative press from you about hybrids (which by and large is not the case). I am very suspicious if your battery was even bad.

    What were the symptoms besides the lights? Was it driving fine? Was the HV battery fan on? Did it go from low charge to high charge in about 30 seconds? Did the engine rev high?

    If your battery was indeed bad, it would be an extremely rare occurrence since its an 08 with less than 100k miles.
     
    #26 usnavystgc, Jan 26, 2016
  7. Jason Joe

    Jason Joe New Member

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    Yes I besides the lights it was driving all from the ICE and the fan did not come on. The charge did go to the last 2 purple lines to fully charged back to just the blue lines. The engine did rev high. Did not drive it too fast to the dealership. I check my 12v battery voltage and it was holding a good charge. I am a little surprised myself to have not gotten any codes 2 weeks in starting it and then the 4th week hit with all these warning lights.
     
    #27 Jason Joe, Jan 26, 2016
  8. tvpierce

    tvpierce Senior Member

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    Got it! Thanks.
     
    #28 tvpierce, Jan 28, 2016
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