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Another Gen2 battery about to bite the dust

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by SFO, Feb 16, 2017.

  1. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    (FHoP seems like a good place for this as any other at the moment)

    Let me first say I've read many posts over the last couple of years (including some that were removed when people up and left the forum). I do enjoy having different views and knowledge bases to learn and work form.

    Which leaves me with my current situation; a 2007 with 147k (10/150 warranty, second owner). The battery is starting to show signs of use- many bars will jump either up or down quickly within under a minute, it doesn't happen often but I've see it once every couple of weeks or so.

    Though I consider myself a DIYer for the most part, the potential for such with this HV battery is extremely low given the lack of space in my urban environment- sure I have most if not all of the tools, and hopefully enough sense, but no off street space to work with.

    That said, I only see a few options at this point:

    1) Continue using the car and wait for however long (weeks, months, years) it takes for the battery to die and buy a new / rebuilt / used one over the counter and replace it (with or without help).

    2) Same as above, but when it fails pay someone $300+ (or the local prevailing rate) to play whack-a-mole on my now 'coded' battery and hope they got it right on the first swing

    2) Buy someones discharge/recharge device(s) and hope a proper balancing makes it better.

    3) Have someone look at the battery before it fails and replace the cells that are needing attention; including charge/discharge and or any other current state of the art voodoo that might help.

    4) Pray the battery throws the right code(s) during normal use in the next couple of months (or 3k miles) and have Toyota potentially replace it while still under warranty.

    5) Park the car for an extended period of time (couple of months), but before the warranty is up in May of 2017 and hope it has finally died a proper death. With Toyota potentially replacing under warranty.

    Thanks everyone for any input you may offer ahead of time.

    ps. did I read somewhere that kiwi | PriusChat sold/licensed some expensive testing/refurbishing equipment to a local shop in California or the west coast area? if so that might be a potential avenue for option #3 above.
     
    #1 SFO, Feb 16, 2017
  2. bestmapman

    bestmapman 04, 07 ,08, 09, 10, 16, 21 Prime

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    I would talk to Steve at autobeyours.com. He can probably help you or at least give you some options.
     
    #2 bestmapman, Feb 16, 2017
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what are your future intentions with the car?
     
    #3 bisco, Feb 16, 2017
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I'd choose #5
     
    #4 JC91006, Feb 16, 2017
  5. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    You could take the car to a dealer with concerns now. Likely nothing will be done, but you'll have a record of previous concerns if the battery dies just outside warranty. That might help out with a replacement then.
     
    #5 Trollbait, Feb 17, 2017
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  6. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    I vote for #5 then if the car can't sit, #4. The battery is not your problem until after the warranty has expired.
     
    #6 JimN, Feb 17, 2017
  7. hkmb

    hkmb Senior Member

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    I'm not very technical.

    But might it make sense (and would it be possible?) to deliberately accelerate the degradation of the battery so that it fails within the term of the warranty? And could you do this by running the car in EV mode to flatten the battery, and then parking and revving the engine to recharge, and doing this repeatedly?

    Or would it not work? Or not be worth the effort?
     
    #7 hkmb, Feb 21, 2017
  8. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    Hi :) you could .. pull the pack out and let it rest for a week then after a week test each individual module voltage with a simple multi meter, this would give you a reasonable idea of which modules are different to the majority. Then buy a couple good modules off a reliable source on here like Brad or Jeff? shell out for a balance charger to go with it! would do it the world of good and you would own a balance charger to throw on the car annually

    good luck
     
    #8 ozmatt, Feb 22, 2017
  9. GasperG

    GasperG Senior Member

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    Go the dealer and report a problem, if battery is jumping up and down, then car is not performing normally (even if you are not looking at the battery level you can feel it). Report that the car feels sluggish, gets lower MPG.

    If you have hills, just drive them a little bit more, so battery takes full charge and warms up.

    I don't understand how option 5 would be a good choice? Because of self discharge? Then you would need to leave the car will battery at lowest level.
     
    #9 GasperG, Feb 22, 2017
  10. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    If it was mine and still under warranty, I'd take it to the dealer and explain this and try to demonstrate it. I would think that if they see that going on, they'd cover you. That's definitely a signal of impending doom. If they can't help right away, at least there's be a record for future use.
     
    #10 jerrymildred, Feb 22, 2017
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  11. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Keep in mind Toyota has been pretty good about warranty coverage if you are a little over, especially in CA. So if you were a little over 10-yrs, we'd be telling you to ask Toyota USA for goodwill warranty coverage, assuming the dealer did not immediately offer that if you are so close. I assume the first owner purchased/registered in a CARB state, that is the first requirement.
     
    #11 wjtracy, Feb 22, 2017
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  12. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Thinking it would be a keeper, then when no longer needed hand it over to a family member.

    Interesting idea, not sure how that would work either. Guessing one would run the battery down in reverse(?) and then try climbing hills afterwards(?). Rinse and repeat.

    My only concern is if the battery didn't die (by this or some other method) it would do damage to the battery (or degrade it) which would make it more costly to play whack-a-mole down the road when the battery does finally give up the ghost.

    Pretty sure someone knows the best way to approach such, if its even possible.

    I've heard of such (goodwill and otherwise), just haven't seen any positive reports regarding 2nd owners.
     
    #12 SFO, Mar 5, 2017
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  13. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    My 08 was like this when i first bought it and was like it for 12 months or more before I finally rebuilt a pack for it, after 12 months the pack still had not coded P0A80 it was just lazy! it is the first sign of a lazy pack however I don't think its going to fail as soon as you might like it to!

    You will find it hard to deliberately sabotage the battery no matter what you do, prius protects its own.

    Toyota wont even consider swapping out the pack until they actually see a big fat triangle on the dash and diagnostic code P0A80.

    Best you can really do at this stage is start bugging Toyota and ask them to make notes on their system about it so when your warranty is up and the pack really dies, you can go back and say "I told you so" and hope for good-will due to it having been previously reported! .. I would actually keep going back once a month until they either A: get sick of you and put a pack in it or B: the pack actually fails

    good luck :)
     
    #13 ozmatt, Mar 5, 2017
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  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    in that case, i would put a new battery in.
     
    #14 bisco, Mar 5, 2017
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  15. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Yes there have been 2nd owner cases...we have no rhyme nor reason but it does seem those with lots of Toyotas or lots of service at Toyota do get extra consideration. Also I feel CA is good a thing..
    https://priuschat.com/posts/2506016/
     
    #15 wjtracy, Mar 5, 2017
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