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2006 Prius losing power on Hills

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by patcoghm, Jul 24, 2017.

  1. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    2006 Prius with 130,000 miles. Runs great around town and has power and fast acceleration, but has a problem of not enough power to climb hills, pops out of cruise and runs at 4000 to 5000 + RPM. Its like the MG stop working and it drains the battery to nothing. Prior to this I could climb the same hills without this loss of electrical power. I thought it was a drive battery unable to hold a charge and I recently replaced it with a new Toyota Prius remanufactured battery at the dealer. This doesn't solve the problem.
    The battery display has 8 bars and I'm usually running in the 4-6 range. Never in the 7 or 8 bar green zone unless driven downhill. Very seldom will it get into the green zone around town, but it does on occasion.
    If I take it on the freeway at 65 to 70, the battery slowly discharges into the 1 or 2 bar violet and stays their, yet it shows a yellow charge from the generator to the battery, but never really increases. This on a relatively flat drive. At the next freeway exit coast off and the battery bar increases very fast back into the 6-7 bar range.

    My thought is the MG 1 or 2 are not charging properly when cruising at highway speeds and will not charge fast if at all, and when driving up a hill the MG 1 or 2 is draining the battery extremely fast as if it's almost shorted but will give power for a shorter then normal hill climb. I get electrical boost until the battery hits the bottom battery bars, then it turns of the cruise and drops the electrical power boost. Then its all high reeving engine power.. I loss speed and I need to move into the slow truck lane and the car slows to 35-40 with the engine running at high RPM. When I pull off the freeway at the next exit, stop, then hit the gas to drive off, the engine has a delayed reeving action and takes seconds to increase with the pedal pushed. This is not the way it did drive on the same roads. The route is I-80 Reno to Sacramento via Donner pass. I could cross that mountain and never lost power and cruised at 65 on cruise control.

    My guess is the electric MG 1 & 2 is at fault as I have a new battery. No engine codes appear so the dealer will not work on it until a code is thrown by the system. Any help would be appreciated. My next step is new transmission as my own trouble shooting by part replacement. The dealer just doesn't know how to troubleshoot a symptom, unless they have some warning codes. Help.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    is it a brand spankin' new battery from a toyota dealer?
     
  3. JDenyer232

    JDenyer232 Member

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    A drive with techstream hooked up should bring the problem to light pretty quickly.
     
  4. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    They said they don't sell new ones, but its Toyota with new cells. I guess its the case with new parts.
     
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  5. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    Who has techstream, the dealers. 2 dealers only deal with codes and warning, and as I get none they do nothing nore have they suggested this approach.
     
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  6. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Do you have the part number from the invoice?
     
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  7. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    I wondered was the battery new or remanufactured??
    It cannot be both.
     
  8. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Sounds like the OP is in CA, so my bet it is the -84 part number;).

    Will be looking forward to an update(y).
     
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  9. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    If the OP were in Canada, the car would be in Km, not miles.:D

    Oh, you mean California?
     
  10. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    CA = California not the large vast wilderness north of the 49th parallel;).
     
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    a location would help, but yeah, sounds like a good battery. if the o/p is going by feel, and there are no codes, she should replace the tranny and be done with it.

    otoh, maybe it's one of the many engine maintenance possibilities.
     
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  12. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    @patcoghm , how many miles have you put on your Prius since the battery replacement? How many times have you done the Donner Pass run since the replacement? What warranty came with the "new" battery pack?
     
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  13. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    Ok they installed a G95104703184 : REMAN HVB, GEN 2 PRI
     
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  14. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    OK. My understanding is the -84 means a true rebuilt with old modules that's being sold in California only. You didn't get a NEW battery built with NEW modules (and hopefully didn't pay for one either). I bought a new one and it has the exact same part number except the -84 on the end.

    It's within possibilities that you traded in one weak battery for another. You wouldn't be the first to get a dead "new" battery.

    Overall it's very strange that the car is performing so poorly yet no codes.
     
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  15. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    Battery installed at 131, 997, and now have 137, 557
     
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i thought it was the old case with all new cells.(n)
     
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  17. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i wonder if they have had any failures yet. hasn't been much news about this one year program.

    until now.:( sorry o/p, maybe it is your battery.
     
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  19. patcoghm

    patcoghm Junior Member

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    Assuming the battery is good, what causes loss of power in climbing hills, and never charging even when the MFD shows its charging for extended distances on flat areas. Intown 35-55 it charges and works like it always did. The hills that are problems never were problems to climb until recently so I replaced the battery assuming it was not holding a charge. After replacing it with a New rather then the original older battery with what they said was a Toyota remanufacture battery, the problem still exists. Is fells like its not charging strong enough to recover the SOC. MY guess is the MG1 or MG2 when it generates power to the drive battery is to little to recover the lost power.
     
  20. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Bad assumption. If the dealer isn't going to plug techstream into the car to look at the battery you will have to buy a mini vci and do the diagnostics yourself. The alternative is to continue to drive the car until something fails and records a DTC. If the DTC points to the battery and it occurs under warranty then you'll be covered.
     
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