Doing a bunch of repairs, advice and does anyone want to swap cores if I replace hv battery?

I’m in ridgecrest about to drive to Ontario with my old core for a new battery, if you want to meet and get the not dead cells. I’m proactively replacing my battery as I’ve decided to drive it a few more years and I live in mountains where I need it. Dr Prius last run said 80% original capacity so probably good for emergency fixes.

 

I already have core out of my car and driving down in another, so if you have case with cells built would be real quick swap.

 

Ok @SFO you get to have the core from Penny Prius thanks to @JC91006 will contact to coordinate in future

 

Having an issue getting ball joint off the knuckle, seems like the same corrosion that keeps the hub assembly from coming out is between the castle nut and the knuckle on the ball joint. It’s been soaked multiple times over days with pb blaster, breaker bars and impact wrenches not moving it

is it ok to put a torch on the ball joint nut to heat it up and see if that helps release it , ie how much heat won’t damage the aluminum knuckle ?

 

Heating didn’t work, the tops of the castle nut just started to bend with the impact wrench.

Don’t have a nut splitter here, tried cutting with die grinder but got worried about cutting into the knuckle so I stopped. Will check out nut splitter.. thanks for the idea !

 

I ended up using the die grinder and took like an hour to get them both off. Finally done with all of my swap outs and the car drives like it’s new. Totally worth the time spent and I likely saved $3000 plus in labor, $3500 in parts and nothing to change but oil for 30,000 miles should get me a couple more years!

@SFO i was originally planning to drive back via Yosemite (and perhaps drop off my old pack) in the two week vacation but I need to stay in ridgecrest until Saturday to help my buddy here then head back to Tahoe. I can’t figure out how to send a DM on here, if you send message to d o u g l a s 0 0 1 0 0 1 at the google mail can figure out how to transfer it sometime, I usually make a Sacramento / ikea run a couple times a year and also need to get to sfo airport for my global entry interview so likely will do that at some point.

 

1000 mile report after all of the repairs: I’m amazed at how well it handles/feels after replacing the ball joints and tie rods, one of the timken hubs I bought was doa so I returned both and got the OEM when I picked up the battery, I’m equally upset at myself for driving around with bad bearings for a couple years. I did a half mile glide on a smooth side street and screamed like a teenager at a Bieber concert.

Regarding performance of the new battery, it wasn’t as good as I hoped, mainly because of the ECU algorithm to use up the charge fast when it’s full and to start to recharge under 50%. But.. it has solved the problem when I pull over to let cars pass and not having enough battery assist to get back up to speed and I haven’t been close to “angry mg1 and mg2 mode” when ECU says no soup for you and the MGs scream when you ask for any power. Descent recharge is getting to 80% a mile or so further than old battery which is good benefit.

I’ve been trying to read up on state of charge spoofing, if I could make the ecu think it was always 50% charge on climbs to get a consistent 15-20 amp draw instead of the 40 + Amps from 80 to 60% that would be ideal for my use case. I’m not an electrician so reading the old cal cars phev pages is way above my head, and from what I understand they are adding voltage so the battery looks full so it uses more. Is there a way to override something using a tablet + odb2 connector and inserting a command instead of manipulating voltage readings at the battery?

super happy gen2 owner once again! although I wish I would’ve bought the 2021 prime for 20k in March when I had the chance, oops.

 

Oh! For the 3 way coolant valve replacement p1121, I watched a few videos where people were having mega trouble with the hoses.

what I did was bought three sets of these:
https://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-fluid-line-clamp-set-65116.html

the biggest ones I used to clamp the three hoses and the second biggest ones I used to hold open the hose clamp. To get the clamp loose enough to move the hose off and on it basically needs to be completely open. If you can keep the clamp on the end of the hose while you slide off the hose it will be easier when putting it back on. Sliding the hose back on without the clamp then sliding the clamp back on was the hardest part for me (it’s hard to move the clamped open clamp without it sliding off). When you’re putting the biggest clamp on the hoses to close off the hose, the more room you leave yourself the better. You’re going to need to bleed the system anyway, another inch of coolant per hose isn’t that big of deal.

and! don’t try to do the bottom hose from above, I have no idea why people were trying to do it all from above.

total time was 3.5 hours, about two of that trying to get the clamps open enough to slide the hose off or on.

I only had a couple cups of coolant leak so the harbor freight clamps did the trick