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High revving when battery full

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Travman514, Apr 24, 2023.

  1. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    I have a 2008 Toyota Prius and I believe I have an overcharging problem. When the battery is full green and I come to a stop the engine begins to rev very high. Maybe it's not the engine. It could be some sort of motor but it revs very high and when I take off I try to use only battery power and after about 4 seconds of driving, the high rev goes away.
     
  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat!!
    This is normal for the HV battery to bleed off additional charge when full. Are there any stretches of downhill before this happens?

    You many want to balance or recondition the HV battery. How many miles are on the HV battery, and is it still the original?

    FYI : you're moderated until you've posted 5 times.
     
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  3. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    A Prius can do that to shed energy. You're hearing the electric motor spinning the engine as a load. No fuel is being used. Even a healthy Prius can do this under the right conditions, so don't worry too much.

    I don't know the exact formula or circumstances, but generally speaking it involves the state of charge being fairly high and the battery temperature quite warm.

    The battery ECU has its own logic and thresholds and sometimes decides that the battery should be less full and less warm. Using some power to twirl the gas engine accomplishes both at the same time.

    Then when you take off from the stop, you get to use that electricity for practical effect, moving the car- the ECUs figure this out and stop wasting the electricity.
     
  4. ColoradoBoo

    ColoradoBoo Senior Member

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    How long has it been since you had the MAF Sensor and Throttle Body cleaned? Both can effect the engine idle when they are dirty.

    Pro Tip: Disconnect the negative battery terminal before cleaning them and expect the computer to take 20 minutes or more to recompute/readjust everything when first running.
     
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  5. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the response! Happy to hear it's relatively normal and yes we have plenty of hills. If the battery is full, I typically have been putting it in neutral So it does not generate any more power. The car has 230,000 mi currently and everything as far as I know is original.
     
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  6. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    No, I have not done that but I probably should. Thanks for the reply
     
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  7. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    Thanks for reply and you guys definitely have calmed my fears. She has been so reliable for the past 7 years I have had her.
     
  8. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Don't do this, all you're doing is making the car less efficient. The car is quite capable of managing itself and will not allow the battery to overcharge or overheat,
     
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  9. Isaac Zachary

    Isaac Zachary Senior Member

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    I totally agree with this,

    It can also be more dangerous and wear out your brakes sooner.

    If you are going down a long hill use B mode on the shifter to induce engine braking. This will also let the battery charge up more slowly, which is better for the battery as far as I understand.

    Also, read the owner's manual when you have time. You can't go wrong following the owner's manual's recommendations.
     
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  10. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    At that mileage a HV battery rebalance using a gridcharger/discharger would be a good idea.

    Numerous other maintenance items as well. Have you ever changed the spark plugs, transaxle fluid, or cleaned the HV battery fan?
     
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  11. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    Thank you . I have stopped putting in a neutral since I now know that the high revving is normal. I consistently overlook the owners manual and have a habit of referring to the Chilton manual for any of my vehicles. Will check it out
     
  12. Travman514

    Travman514 New Member

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    I have changed the spark plugs recently and also did an oil change. It was in my plans to change the transaxle fluid, but I was unsure whether or not that was a good idea considering it's so old. Would this transmission run into the same problems as conventional transmissions due when you swapping out old fluid with new?
     
  13. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    No. A Prius is much more gentle with its ATF. It does have the unusual element of exposing the electric motor coils to the ATF for cooling, so it is strongly recommended to stick with the real Toyota stuff, but there's no clutches or valve bodies or anything like that, so new fluid won't change perceived shift patterns or anything.

    From the Prius driver's seat, you'd never know the ATF had been changed.
     
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  14. Isaac Zachary

    Isaac Zachary Senior Member

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    The ATF problems in other cars is due to hyrdaulic circuits that the Prius doesn't have.

    A Prius transmission is a lot like a manual transmission. It's just some gears spinning in lube. No hydraulic circuits to gum up and plug nor high pressure against gaskets to burst.
     
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