Lots of questions, if you can answer any that would be great.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Prius92, Jun 24, 2025 at 8:05 PM.

  1. Prius92

    Prius92 Active Member

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    2008 Prius
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    Long story short, I rebuilt the motor and hybrid battery in my 2008 about 2 years ago, and then it sat due to a lengthy divorce. I put all new front suspension components (inner/outer tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings, complete struts and sway bar links/bushings).

    While everything is now working fine, no codes, etc, there are still some issues now I can't seem to shake.

    1. The gas in the vehicle is roughly 2 years old, but since it's a sealed system, it seems to idle ok (doesn't misfire/die), but seems quite slow to accelerate. Would the old gas be the cause of this? I ran about 1/3rd of it out and put in fresh, but it made it only slightly better.

    2. The A/C seems to put a massive dent in the battery. When the dealership diagnosed the A/C and charged it, when I picked it up it was on the last purple bar. I was almost rear-ended because I was flooring it and it took like 30 seconds to go from a standstill to 45mph.

    No red triangle or anything. What would cause higher than normal power draw from the A/C compressor?

    3. I read somewhere if the battery gets too hot due to outside ambient temp, it will reduce the power of the battery to prevent over-heating. What is that temperature?

    4. I'm hearing kind of a bump/rattle in the front end going over bumps, but not feeling it in the wheel or brake, what could this be?

    5. Has anyone had the center console and arm rests reupholstered? If so, what did it cost?

    Main concern is slow acceleration.
     
    #1 Prius92, Jun 24, 2025 at 8:05 PM
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
  2. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    That is normal when the pack is going out. How was it "rebuilt"? New modules, old ones?
     
    #2 pasadena_commut, Jun 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
    Brian1954 likes this.
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Pretty normal stuff clunking lower arms the rubber circle bushes that push into frame . Any components utilizing these type bushes they all broken now take a look . To check suspension requires a long iron bar like digging bar with that bar you can spread those bushes by tweaking on lower arms etc side to side up and down etc . The front end and frame shops are quite man handeling you vehicle whilst doing . You'd be very upset. To see it maybe.
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Jun 25, 2025 at 8:15 AM
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Battery been addressed . Dump some good fuel on top of junk or hose in tank get old out . Fill it if you gonna drive it .
     
    #4 Tombukt2, Jun 25, 2025 at 8:16 AM
  5. Prius92

    Prius92 Active Member

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    Well there's no new modules being made for these except for Project Lithium (if they are even around anymore).

    I took all the modules out, charged/discharged them until the mAh reading is back to factory specs. I replaced probably half a dozen weak modules, voltage matched them, and installed new stainless bus bars (some fancy type that has the same resistance as copper).

    But the slow acceleration...it does it even when the battery meter shows 5 bars.
     
    #5 Prius92, Jun 25, 2025 at 9:09 AM
  6. ColoradoCrow

    ColoradoCrow Senior Member

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    Have you checked your air filter? Cleaned the MAF? Try force charging the battery by putting car in Drive and pressing both brake and gas pedal at the same time. The SOC should rise to 3 blue bars in short order. I have replaced the arm rest and center console with vinyl fabric I got at a local shop. I bought some premade arm rest covers off ebay and spray glued them on to the plastic armrests. You will have to drill out the melted plastic rivets and when you put them back use short screws with a wide head.
     
    #6 ColoradoCrow, Jun 25, 2025 at 10:18 AM
  7. Hayslayer

    Hayslayer Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Do you have techstream? It will enable you to look at the current/power limits being imposed on the HVbattery for charge and discharge. Some phone apps will also do it.

    At low and high temperatures (and low and high states of charge iirc) the car will limit the power going into or out of the battery, but not provide any indication of an alarm or warning.

    This is usually displayed in kw as and will be a (+) or (-) value
     
    #7 Hayslayer, Jun 25, 2025 at 10:39 AM
  8. xw20_driver

    xw20_driver Junior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    If you DIY, search "prius center console cover" on BezoMart and pick the fabric style and color. Pretty easy to do if you remove the console top. The screw to the latch release was a bit tricky to remove. I replaced the thread bare leatherette with a synthetic leather material in black so the elbow dirt didn't stain as easily as on the original beige cover. I used contact cement. Some covers include double sided adhesive tape. The cover I bought was under $5 off of Aliexpress pre-tariff era.
     
    #8 xw20_driver, Jun 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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