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dash lights out, surging, power loss, then all good?

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by mcmars, Sep 4, 2019.

  1. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    OKay, back to real business, I do not want to dump money unnecessarily into the prius to fix things that are not broken, but I also do not want to have my hybrid battery die on me in the middle of Nevada this month. Something caused the hybrid battery to "skip a beat" and lose it's charge while just sitting for 45 minutes enough to almost kill it a week ago. I found a deal on a hybrid battery from a denver toyota dealer, a one day 12% discount off their normal discounted price with tax out the door, but not including the $1350 core charge is $1693.00. I am considering pulling my old battery out today at my friends home who has pulled his a few times and know the routine, he is willing to help and says it takes him an hour to get to the battery. I can tell I am seeing more purple bars in last 1000 miles and it seems it moves up and down through the bars faster than it did when I first got the car 5 weeks ago, I am thinking JC91006 is dead on correct, I have a weak battery and it is on the downward spiral towards failure. My friend is awesome and says he has the 220ohm capacitor in his garage/shop to also repair the combo meter and we can get that done as well. Denver is about 6 hours away and I have done one day trips many times getting up early to go see docs in the past.

    I am going to call around to some other dealers that are half the distance away and see if they want to price match, but I might just go for a new battery today at this price and be done with it. I need this car to commute 100 miles on a regular basis for a project home I am about to buy and it is no fun to break down in 4 corners area with the sparsity of mechanics and no independent shops that will service a prius.
     
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    sounds like a plan. if you're keeping the car, you're gonna need one eventually anyway
     
  3. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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  4. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    This is same sale I stumbled on, Stevenson Toyota on line and today is extra 12% sale, so the normal price of $1773 is reduced another $212.83, bringing it down to $1561, then add tax of $133 and out the door is $1693. But good news for me is Durango Toyota will price match the $1561 price and it is half the distance/time and I will be going that way in next week, so I am gonna go for it. You will have to pay for the $1350 core charge, but then I will exchange the old core at the counter when I pick up new battery. I wonder if we should post the sale price for today on the web site today, maybe someone else needs a battery for good price and is willing to drive to pick it up, or can find a price match deal like I did? They will have to order it and it takes a few days, haz mat deal and all. So that is another downside of driving it till it dies and being stranded somewhere while you wait for a non discounted toyota battery to ship out your way.
     
  5. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    That’s a good price but you will not be exchanging your old battery as you pick up the new one. There are quite a few parts you have to transfer from the old pack to the new pack. Figure on 2 trips.
     
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  6. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    Thanks for this tip, I wondered about that aspect. I can make it work as I have a project I am working on an hour from Durango so can make 2 trips and pay the core charge.

    I will look for a you tube video to see what parts I have to transfer over. The Boulder Hybrid You tube video makes the actual removal look very easy if you get a few drills/ratchets ready with 8, 10, 12, 14 sockets and have some magnetic bowls and shoebox ready for the parts. I have some removal tools for the interior push pins and a good assortment of new push pins. I will clean up fan and I think that should be it. Dealer calls it a 5 hour job, you have to reset some of the electronic stuff? I will take my time and label the hardware, maybe take some pictures as I go.

    Let me know if any other parts I should order that might be rusty or worn out? Here is good removal video
     
  7. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    If you search around here the battery Guru’s have mentioned what needs to be transferred from the old to the new battery. Resetting the electronic stuff is dealer speak for getting extra money for doing nothing. I’m pretty sure you just swap the old stuff over and go.
     
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  8. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    @ericbecky knows the ins and outs;).

    And he’s willing to chat if you have questions (y).
     
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  9. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    He was the guy I was thinking about. I kinda give the battery Gurus some slack though. Battery problems are getting to be the number 1 problem in the Gen 2 threads and new posters don’t seem to want to do any work to find their answers. Answering the same questions gets old fast.
     
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  10. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    I’ve only been around for 3+ years and it’s a prevalent topic these days:cool:.

    I don’t know how @bisco does it;).

    Has to be the box wine(y).
     
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  11. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    I’ve been around less than a year and I see it. I’m quite cool with the box wine. If you don’t drink wine it lasts a long time. And you don’t have to put it in the refrigerator.
     
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  12. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    I will say it’s rather amusing to see a new post with a term like “I checked the entire site and have never seen a problem similar to mine”. Its like people that say that don’t look deeper than the last 10 posts. I don’t know if I have seen a problem here that has not been talked about before. I submit it’s more of a weakness of the search function
     
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You have to remove all the electronics on the battery and transfer it over. It is 25% of the battery pack section that will unbolt from the old pack. Bolt it onto the new pack.

    It'll contain the relays, ecu, temperature wires. Battery should come with new copper bus bars, connect them up to the electronics and install
     
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  14. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    Thank you!
     
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  15. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    Thanks everyone for your help! I have been trying to learn what I can and figure out the prius, but so much information to read and understand and too little free time with various deadlines happening in my life, thankfully all are fun and good, just very busy. Trying to get the car ready for a big trip end of this month and have a ton of work to do. I was not expecting to be buying a new battery, or deal with combo meter issues so soon, but looks like that is what I am into. I got the new toyota battery ordered for awesome price, in on friday, but I am working for a few days, so I am thinking Sunday might be my day to remove the old one and squeeze in a quick trip to Durango monday to pick it up and reinstall. But I have a major music festival I am involved in Wed-Mon, so might put it off till I get back(?). I think it would be better to do the job in a couple of consecutive days and not let things sit for a week so my old brain can remember how things go back together.

    I have a OBD2 bluetooth reader coming and downloaded Dr Prius app, so I can monitor things better for future and also see what my current battery condition is looking like before I do the swap. But seeing more purple bars in last few days and noticing when it does go to blue (or green) it seems to charge up quick, but deplete it quickly as well, but this just my subjective observation. It seems most folks want to squeeze every bit of life out of their old battery and then buy time with replacing the modules, but I am not wanting to be dealing with issues on the road. I think I am doing right thing (for me) to be proactive, and avoid the dash warnings and limp mode or worse. Thanks again for all the direction and advice!
     
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  16. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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  17. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The Toyota battery is proven reliable, the other battery is too new to know what will happen 5 years from now
     
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  18. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    That was my concern, 2 year warranty does not mean much from an aftermarket battery. The toyota battery only has a 1 year warranty, but they have long history to predict it will likely last about 10 years with proper care and normal use. I guess it is possible you could buy a "lemon" battery and get stung with the toyota battery, but odds of that happening are very slim I would guess.
     
  19. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    There have been zero reports of an OEM battery being unreliable.

    It also applies to the 12v batteries from Toyota, it'll usually go for 7-8 years problem free. I just recently replaced my Optima Yellow Top battery from 2014, it was full of corrosion after only 5 years. Toyota OEM products just seem to be better
     
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  20. mcmars

    mcmars Member

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    The new battery is in and 3 hours away. I did get the dr prius app and a OBD2 reader today and ran a basic test which shows about an average voltage of 15.7+/- Volts per pair of modules, they were all fairly consistent 15.7 something volts. In the morning I will try the life expectancy test and see what it says. But I question if the battery is fine for a while longer? I just cannot understand why/what happened to deplete the battery last week so low that the car almost died and stranded me? I know it was off and no AC running or doors ajar. Just do not want to waste money on new battery if it is in fact good. All the pairs seemed to be fairly consistent, but maybe I need to run a "load test" to stress it more? I tried running ac and headlight for a while with the app running and car not running, but had the power button pressed 2X and no foot on brake. Maybe my issue is more dealing with the 12 volt battery problems, but something almost drained my hybrid battery in about 45 minutes, so trying to understand what could have happened and not just replace parts that are fine. The price on the toyota hybrid battery is quite cheap at $1560 without tax, so maybe the prudent thing to do is stick to my plan and replace it. Tomorrow is the day I have free to remove old battery and monday I can go get the new one and tuesday is the day to install new one. From then on I am locked in to some travel and commitments and about 4 K miles till 2nd week of Oct. I am thinking I stick to my plan, but needing some reassurance I am not wasting money and time. 2008 prius with 147.5K miles and Colorado ownership driving I70 in mountains all it's life. I am still in the dark about what the new toyota battery will look like, a box with loose modules or is it a battery pack of 28 modules contained with the 2 end blocks and the connecting tension rods? Trying to avoid 2 trips and want to strip mine down so 1 trip to get the new battery and avoid 2nd trip and core charges. Thanks for any help.