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Did my Prius die?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Bilkes Chavez, Sep 9, 2019.

  1. Bilkes Chavez

    Bilkes Chavez Junior Member

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    2007 Prius
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    Hey everyone. I’ve been having some issues with my ‘07 and I’m wondering if it’s finally bit the dust.

    A few weeks ago I started my car up as normal and as I was pulling out of my driveway the red triangle warning light came on. All it said on the display was “Problem!”. Very specific, thanks Prius!

    Before I had a chance to take it in to get checked out, the light went off and everything was normal so I thought it was just a glitch.

    On friday, I had been driving normal that day and on my commute home, the light came on again accompanied by the ((!)) yellow light. As soon as this happened, I checked through my display and noticed that the HV battery display was in the pink zone at 2 bars and my engine was revving higher and seemed to have trouble switching gears on the highway. As I continued to drive, the battery charge went back up to normal and everything seemed fine, but the lights were still on. I kept an eye on them over the weekend and did minimal driving.

    Fast forward to today (Monday), driving home from work the light is still on and this time I noticed that when I turned on my AC, the HV battery dropped to 1 bar and I lost almost all acceleration. I had to pull off the road, shut the car off, restart and let it idle until the battery level got high enough for me to drive.

    I made it home, but it felt like it was really struggling. Difficult to take off from a stop, gears not shifting normally, sporadically revving up high.

    Does this sound like something that can be fixed or is my HV battery just on its last legs? Thanks for any help.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    So what is the process of "keeping your eye on the warning lights"? Those lights, all of them on didn't tell you to stop driving?

    You should get the codes read, that way you can hopefully pinpoint the problem, instead of guessing
     
    strawbrad and Raytheeagle like this.
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    anything can be fixed. how many miles on her?
     
  4. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    is my HV battery just on its last legs

    If everything else on the car is working normally, odds are very likely that the symptoms you describe fall under the 'HV battery on its last legs' category
     
  5. Bilkes Chavez

    Bilkes Chavez Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
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    N/A
    239,000
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    is it the original battery?
     
  7. Bilkes Chavez

    Bilkes Chavez Junior Member

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    I put in a new 12v battery a little over a year ago, but as far as the HV battery goes I’m assuming it’s the original.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    a lot of 2007's going out. battery is likely bad, but you'll need the trouble codes to confirm.

    you have options, but a new one is $1,600. plus install
     
  9. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    1. Get the codes read or get techstream and read them yourself.
    2. You need a code reader that can read all Toyota codes, not a generic reader that reads just emissions codes.
    3. Return here and post the codes. Sounds like a traction battery problem but the codes will reveal all.

    P.S. a Prius doesn’t have gears. At least not ones that shift.

     
    Raytheeagle, JC91006 and jerrymildred like this.
  10. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    239,000 miles on a 2007 seems pretty good for the original traction battery. I just had to replace the traction battery on my 2006 Prius (owned since new, now my son drives it). It only had 1/2 that mileage, but been sitting idle a fair bit the last couple years, that's not supposed to be good for the battery pack. I used my Scanguage II to read the codes off of it.