1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

3018 error

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by mike spark, May 13, 2020.

  1. mike spark

    mike spark New Member

    Joined:
    May 13, 2020
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    vancouver, BC, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    So, I bought a new to me 2004 prius, the OBD scanner shows an error code 3018, so there is at least 1 bad cell. I know I will be able to do the work to switch out the bad cell or 2 or 3 with new cells myself, I have worked lots with batteries, so no worries there. I talked to a hybrid reconditioner here in Vancouver, and he told me that if I put a new battery in a pack that I will get unbalanced errors, and it wont be any better then it is right now with the bad cells. Is there any truth to this? From the research that I have done so far it seems like he is lieing to me to get me to bring my prius to him so he can do the $1800 reconditioning himself. Is that a fair assessment, or is there some real truth to what he says?
    thanks for any input here guys!
     
    #1 mike spark, May 13, 2020
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    108,868
    49,463
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    $1.800.? how much is a new battery?

    what research have you done? replacing bad cells is iffy. you can't know how long it will go until another cell needs replacement, but yes, it is done all the time.

    if you want to go further, you can rebalance the pack
     
    #2 bisco, May 14, 2020
  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,651
    3,860
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    He is not lying, but I'd question spending CAD1,800 to do what he will do when the new (wholesale) price of a Toyota OEM HV battery in Canada should be around CAD2,290. (Retail would be CAD2,750). As long as you understand that any reconditioning work is merely a bandaid (that may last anything from 6 mth to 2 years) and are willing to accept that then so be it.

    What you propose to do can work as long as you can find a replacement module that is very closely matched to your remaining modules. Herein lies the work. If you feel lucky you can just whack in any old module and hope. A few have done that and it has worked out well for them, but a lot more just go in circles replacing modules until they tire of it.

    A better option to consider would be to see if you can get your hands on an HV battery out of a Gen 3 or 4 wreck. Make sure the Gen 4 is NiMH though, as some trims have Li-Ion.) Anything from a 2015 onwards would be what to go after. You then transplant all 28 modules from the donor case into your Gen 2 case. If the donor car was very recently wrecked, you should just be able to swap them in and go.
     
    #3 dolj, May 15, 2020
    Last edited: May 15, 2020
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)