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

Buying a HV battery from doctorprius.com

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by lukaczer, Apr 4, 2020.

  1. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Has anyone had experience having their HV battery rebuilt by Dr. Prius or purchasing a HV battery from them? I have a 2006 that needs a battery and any feedback on their products and service would be greatly appreciated

    Thanks

    Steve
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    is that the same dr prius as the app?

    can't find the website
     
  3. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Yes it is- It is doctorprius.com with doctor spelled out- it certainly appears to be related to the Dr. Prius app

    upload_2020-4-4_14-56-0.png
     
  4. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2016
    11,490
    14,095
    0
    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I'm nearly certain that this is not related to the Dr. Prius/Dr. Hybrid app. That company is Big Wheel Tech. He's a member here, but I can't remember or find his PC name.

    Edit to add:
    Found him!!! @jacktheripper. I don't know why I couldn't just use association to pair those names. :ROFLMAO:
     
  5. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2017
    5,286
    4,225
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Unless you you've done the research (yelp, bbb, etc.) and feel comfortable with a potentially questionable product/service, it might be best to avoid them. If they have a physical address that you can visit, and then revisit again when you need to make a warranty claim in the near future, it might be a better option than some of the others offering battery repair out there.

    How many miles on your 09, and what seems to be the problem?

    What are they offering and for how much?
     
  6. Aegean

    Aegean Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2019
    418
    182
    0
    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I have used successfully doctorprius.com to rebuild my HV battery on a 2006 Prius with 160k miles in May 2019 in Alexandria VA. They did a battery on my coworkers car before that so I went with them. They installed a loaner battery while mine was balanced and repaired. They came back and installed my repaired battery and even showed me the worksheets with charge/discharge capacity of each module for several cycles. Only one module needed to be replaced. Now, after 11 months and 13,000 miles the battery is still working fine.

    Last week I used them again for a second Prius I own. This battery had 4 modules that needed to be replaced. One module was not achieving capacity and obviously had a burnt cell. Three more modules that achieved capacity over 6000 mAh by the 4th or 5th discharge cycle were dropping voltage faster than normal when sitting and were replaced too. Warranty is 6 months. I hope they will last much longer.
     
    bisco and SFO like this.
  7. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2017
    5,286
    4,225
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Cost, and do they have an address?
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  8. Aegean

    Aegean Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2019
    418
    182
    0
    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I paid $450 for the repair and 6 months warranty plus $60 for the two trips to my house. A loaner battery is an additional $75 but at this time I did not need to drive due to Coronavirus.

    The address is
    10732 PLANK RD, SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE, VA 22553
    Prices are based on warranty that you select.

     
    SFO likes this.
  9. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Thank you so much for the replies. So Doctorprius.com is legit but they are not related to the Dr. Prius app. From their website and Aegean's posts they are basically rebuilding customer's batteries by running battery dignostics, ,replacing bad cells, and chrging/balancing the batteries. They primarly operate by coming to the customer's location. The website indicates that there is also a higher level battery replacement that I am guessing involves all new cells but it isn't really clear. I will check them out next week.

    The back story is that my 06 with 201,000 broke down on me with no power from the gas engine and all the bad lights on the dash board on while I was out of town. I took it to the local toyota place for a diagnostic- there was a long list of codes but the short answer was that the car has the gas tank sending unit problem (which I knew) and P0a80- a bad battery. They were not 100% sure but they thought that the gas tank issue may have been the thing that set off the chain of events that left me by the side of the road- the ecu thought the car was out of gas. They put gas in it and cleared the codes. It's been a great car since I got it (2016) and I had it towed home to Washington DC- to see what I could do with it. So I have about $600 in it now. I did the procedure for recalibrating the gas tank which seemed to fix that issue and it was running normally for two weeks then all of a sudden all the lights came on the dash again.

    I have a bootleg techstream that shows P0420, PoA80, and P3000 (among others). The Dr Prius App agrees and says that block9 is bad. The car also has a multi function display that needs to be replaced and AC has a leak which hasn't been diagnosed but there is a lot of grunge on the compressor so I suspect it may be the culprit. So that is kind of a long list and I am trying to make up my mind what to do- I kind of hate to give up on it so I may just go ahead and put a battery in it and see if I can bring it back to life. I have good mechanic skills and have done substantial maintewnance work on our 09 and the 06 so with a little luck maybe I bring it back from the brink!

    All help appreciated!!
     
    bisco likes this.
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    have you considered 'newpriusbatteries.com'?
     
  11. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    I did look at those on line the other day- also interesting. I have decided to pursue the doctor Prius rebuilding option- if it works out as advertised it looks like the low cost option for someone like me who does not have the time to rebuild on my own. I wouldn’t mind doing the r and r of the battery pack but I don’t want to get into the balancing and charging process. I’m hoping that the dr Prius option will let me keep the car going for a year or two at a modest price- We’ll see!
     
    donbright and bisco like this.
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    all the best!(y)
     
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,473
    38,105
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Yeah would be good to sort that out, one way or the other.
     
  14. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    I decided to try the DoctorPrius.com battery rebuild option and they came today. They were knowledgeable, quick, and pleasant to deal with. They used a Techstream to check the codes to make sure that the battery was the issue, then they removed the battery and took it away to their shop. They are located in northern Virginia and they work within about a hundred mile radius. They should be done with the battery and return to install it in a week.
    They are not associated with the Drprius/DrHybrid app- that is a completely separate company
     
    jerrymildred likes this.
  15. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Just to provide an update if anyone is interested. The Doctor Prius folks returned with my battery last week. The rebuild that they are doing is the same process that I have read about on Prius Chat- checking cell capacity/ charging rate/ etc; replacing bad or questionable cells with used good cells that they have on hand; charging and balancing the cell voltages thru multiple charge cycles; cleaning up buss bars and connections. They replaced 4 cells on my battery. They installed the battery, removed and cleaned and tested the battery cooling fan, checked the status using tech stream, and took the car for a roadtest to make sure it was working correctly. They were a pleasure to deal with. They were also nice enough to take a few minutes and check out my other Gen 2 with their techstream to see if they saw any problems with that battery which fortunately they didn't. The charge was $670 - $600 for the rebuild with a 12 month warranty plus a $70 trip charge. They offer a sliding scale from $450 to $600 for a 6, 9, or 12 month warranty.

    The car is running fine and I think this was a reasonable cost for the work- it isn't anything like a new battery of course but it fit the bill for me. The car has other problems that I will try to deal with myself - hopefully I can keep running it for quite a while.

    Steve
     
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    congrats, all the best!(y)
     
  17. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,447
    3,751
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    We are always interested with follow up posts, please feel free to post anything interesting (especially longevity) that occurs in the future, if you have the inclination.

    All the best, too.
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  18. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2017
    5,286
    4,225
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Any additional updates while still under warranty?
     
  19. lukaczer

    lukaczer Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    21
    17
    0
    Location:
    Washigton, DC
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Thanks for asking. The car continues to run fine- it’s been about 10 months since we got the battery rebuilt by dr Prius. There have been zero problems with it. However it’s only accumulated a couple thousand miles in that time period- my son has been driving it mostly so I haven’t been tracking the gas mileage. But it definitely is running perfectly. We bought a 2020 Prime in September (great car!!) so we have an excess of vehicles plus my wife and I retired plus Covid 19 so miles driven around our house has dropped off. I was just driving the 06 today- it still has no AC and still has P080 code showing (a catalytic converter or o2 sensor problem code) which I have not yet gotten around to dealing with but the battery is great!

    anyone have any knowledge of diy diagnostics for o2 sensor/ cat problems. I’ve been researching but haven’t come up with much and I’m not sure what to do next

    thanks

    steve
     
    bisco likes this.
  20. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2017
    5,286
    4,225
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Which OBD2 scanning device/app are you using to retrieve the codes (DTCs) with?

    P0A80 is one of the OBD2 codes related to the hybrid battery failing. Please check and repost the DTCs again.
    How many miles on the 06 now, and does it burn any oil?

    You can test the upstream A/F sensor, and the downstream O2 sensor using a multi-meter. Do you have a mini-vci cable and techstream?

    I've never used the following link, but it should contain *everything* you need : Service Manuals - Google Drive

    It would be great if someone could extract the manuals from Gdrive and back them up on http://mega.nz/ as well.