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2007 Prius - Check Engine, Red Triangle, VSC Lights - 12 volt battery issue?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tampaite, Jan 30, 2018.

  1. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    You already have done one test with exchanging the batteries and the problems all went away.....RIGHT ??
    How much more proof do you need ??

    All dealers and most auto parts stores and battery shops can test the 12 V battery; most of the time for FREE.
     
  2. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Am not sure I understand your tone. The problem came back even after swapping with a newer 12v battery.
     
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  3. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    At the point I made that post, I had not seen that you repeated the battery switch.
    And I believe the first switch did NOT show a failure with the replacement battery......right ??

    My only remaining comment is: How do you know that this replacement battery is healthy ?
    You still have made no real diagnostic tests on the 12 V batteries, not even significant voltage measurements.

    I would say that trying to "cheap out" with a rebuilt battery has worked out really bad for a lot of owners but I suspect that would just be wasted effort so............I wish you the best of luck in solving this problem. Time for me to shut up I guess.
     
  4. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Missed it, was composing.

    Does the ebay $250 shipping fee include the installation?

    If not, you will still need to find someone(and pay them) to install it for you. Then you are at $800 + install fee (with or without cleaning the fan)

    Would you get back that $250 shipping fee if you used the PP protection?

    If you used PP protection would you have to give the battery back to the seller and pay for return shipping?

    Still not sure if you are looking for quality or price here?

    The only upside in the above Ebay purchase might be keeping your old core and selling it to Paul, Apollo Hybrid or parting out modules on Ebay/CL.
     
  5. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Not trying to shut up anyone.

    I hope you understand that am using whatever available resources that I have. Am open to being critiqued in a civil manner.

    You may have more resources and you can afford to spend them on "newer" items but I appreciate any caveats that members on PC bring to my attention regarding "cheaper" items.
     
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  6. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Price includes shipping + installation. Not sure about cleaning fan. Have to check on that.

    I have to return the core to get this price.

    Here is the actual verbiage from PayPal

    Quality or Price? Now, thats a trick question ;) Obviously, I want more quality at an affordable price.
     
  7. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    I don't expect you to take any one person's word for ANYTHING on a forum like this.......because that would be really unwise.

    You have an excellent resource here. Do some searching for previous reports on rebuilt replacement HV batteries. People who get really inexpensive ones often end up using the warranty.......some several times. If that wouldn't bother you, the go for it.

    You also need to realize that without some professional testing you will be making a wild uneducated guess no matter what you decide to do. Nobody has money to throw away.

    Good luck.
     
  8. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    If you wish, you can click on a person's name and add them to your Ignore list. Believe me when I say it makes the forum more enjoyable.
     
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  9. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Yep, and there's a very good reason for that — rebuilds do not last. Simple as that. You can check out as many "rebuilders" as you like but make sure they have a good warranty that includes labor, as you will more than likely need it. People's experience varies from the rebuild lasting days or months. Some having up to 4 replacements within a year before the shine wore off their "frugal investment". The also were paying $250-$500 for each battery change as the warranty did not include the labor to change the battery.

    If you want something that will last then look for something like Todd's cheaper option. Otherwise you are just passing on you problems to the next unsuspecting person.

    If you still want to persue a rebuilt battery, I hope you find what you are looking for.
     
  10. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    One other thing to consider, is if you give your core to the rebuilder, you will not get it back in the event you consider returning the defective rebuild. So you find yourself between a rock and a hard place.
     
  11. tampaite

    tampaite Member

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    Isn't that why we have warranty? they will take back the defective one and replace with another one?

    Also, wouldn't the rebuilt one be considered core?
     
  12. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Toyota will not accept a rebuilt battery as a core. We had a user recently that found that out.
     
  13. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I think you will find they eventually were able to return the core, after acquiring a plain case from somewhere and swapping out the painted case.
    I'm talking about the situation where your relationship with the rebuilder has broken down to the point you want to cut all ties. Once you give your core to the rebuilder, you are at a disadvantage, in that you can no longer get back to the place you were before you started dealing with them.
    Yes, as long as it is in a condition acceptable to Toyota.
     
  14. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The closest we generally get to "permanently" around here is "haven't heard from OP again", which isn't quite the same thing, and "whole slew of codes" often turns out to be a tendentious way of talking about a cluster of codes whose relationship to one another becomes clear upon looking up their detecting conditions in the manual. Those clusters are to be expected, given how much the ECUs gossip among themselves and have codes expressly defined for mirroring conditions in other ECUs.

    I didn't understand what that transparent strawman contributed to the conversation the last time you used it, and I still don't.

    If your point is that most newbs coming to this forum might not yet understand how to approach a cluster of codes any more intelligently than that, well ok, I can see how you might believe that.

    If you're suggesting that, therefore, the rest of us should encourage their continued mystification rather than helping them learn, I don't know, I guess it's different on my planet.

    -Chap
     
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  15. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Mostly Sam Spade's posts are persnickety and usually honing in on one word or idea that actually is irrelevant to the theme of the the thread. These posts only serve to derail the thread, so it is best to ignore them. It must be very annoying for the OP when such a distraction enters a thread.

    On a positive note I have notice a few on-topic and helpful posts from Sam in this new year, long may it continue.
     
  16. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    Maybe it is.

    Good troubleshooting procedure is the best thing you can help teach them.
    A critical point in that is checking the simplest, easiest and cheapest things first.

    With electronic gear that is: Verifying battery and ground to the components (12 V battery) and where appropriate, re-seating the connectors.
    That hasn't changed much since the battery went dead in the first transistor radio ever built.
     
  17. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    In the case of this thread, the OP specifically mentioned the 12 V battery in the title and the first post.

    It was not ME who ran off on a tangent without actually answering the original question. :whistle:
     
  18. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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  19. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Sure, we can find a point of agreement there.

    Almost with you here, though it can get a bit like the looking-for-keys-under-the-streetlight story if there isn't a way to somehow figure likeliest into that formula too.

    When warning lights come on in the car, the one thing you incontrovertibly know at that very moment, before anything else has been done, is that the car's ECUs have information to give you about what's going on.

    When it comes to good troubleshooting procedure, I'm really fairly accepting of a wide variety of approaches. Pretty much anything that doesn't begin by advising the OP to overlook the first and most specific information available about the problem.

    -Chap
     
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  20. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    The electronics "thinks" it has information about what it going on.......but it is not smart enough to KNOW if that is valid information or not.

    Captain Kirk would order a Level 1 diagnostic; alas, he isn't in command. :ROFLMAO:

    The first and most specific information that is available is: The computers think something is not right.

    This ain't my first trip to the rodeo. I've been a senior Engineering Electronics Technician for about 50 years now.......since the time before electronic digital computers and the first thing you ALWAYS do is check to be sure the power cord is firmly plugged in. The second thing you do is check the line voltage. (y);)

    You ignore those most basic steps at your own peril.