2008 prius CVT issue? car's acceleration literally slipping when going too fast on an incline...

If your HV battery meter is in the purple bars area (last 2 bars), what you are describing would be normal. When going up a hill, it will drain your HV battery and give you the feeling it's lacking power. Everything should go back to normal once your HV battery meter goes about half way or higher.

It has nothing to do with your belt.

 

Did you monitor the "Energy" display during the incline? What likely happened is, your battery became nearly drained while traversing the incline (battery power plus engine power is required to maintain 80mph up an incline). Your engine could not send power to generate electricity because all power was being used to attempt to maintain 80 mph. So in an effort to protect the battery, the car pulls back the power to allow the engine to produce some electricity to charge the battery. This is perfectly normal and it shows that your hybrid system is indeed working properly to protect your battery.

 

One more with an "everything fine" vote. That happens commonly in the mountains. The HV pack reaches minimum charge (~40%), and the electric drive stops assisting. The Atkinson-cycle 1.5 doesn't have much hp or torque on its own, so without the electric drive, it needs to scream pretty good to produce enough power to keep the car climbing. With the lack of a relationship between engine speed and vehicle speed with CVT-type power transfer, it may feel like slipping, but it's just trying to maximize the engine's power output to try to satisfy demand. It's working exactly as designed.

20-degree grade?! That's steeper than Baldwin Street in Dunedin! Nothing will go very fast up that without some rocket assist.

Baldwin Street - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The transmission is not "literally slipping."
The e-cvt sometimes spins the engine unrelated to the position of your foot on the fuel pedal.

It is part of the magic of why this car gets high MPG, so get used to it.

 

are you in the bay area?

 

20 degrees... I think that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It is hard to estimate such things.

 

At least on Prius owner has had an oil seal blow allowing the torque damper to slip, it is normally always clamped NOT to slip unless you have catastrophic failure. It is incredibly rare.

 

2008 prius here 35k. Lol I win


iPhone ?

 

Another 1 time poster talking about "slipping tranny". There is another one on the same page. Smell fishy to me.

 

My quick calculation of a 3000 pound Prius (with driver, no other load) traveling up a 20 degree slope at 80 mph, is burning 219 horsepower just for the climb alone, not counting any air drag or electrical path losses.

Of course it will slow down. The 2008 Prius has only 79 horsepower at the ICE shaft, and less at the wheels once the battery is drained. That isn't enough power to climb at even 30 mph, let alone 55.

It wasn't the CVT that was slipping, it was the tires on the road -- probably glazed concrete, as asphalt won't remain adhered to roads that steep. Interstate highway slopes are legally limited to about 4 degrees.

The eCVT has gears, not belts. If it 'slips', one will hear fracturing metal, likely immediately followed metallic grinding and prompt failure to get propulsion at all.

 

Fuzzy1 is thinking pretty clearly. Me thinks Duperjew left his inclinometer at school!


iPhone ?