Dead Hybrid battery? Look for the root cause..

After reading this thread and a couple others, I decided to inspect/clean my fan this morning. I was a little concerned because the car is over five years old with 80,000 miles in a relatively warm climate. A couple weeks ago I noticed the battery fan blowing on high for the first time.

For what it's worth, I found only a very thin layer of dust on the fan blades; almost completely clean (unfortunately I didn't think about taking a picture until I was halfway done re-installing everything). I guess this is a result of never having an animal in the car and keeping it rather spotless inside.

Taking everything apart was more work than I expected. Uart, were you actually able to remove the "deck trim side panel" without first removing the "deck trim cover?" I wasn't, so I also had to remove the negative battery cable per the "caution" in maintenance instructions, and that was a serious pain. I guess I didn't have the right tool. I'm afraid I couldn't attach the negative battery cable as securely as it was before, but everything seems to be working fine.

Is anyone familiar with the "initialization" procedure mentioned in the instructions after disconnecting and reconnecting the cable?

Tim

 

After disconnecting the 12 volt battery you will need try to make the car ready turn it off and try again. (It will not boot correctly the first time) After this you will need to reset the auto drivers window. To do this open the window about half way and then close holding the window switch up for a few seconds. Then reset any radio presets.

John (Britprius)

 

Hi Tim. From memory I think I just loosened the "deck trim cover" and pried it up on the right hand side to release where the side panel tucks under there.

As for the 12V battery, I think they add that "caution" for every single maintenance item no matter how minor. There are some jobs on the Prius where disconnecting the battery is really important, but this isn't one of them.

If you do need to disconnect the battery negative though, then don't try to do it on the battery post itself. It's much easier to disconnect it at the other end of that short strap (pigtail), where it connects to the car body. Depending on the exact orientation of how the battery clamp is angled, it can be near impossible to get a wrench onto the negative post without removing the battery first.

 

Good tip regarding the battery. I was eyeing the other end of the connection, but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea so I worked on removing it at the post. Doing so was, in fact, "near impossible."

Tim