Got a Prius for free, looking for some advice. Have some DrPrius info.

So my brother in-law stopped driving his 2001 Prius that was bought from the original owner who took very good care of it and was well maintained. However, my brother in-law only had a 10-15 minute drive to work part time, so the car would sit for days at a time and when it would get driven, it wouldn't be for very long. Eventually, the car needed to be jump started to go anywhere and jump started even after immediately turning it off. He replaced the 12v, and it was okay again for a bit but then it all started happening again at which point he parked the car, got a different one, and let this one sit. Been sitting for maybe a year and a half.

Fast forward to now and gas prices are killing me. I ask him about the Prius and he tells me to take it. I get it towed home then get suspicious about the 12v battery issues because I really started to think about how he drove the car. Bought a new 12v battery and put it in, and it started right up. This was expected at least, according to him. Its been a few days, no issues, but have been driving it for 30ish mins the last few days. Starts and drives fine. However, given the amount of tie it sat, i expecting the HV battery to be bad. I don't know if i've driven it enough for the battery to report any issues or anything so I'm kind of at a loss at the moment. Wanted to get the car diagnosed for any issues but the mechanics have been telling me to drive it more since I only swapped the 12v battery out a few days ago.

That aside, I got PanLong OBDII adapter and download DrPrius and to my surprise, driving it around today reported battery voltage around 300v and blade voltage around 8v...and capacity at around 65%. Driving it around, I got it up to 71.50% capacity. Later on in the evening i drove it some more and it got down to 60% then got it back up to 69% before bringing it back into the garage. I wonder if the HV battery pack is still good? Crossing my fingers.

Here's some screenshots of DrPrius as I was beginning, driving, and ending earlier today


Here is a video link to the same session while driving

And lastly...it has a deep whirring noise coming from the rear somewhere that I'm not sure what it is. Speeds and slows down with acceleration and deceleration so I feel like it might be a wheel bearing? Have had two family members way better with vehicles than I am listen and they didn't think it was a wheel bearing though. I verified it isn't the front wheels but jacking the fronts up and spinning/shaking the wheels. Solid as a rock, no noise. Didn't get a chance to check the rears while I had access to a floor jack though. I can record the noise to post if it helps but maybe some of y'all might be familiar.

Any feedback on any of that? Thanks in advance you guys.

If the battery checks out, I plan on doing a full fluids exchange and tune up and all that to bring it back tip top shape. Here's to hoping.

 

Thanks! Well that's certainly interesting. Hopefully once I leave it at a local hybrid repair shop they can maybe pull some info to give some kind of possible health rating or life expectancy remaining on the battery. What kind of problems down the road should I be expecting? Well...aside from the HV battery I guess.

 

Having absolutely no rust anywhere or any kind of wear and tear like that is definitely nice haha. The biggest issue with the car is the clear coat peeling because of...too much sun.


Here are some photos of the car actually

 

I really do hope its a gem, thats for sure. I tried going to that website but nothing comes up. Typo maybe? Curious about that.

 

Googled around regarding finding repair history online and landed on the owners page of the toyota website. It looks like this thing was regularly serviced at a dealer most of its life. Some relevant info i found:

11/2016 at 152,722 miles: MISCELLANEOUS BRAKES - REPAIR. BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY IS MAKING NOISE.
RECOMMEND REPLACE ACTUATOR ~|~ ~|~,CUSTOMER DECLINED SERVICE - CUSTOMER
DECLINED, MISCELLANEOUS BRAKES - REPAIR. BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY IS MAKING NOISE.
RECOMMEND REPLACE ACTUATOR

Could this be contributing to the noise im hearing that might seemingly also be a bad wheel bearing?

and then this...

1/2014 at 139,087 miles: FRONT BRAKE JOB, INCLS. REFACING, W/O HARDWARE, R&R, FRONT STRUT ASSY, R&R, FRONT
LOWER CONTROL ARM, R&R, FRONT DRIVE AXLE SHAFT C.V. BOOT, R&R, BATTERY, R&R,
REPLACED BEZEL, FRONT STRUT ASSY, R&R, CUSTOMER DOES NOT WANT WORK DONE, BAD
CELL IN BATTERY, REPLACED BATTERY, REFER TO LINE #5, REPLACED BEZEL, REPLACED BRAKE
PADS. CUSTOMER DECLINED MACHINING ROTORS, REFER TO LINE #1, ADJUSTED TIRE PSI TO:
FRT:35 REAR:33


interestingggg

 

Oh damn you're right. It says Bad Cell not Bad Module. If it said Bad Module I'd be more likely to think HV battery. Gonna have to run this by a Toyota dealership and see if maybe they can explain. Hmmm.

Drove the car again around last night for another 30-ish mins. Battery went down to 59% then back up to 71% by the time I was done driving it around. Saw it peak at 73% but the little loop I drive around makes it difficult to really drive it specifically to charge well.

 

Interesting. Well hopefully I'm able to leave it at a hybrid repair shop tomorrow and they can give me an idea of the battery health in more detail.

 

I plan to make it my work day commuter. 30-50 minute drives each way to work (depending on traffic) 5 days a week. Maybe even just the "local traveling car" instead of my wife's car (2015 Camry 4cyl) or my diesel pickup (2.8 liter 4 cylinder diesel, the truck can get into the 30s mpg highway but diesel is just plain expensive regardless right now). It'll get driven plenty once I get it all sorted.