What is killing all my Hybrid Batteries?! 3 batteries have failed.

Hi Everyone,

I have not been able to find anything similar to this situation anywhere on here, or online period, so I wanted to put my problem out there and see what you guys think.

I purchased a 2007 Prius with 150,000 miles on it for a deal. It was cheap because the hybrid battery had died and they replaced it with a used battery still in working condition that had only been run for 60k miles on another car. Knowing that there may be something fishy with this replacement battery, I bought the car, with the expectation that I may need to buy a new battery eventually.

The car ran great for many months, and a ton of miles, but we suddenly got the red triangle of death in early September. After a mechanic went over the car repeatedly (also fixing a broken wire that runs the engine water pump that did not solve the problem) he determined that I would need a new hybrid battery.

So we got a "new" refurbished battery put in, that seemed to solve all the problems, and had run so wonderfully up until last week. It started to drop down to one purple bar when first starting the car, and then extremely quickly fill back up to a 100% charge, and then dropping down extremely quick again. Very unusual behavior, definitely not normal.

This morning, we got the red triangle, VSC light, the red circle with exclamation point, the check engine light, and the hybrid failure light on the screen. All the same lights that lit up like they did previously when the cars 2nd battery had failed.

The only other thing wrong with the car that we know of is the engine water pump is leaking a small amount of coolant. However, we were told this is not an issue we need to fix right away and shouldn't be effecting the battery.

Since my refurbished battery is still well under warranty, we should be able to get a another battery. But this will be the car's 4th hybrid battery! What gives?

 

Thanks for the input guys!

Right now we have a Dorman rebuilt battery in the car, it is the one that only lasted a month and had failed. It was highly recommend to us, so we went with it, and it was much cheaper than a new OEM battery. Since it has a 3 year warranty, and unlimited mile coverage, we are covered for getting a new one. However, now it seems like I will be getting a new battery every couple months at the rate we are going here.

Could there be nothing else wrong in the car that could be ruining all these batteries?

Could the batteries be fine, but something is wrong with whats reading the battery?

 

It is a 10 year, 150k mile warranty. When I purchased the car, it was at 152000. When I took the car into Luscious Garage to get it checked out right after I purchased it, they confirmed that my warranty had expired since we are over 150,000. Otherwise, I guess I would have been able to get the water pump fixed and the battery replaced for free. I believe this is why It was being sold cheaper. It was out of warranty, and having issues with its batter and water pump.

Thanks for the suggestion though, wish I was still under 150k !!

 

Hahaha.

I'm trying to find the humor in this car. I love it A LOT, and I really want it to keep going. But its been having issues for sure.

 

The car is now over 167,000 miles at this point. Which I assumed was too many miles for Toyota to have any goodwill. Maybe I can call and talk to them about my options.

However (unless Toyota can give me some sort of unlikely sweet deal) we will be getting a new Dorman battery Im sure, because it will be free. Put it in and cross our fingers I guess! But it might not hurt to see what Toyota has to say.

When I first bought the car, they had already replaced the battery at the time I purchased it. The used battery wasn't my decision really, and I was half expecting to replace it anyway. My regret now is that I was given utmost confidence in this Dorman refurbished battery, and I wish I just knew to spend the extra money and go OEM. Oh well! It is what it is.

 

Aha, yes, that makes sense.

I drive the car a lot, as I have a long commute. It is getting driven at least 300 miles per week. In terms of weight, the car has no extras (top rack, huge subwoofer or even an extra tire) and I keep it empty. Mechanically, could the fact that the water pump is leaking add to the extra "load" on the car. What could this hypothetical "load" be? That the car is just getting older? It has new tires, 4 new struts. Still getting 50mpgs when a battery is working.

 

True, who knows, It could be something else. But my mechanic seems to think its the battery again, and from what I read, it seems like all signs point to the batter failure. Here's to hoping its the gas cap!

I cannot get the car into my guy until Monday, so he will be able to read the codes then. As of now, all I know it is that the dash has lit up in the exact same way that the battery failed last time. And a week before the dash lit up, the battery was acting very strange. Dropping and raising in a manic manner, very quickly and irrationally.