Hi all, Apologies if there is an existing thread about this. Took my daughter’s 2008 Prius in to have the water pump replaced and a general service. Mechanic called to say that engine light came on while test driving, he limped back and the car has died and will not start. The car is now at Toyota and apparently the hybrid battery needs replacing. Is it possible the mechanic could have somehow shorted the battery while working on the car. Thanks in advance
It could be bad luck... It's hard to know for certain, but "hybrid battery needs replacing" is a very vague general statement based on a specific the initial error code but not the sub code that zeroes in on the problem. If you're lucky it could be a simple corrosion issues, or if the car had sat for lots of days without use the voltage in the 14 blocks might have become unbalanced and you could fix it with a grid charger like the one Hybrid Automotive sells. Problem is Toyota Car Stealerships will be more interested in how much money they can make off you than how inexpensively they can do the repairs. Let us know what their final report/language is and we can go from there... In the meantime finding someone with experience working on repairing hybrid packs as inexpensively as possible is key.
As they say, anything is possible but realistically: Nope. It was your battery's time. Some batteries last longer, some, like mine, last less. Repair or replace with an entire used/rebuilt pack (most builders incorrectly call these new) or new from Toyota or aftermarket company. Not sure what your options are there in New Zealand. GOOD LUCK!
As they say, anything is possible but realistically: Nope. It was your battery's time. Some batteries last longer, some, like mine, last less. Repair or replace with an entire used/rebuilt pack (most builders incorrectly call these new) or new from Toyota or aftermarket company. Not sure what your options are there in New Zealand. GOOD LUCK!
welcome! how many miles on her? where did you take it? what codes did they pull? post them here for evaluation. engine light is not usually the battery, might just be a wallet cleaning
Yeah, I did some research for you... Your options are a bit limited in New Zealand... But somewhere near you there's somebody with experience working on Hybrid battery packs. It'll just take some digging to find 'em.
Thanks for the effort, unfortunately that’s the downside of living on an island in the middle of nowhere(almost)
Thank you all for the advice and input, just an update of where we are. I have decided to have the battery replaced by Toyota, the underwriters of the extended mechanical warranty won’t honour the policy with an aftermarket one. At least they are paying about half so I’m not going to argue this one. Toyota initially didn’t have a battery in the country, I know island life hey! Apparently they have since learnt there is a container in port, with two batteries, awaiting release from Customs and have booked one for me. According to Toyota the new batteries coming in now are about $1000 cheaper than the stock they had in NZ. Thanks again.
