Have 1000 miles left on the 150K CA battery warrany on my 2009. I'd hate to find out at 155K that I should have brought it in sooner. First, I can no longer enter EV mod with the ev mod. It always says cannot change into ev mode right now. In the past, that only occurred during the warm up cycles. Now it always says that regardless except if I try when first powering on before the engine starts. In that case, when it was working, it would switch over and the MFD would change to show the battery. Now nothing and the engine always starts. Also, the battery charges and discharges much faster than it used to. I can barely get a 1/4 in stealth (feathering the throttle to keep the ICE from kicking on) without it going from 8 bars down to 2. Also going up a hill drains the battery really fast, so any sort of hilly pass and I'll loose steam within 20 seconds of full throttle up a 7% grade. What should I do? Is there a definitive diagnosis? My fuel economy still OK but it's about 4 MPG down from what I used to get with the same brand model of tire when I first switched over after the stock tires needed to be replaced at 30K.
sounds shot to me, but they aren't going to cover it if it isn't throwing a code. also, take out the ev mod before bringing to the dealer. is the 12 volt okay?
It sounds like natural aging. The battery simply isn't going to deliver as much as it did when new. The EV mod accelerated the process a little too. But without any actual problem, just reduced performance, there really isn't much to worry about.
If you advise them to hide the fact they have been abusing their Prius, everyone pays more because some abuse the system. Much better for those who made modifications to take the brunt of making stupid modifications.
Drive it until it dies but keep about $1,400 for a rebuilt in the bank. 2nd Generation Prius - Hybrid Batteries GreentecautoGreentecauto – Hybrid Battery Replacement | Specializing in Honda Civic and Toyota Prius Hybrid Battery Replacement The other option is sell it or trade it in and get a Honda Civic and put the battery fear behind you for good.
I agree but... Most everyone who does put in the ev mod uses it rarely because there's very little benefit from it other than very short distances and if ev mod could significantly harm a battery they'd of not sold every Prius other than the US ones with that option. Then again only Toyota knows the true reason they removed ev mode from US models, we can speculate that it relates to having to offer 150K battery warranty in some states, but we can't be certain.
If your battery finally throws a credible error code and you're a few thousand miles over 150K Toyota traditionally cuts you some slack. and replaces it under warranty anyways.
If you still under warranty For smother 1,000 miles I would bring it to the dealer and ask them to check the traction battery. They may uncover something
The EV mod did not accelerate it. I've used it perhaps 10 times mostly to pull the car out of the garage 15 feet to wash it than put it back in. I guarantee you that did not have any effect on the battery life.
there is a way to test battery health. i don't know if the dealers can do it, but they measure all the individual cell voltages to see how much variation there is. are you near san fran? unfortunately, they still won't warranty it without a code.
That's good to know. We have an EV button as std equipment on the Australian and UK models, but like yourself I use it very sparingly. Re the "EV mode is not currently available" message, that is often a sign of the battery being a little warm. You should check your rear cooling fan for gunk build up as soon as possible. When mine was gunked up with dog hair I got that EV denial much more often, and I think it decreased the battery performance a little bit too. See Fur and dirt causing major battery problems | Page 2 | PriusChat The other things that give EV denial are the engine in "Stage 1" warm up and low SOC.
