Feeling that my HV Battery is going to die

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by JC91006, Jun 9, 2014.

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  1. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Last 2 weeks my 2006 HV battery seems to be showing the SOC very erratically. Going up and down fairly rapidly, sometimes staying at 4 bars for a good 20 minute drive on the highway. This weekend after driving 7 hours in 110 degree heat, the battery fan came on. It was blowing on high for about 15 minutes and then it quieted down.

    I believe these are signs of it's potential upcoming failure. The car has only 127k miles so I'm still in warranty. So fingers crossed that I'll be close to home when I see all the warning lights pop up.
     
    #1 JC91006, Jun 9, 2014
  2. Easy Rider

    Easy Rider Active Member

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    Still in warranty ??? I don't think the warranties go that far for recent models.

    You do not have to wait for warning lights to have a dealer test it.
    Might cost you a few bucks but might be well worth it.
    It could be as simple as a loose or bad connection somewhere.
     
    #2 Easy Rider, Jun 10, 2014
  3. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    ???
     
    #3 Former Member 68813, Jun 10, 2014
  4. Easy Rider

    Easy Rider Active Member

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    What is warrantied on a '13 or '14 model for MORE than 100K miles ?
    I thought nothing.
    I might be wrong though.
     
    #4 Easy Rider, Jun 10, 2014
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The car is only 8 years old, I'm in CA so I have 10 year/150k on the battery.

    I'm fearing it might be my transaxle right now. Just yesterday it had a moment of hesitation when I pressed the gas...never did that before.
     
    #5 JC91006, Jun 10, 2014
  6. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    But no warning lights???? No DTC's???
     
    #6 usnavystgc, Jun 10, 2014
  7. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Nothing so far but it's not feeling quite right. Maybe it's a warning sign. I did drive it 9 hours on Sunday, hopefully I didn't overheat the thing

    SM-N900P ?
     
    #7 JC91006, Jun 10, 2014
  8. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    I've had scares before on my Gen I where I was certain it was ready to give up the ghost but somehow, it just keeps on going. :)
     
    #8 usnavystgc, Jun 10, 2014
  9. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Ouch! Maybe that helps me decide to take my minivan on the big vacation trip...I was going to have a roof box and a kayak on top of the Prius.

    >>UART has a nifty Gen2 battery survey going here:
    Traction Battery Survey. | PriusChat

    UART's survey attempts to get a handle on Gen2 batt failure rates by segregating out the folks who come to PriusChat just because of the battery issue. He's seeing a fairly high failure rate but not enough voters yet (please join in). Consumer Reports recent survey had the Gen2 failure rate at 2% overall, but 2006 was 3% (edit: 3% not 5%). You gotta figure it could be maybe as high, dare I say, 10% now for 2006? Hope CR does survey again this year.
     
    #9 wjtracy, Jun 10, 2014
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2014
  10. LeeB

    LeeB Junior Member

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    What CR issue had the battery info? I missed it.
     
    #10 LeeB, Jun 10, 2014
  11. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    The Consumer Reports Prius battery survey was in this year's most recent Annual Auto Issue, but I could not find the numbers in the hard copy of the magazine, it was in the on-line version. However, you can see the CR results here: I had also done a Prius Chat Gen2 battery survey, and Post #108 is my Summary and Conclusions which shows the CR data.

    Hybrid Battery Survey-Gen2 Prius 2004-2009 | PriusChat

    Dang it, my memory failed it was 2% failure rate for Gen2's and 3% for 2006 model year. I fixed my earlier post.
     
    #11 wjtracy, Jun 10, 2014
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  12. LeeB

    LeeB Junior Member

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    Excellent. Thanks!!
     
    #12 LeeB, Jun 11, 2014
  13. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    If you haven't already done so, make sure you check that the battery cooling fan isn't clogged up. The can definitely cause the battery to overheat and start acting "all funky".
     
    #13 uart, Jun 11, 2014
  14. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I had that checked when I did my rear shocks. I had to disassemble part of the interior, so I did it at that time. All good in that department.

    There are no warning lights but it's not the same as before. The SOC meter is quite erratic. Sometimes I could be at 8 bars and sitting at a red light....then suddenly it turns green and gives me 9 bars for no reason. I'm just suspecting these little changes are signs of it's soon to happen failure.
     
    #14 JC91006, Jun 11, 2014
  15. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    Don't you have a techstream cable to check battery? Good investment at $30.
     
    #15 Former Member 68813, Jun 11, 2014
  16. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Oh yes, I have the full setup in tools and equipment to check these things. If there were any abnormalities, the car would throw a code. My tech stream won't tell me anything different as it hasn't thrown a code yet.

    I've always read these failures come out of no where, just happens. I'm guessing these might be signals/signs that things are not normal and time will tell if this holds true.
     
    #16 JC91006, Jun 11, 2014
  17. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    ??? It's an 8 bar display. When only 1 or 2 bars are displayed it's red, when 3 through to 6 are displayed it's blue, when 7 or 8 are displayed then it's green. There's no 9th bar.
     
    #17 uart, Jun 11, 2014
  18. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    LOL. My mistake 6 bars of blue, then 7 is green.
     
    #18 JC91006, Jun 11, 2014
  19. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I appreciate you have a serious issue, but I'm sorry, guess I'm just being the class cut-up this morning, every time I see your thread title, I'm think it should have been:

    Feel like my HV Battery is fixin' to die
     
    #19 Mendel Leisk, Jun 11, 2014
  20. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I must say, the titles I use can often be made better, but PC doesn't allow you to edit titles.

    It's not that serious of an issue yet as I am still under warranty. I am in no way trying to prevent this from happening.
     
    #20 JC91006, Jun 11, 2014
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