I have a 2005 Prius with 34,000 miles. A few weeks after the 30,000 maintenance, the small regular car battery failed. Now 2 months later, the large hybrid battery has failed. Coincidence or could there be something wrong causing these failures? Thanks
Large hybrid battery failed? You have confirmed this or someone is fooling you around? As for the small 12 Volt battery, the time is now right - being 4 years old, to go bad. There are lots of discussions here on the Prius Chat regarding the latter and how to replace it cheaply and/or efficiently with better designs, like the one from Optima. As for the hybrid high voltage battery failure, 30.000 miles is definitely premature. In any case, should be handled inside 8 years of hybrid components warranty. Ogo
I agree with Ogo in all regards: the 12V is about due to expire (I'll likely replace mine as a preventive maintenance measure before winter), the hybrid battery is not, and if it has it should be replaced under warranty. And I also wonder what led to your conclusion.
This is very unusual. I assume that this is confirmed by a Toyota Certified Mechanic. If true it is a warranty issue and Toyota should replace it for free.
The hybrid battery failure was diagnosed by the Toyota dealer repair shop. They have installed a new battery and I will pick it up today. I'll ask about diagnostic codes. It is covered by warranty so that's not a problem - it's just odd that both batterys failed in a relatively short time and that the hybrid battery failed at all.
I spoke to the dealer and they gave the following diagnostic codes that they used: P0880 C1241 C1242 P3000 He also mentioned B2775
Hmm, they all indicate battery and voltage related problems. I can only guess at the ultimate cause. You may indeed have had a traction battery failure by sheer coincidence and bad luck, but at least in that case there should be no more trouble. Was the car ever in an accident, or driven after running out of gas? If there are ever any other problems without obvious causes I would suspect the inverter.
No accidents or driving after running out of gas. Thanks for the comments. If I have any other problems, I'll keep you posted.
Hi Karen, Thanks for providing this info. Can you pls look at your repair invoice and list the part numbers and descriptions of all replaced parts? I am wondering whether the traction battery ECU was replaced... Looks like you drive your car ~7K miles per year - do you drive the car daily; or do long periods of time pass when the car is not in use? Does your commute require significant elevation changes? Do you tend to have many short trips (say 3 miles or less)?
Karen, Welcome to PriusChat! You've provided very valuable (and rare) data, and I appreciate that you've been so helpful in sharing the entire experience (including the diagnostics). Just as valuable to our community will be your continued involvement and periodic reporting on your car's performance. For instance, are you able to compare your fuel economy before and after the HV replacement? Can you (will you) notice other changes in performance -- on any measure you choose?
