New BMW x5 only charges the battery while braking, eleccoasting. So it uses the vehicles momentum to drive motor which is connected to alt of course to generelect which is stored in the battery. It can gain approx 3% in fuel economy using this process. So does voltage readout fluctuate or read lower while stopped at light? I bet the volt gauge is adjusted by computer so driver does not see up/down swings.
View 8 RepliesMy car has been in the toyota shop all day they cant figure out why it wont charge up fully. Car has 350k on it; traction battery replaced 100k ago--inverter replaced has 60 k on it. Cars battery will fully charge for about 800 miles and then start charging only half way, transmission only has about 80k on it.
View 3 RepliesI've noticed that my battery only charges to 6 out of the 8 bars and have never gotten it to go higher. How to get the battery to fully charge?
View 12 RepliesHave 1000 miles left on the 150K CA battery on my 2009.
First, I can no longer enter EV mode with the ev mode. 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.
Right now my husband and I are driving from San Luis Obispo Ca to LA and back in a day. We noticed right before the grape vine on the I5 that the engine was really working, even on flat ground. Looked at the battery and it was purple. We have been driving for about 2 hours averaging about 70mph on mostly flat land. The battery finally charged itself on the big downhill of the grapevine (I5) but we're noticing we're running right through it again unless we start to break more. So, it's not getting any recharge during driving, just breaking. Can it be the generator? What causes this?
View 5 RepliesI had my scangauge installed at the end of Oct 2014 so I haven't had the chance to use it in the summer. I have also done the the Intelligent Power Module (IPM) recall about 2 months ago. I have never noticed this issue before the hot weather.
When the weather gets hot, the regen gradually lowers the recovery amp. Normally it can regen at over -90 amps. As weather gets hot, it limits the regen to about -65 amps max. When it gets hotter, the regen lowers down to -35 amps max. I can feel the car not slowing down as quick as at -90 plus amps. When the car has been sitting under the 100f+ for a couple of hours, regen is completely at idle (less than -20Amps.) Mechanical brakes take over. The car feels the same as -30amp regen, HSI shows it is regen braking. However, scangauge shows idle regen (less than -20Amp) and the slowing down is done by mechanical brakes.
I’ve searched for an answer to my question but have not found it yet.
View 19 Repliesmy truck has been acting kind of funny for the past 2 days. my RPM's are not as high as they usuaully are and my battery volt is 14.2 watts and when i hit the brakes and turn it drops down to 12.5. when that happens my battery light turns on, steering wheel tightens up and truck slows down. the only way to get my truck running after that is turning it off and starting it up again. What might be wrong or had the same problems?
View 3 RepliesCuriosity question. I've noticed that on a downhill of a couple miles, especially in "braking" mode or with the cruise control on, the motor/generator and engine are used to keep the speed down and the battery gets charged to the very top quite quickly. That's good!
On a really long downhill, will the motor/generator still be used for braking and the excess electricity discarded to keep from overcharging the battery?
I've got a 2005 Toyota Camary. It has a high pitched squeak that occurs off and on, but always disappears the second I press on the break. It sounds like it's coming from the driver's side... possibly the driver's side rear?
View 3 RepliesI have a 2005 prius. Got it 7 months ago. I hear brakes squeal when braking. I think I may need new pads. Are they easy to replace?
View 4 RepliesI'd like to understand the rate of braking that results in the maximum recovery of energy into the battery. I try to brake so that the needle goes down almost to the bottom of the 'charge' region, but not so strongly that the needle completely bottoms out. I figure that if the needle bottoms out completely, I am using the friction brakes. Is that the correct way to use the brakes? What technique to achieve 40mpg use?
View 14 RepliesI know that if the shifter/transmission is set to "S" then it tends to use the engine as a braking system sort of like a manual transmission. My problem is that it does this while in "D" (drive) for about 5 seconds and then it back to normal as in it's like it's put back into neutral. I read the manual and it states that when you place it in "S" mode and then back to "D" mode it retains some of the "S" features such as engine braking, but in our 09 Avalon XLS, it does this all the time while in "D".
Question: Is this normal for engine braking for about 5 seconds while in drive mode?
If so is there any way to get it back to a normal automatic drive mode where as when you release the gas pedal it coasts without engine braking?
I ask because my father's 08 Avalon is pulsing during braking at highway speeds but only sometimes. When it does it we can feel it in the steering wheel. I suspected maybe one of the caliper pins was seizing. So I pulled the front wheels. The pads and rotors look great. I removed the pins, cleaned and greased them. On the test drive it pulsed two times for me but was totally smooth on the rest of the drive.
View 6 RepliesIt seems like I am going thru brakes I just replaced my brakes in May and my Rotors in July and when I brake my truck shakes like crazy. Is it the brakes again or am I missing something.
View 7 RepliesI have an '09 Avalon with 34K miles. On braking we get a shudder. It's especially noticeable on gentle braking. I am pretty sure this is due to the brake rotors being warped or whatever the correct term is. Are these covered under warranty? I'm a skeptic and I feel sure the dealer will try and blame the tires but they are wearing evenly and are rotated every 5K. The ride is smooth when not braking so tire balance should not be an issue.
View 7 RepliesMk4 2005 TDI 190,00 KM
Background: Purchased this car couple months ago. Did a bunch of maintenance, including rear pads/rotors, fronts still good. Also decide to bleed the system while I had the car on jacks. Followed Bentley procedure as I have previously, using a pressure bleeder making sure to stay at 12 psi and kept the reservoir topped up at all times. First I did the clutch slave, brakes and last I did VAG com procedure to bleed the ABS unit. Upon completion pedal felt good and I took it for drive ..
Brakes worked fine under normal braking force but when the car was slowing down and coasting to a stop with my foot on the brake (light pressure) the ABS engaged briefly(speed around 10-15km /h) right before the car came to a stop. Assumed maybe air in the system so re-bleed the ABS pump again .. Nothing same ABS kicks in right before stopping .. Cleaned all speed sensors and rings .. Nothing, still happening.
Recap:
-ABS does not engage under regular braking force, brakes work fine.
-ABS engages under light braking pressure right before complete stop. (ie parking car or pulling into a drive way)
So my question is, is it possible an ABS sensor out of the 4 is causing this? How about the brake switch? I know that on older VWs used to be 2 pin but this one is 4. Is it possible there is ABS pump problem? Air still in the system? Master cylinder?
When I brake I get a rhythmic noise that starts like a quiet chirp and by the time I have completely put the brake pedal down it sounds like a loud grinding noise. It is a rhythmic pulsing noise, not continuous. I recently got new rear drum brakes, and 2 garages said my front brakes were fine. One guy said it could be the wheel bearing but I looked online and it says that happens when you accelerate, not when you brake. It only happens when I brake at relatively low speeds. In other words if I'm on the hiway and brake to slow down from 70 to 60 or 40 to 30, it won't happen. I also feel vibration in the brake pedal, but only when I have almost completely stopped.
View 1 RepliesI have uneven pad wear on the front discs. The passenger side has about 1/8" pad left, while the driver's side is almost new. The car pulls to the passenger side on braking.
I've had a bad hose on a different car which caused a caliper to lock (and actually lit the pads on fire!), but both calipers are moving when the brakes are applied.
What I'm trying to figure out is how to determine which side and component is defective. It seems to me that a partially blocked hose or iffy caliper on the driver's (unworn) side could cause it to have low power. How do I diagnose this?
I have Prius 2005 , there is no problem and no registered error code,but the problem occur when i drive my car on long down road and the HVB is full then the charging sound rise ,its like "B" mode on high speed,this sound continue while pressing on the break pedal or not but when i press on the fuel pedal or convert to transmission to "N" mode the sound return to normal ,but if i press on the break or leave my leg the sound return again,this happen if the battery is full but when the battery loss some charge everything return without any problem.
View 5 RepliesMy car has almost 80k on it. It is a 2005 VW Jetta 1.8T GLI. Been a great reliable car but I've been having a lot of trouble with the front end suspension. I get a horrible wobble in the front end. Translates into the steering wheel and feels like the wheels are wobbling very quickly only under braking. It is much heavier under heavy braking, but still exists even under light braking. I've replace my tie rods after finding a little play in them, checked my CV joints and axles and they looked good. Balljoints seem ok. Struts and strut mounts were replaced and the car has brand new tires that were balanced and aligned and rotated. When I replaced the tie rod, it went away temporarily but is back worse than ever. I'm getting really frustrated with this and the car feels dangerous to drive.
View 19 Replies