I can park the car with a full charge showing (all green)
leave the car parked for 4 days and when it starts it shows one bar below full green.
put the car in D and go to the corner about 1/4 mile, maybe less and its down to one purple bar then starts to recharge . AC/RADIO ECT ARE OFF
2006 Prius with 130k miles. I'm thinking that my HV battery has slowly deteriorated to the point where it's causing drivability issues, and now needs to be replaced.
The main symptoms I'm experiencing are rapid charge/discharge according to the MFD and significant loss of power once the battery has discharged to one bar. I realize the latter is "normal," but the problem is that I'm seeing one bar frequently now. Hill climbs that my car used to do with no problem and would drain the SOC to 2-3 bars now cause the battery to drain to 1 bar about half-way up and then loss of speed from 65 mph to 45 mph by the time I reach the top. Descending hills, it's not unusual to see the SOC go from 2 bars to 7-8 bars within 30 seconds or so.
I'm not seeing any error lights, and my (cheap) code reader does not report any logged DTCs.
This seems to be a slow degradation of battery performance, rather than an outright failure. I first noticed that the battery would charge/discharge a little quicker than it had been at about 90k miles. At 99k (before the warranty ended) I took it into the dealer and they tested the HV battery. Block voltages ranged from 16.59 to 16.68 V and resistances ranged from 0.025 to 0.026 ohms. Based on this, they said that the battery was fine, and sent me on my way. Since then, the problem has just gotten worse and worse, though.
About 20 minutes ago I started up the car and the screen indicated the main battery was pretty much empty. And hour before I had pulled into my driveway and the battery had indicated maybe 70%+. The car was off, nothing like headlights or anything I know of was left on.
View 19 RepliesThe bars are in the green most of the time. But now , I am finding 6 or 7 bars of green most of the time is not ideal after all? Purple is optimum?
Is there a scenario where a prius in the green too often indicates there is something off with the car or my driving style? Is the issue here that I am generating excessive HV battery heat?
I think I am a smooth driver, but I do use the pedal (and brake) to make minor adjustments in speed as I'm sure we all do. Cruise control?
I usually just drive it, and don't think looking at displays too often is a very good idea for safety. I check my mileage and battery health though, and was satisfied.
Very occasionally and usually from a cold start I get a rapid discharge of the battery.
View 7 RepliesWhen battery is low (purple bars IN DISPLAY) EV mode is not allowed, obviously; but WHY is it not allowed when the battery is full or nearly full (green bars on display) ?
View 6 RepliesMy Prius' battery died this week after a respectable 163731 miles. I barely got it to the dealership . It was sluggish, engine racing, one purple bar and the battery fan was going full blast. It totally freaked me out.
21 working days for battery from Japan. I've been expecting it. I figure I can then drive the car for another couple of years.
So our car has performed flawlessly since 2005/135K miles. Still getting 55 mpg in the display in the summer, 45 mpg in the winter. Only issue is traction battery SOC quickly goes to full green when coasting downhill, and 1 or 2 purple bars when climbing. In Colorado, this happens a lot. Within a mile or so coasting downhill the SOC is full green. Question is: should I replace the traction battery? Is there any harm to continuing to experience this behavior? When full green, I realize I am using friction braking over regen braking, have actually felt the crossover from regen to the pads, as the SOC goes full green.
View 4 RepliesSo I just brought my 2015 golf TDI in for its 20,000 standard service and then starting about 2 days later, every time I start the engine there is this rapid (and loud) ticking sound which goes on for 20 seconds or so before stopping. It almost sounds like it is coming from the passenger side speaker or under the passenger side dash. It sounds electronic in nature rather than mechanical but I'm not really sure.
View 2 RepliesMy car is an 05 and currently has 219,000 miles. Runs great. Only things I've replaced are the 12 volt battery and the rack and pinion. Replaced the rack because I was trying to drift in the snow and tried to beat the traction control. Needless to say, I lost and hit the curb. Jammed the gear in the left side of the rack. Replaced the rack with a $75 used one and no problems since.
My issue is this, even if my battery is at 6 bars when I first take off, my hybrid battery drains down to even as low as 1 bar. It only got down to 1 once but is hitting 2 regularly. After about 3-10 miles it is back to the regular charge rate. I also noticed the other day with the window down, there was a slight whirring sound, almost like a gear or wheel that is a gummed up and is being slowed down. It also felt like there was resistance, almost like the brake was dragging. After a few miles, as in less than 5, the noise was gone and the car was going along just fine. I've checked the emergency brake to see if it's dragging by applying it and releasing it several times. Does not appear to be the issue. Today I put it in neutral to see if that changed anything but it did like it always does and just coasted along fine with no resistance. My thought is the transmission. I'm wondering if the fluid it so old and broken down that maybe things are gumming up. Either way, I purchased the tranny fluid and will change that out. I know people will probably gasp but I have never changed it. Actually thought because it's a cvt and there is no dipstick to check it, that it doesn't need changed. After reading up yesterday I discovered I was mistaken.
I think that's about it. I'll edit it if I think of something more. Once the battery is back up to charge it accelerates and drives like normal. I do want the car to last so my daughter can use it when I buy the new Prius Prime.
I have a 2005 with 165K on it. Just within the last 2 weeks, at start up, no matter what level the charge shows on the display, the HV battery will almost fully discharge and then come back up to full charge within a mile of driving. I just replaced the 12V battery thinking this could have been an issue, but it didn't change anything. The car never acted like this since I bought it in 05. When it drops to the discharge level, It running on ICE only, with the typical slower acceleration. What could be going on?
View 8 RepliesCar just stopped, she said. Wouldn't go. Police told her to try to move it; it ran okay, she said.
View 13 RepliesI just replaced two bad modules in my 2006 (125K mile) traction battery. I replaced one other module a year ago successfully. I installed the battery last night and tried to charge it with my Hybrid Automotive charger. The charger would not go into charging mode. So I decided to check the idiot lights on the dash - plug in key and push the power button - every light on the dash lit up and stayed lit. The battery charge indicator in the display on the dash had most of the blue bars filled. I left the power on for several minutes and the engine never started (usually does regardless of state of battery charge for a minute or two when you first power up the Prius).
View 19 RepliesI have noticed that my 2008 Prius does not always engage EV mode (after I push the EV button) when the battery is green (nearly fully charged) and speed is well below 45 km/hr. Message displayed is "switching to EV mode is invalid now". So it seems there are factors at play other than the speed and the level of traction battery charge.
What these are? Is battery temperature monitored? Will the operation of the air conditioner affect it? Most times it doesn't but I wonder if under certain circumstances it might.
I use it at times if I am going up a slow speed incline, often from a standing start, knowing that there will be plenty of opportunity to recharge shortly after.
Weather here is pretty warm- around 30C maximum during the day.
The sound emanates approximately from the area of the coolant storage tank (driver's side, behind the front bumper), though I doubt the tank or its pump is the problem. It sounds only when the car is in 'ready' status. I also think it is not one of the relays in the nearby fusebox. There water-pump drive belt is not on that side, so I don't think it's the water pump or its idler pulley. I have posted a ten-second sound recording on YouTube, greatly amplified. (Ignore the video portion.)
View 5 RepliesI noticed a 1'x2' square in the bottom passenger side corner of the radiator covered in green oily gunk. Ive had the 2008 for about 1000 miles (has 58k) so Im assuming its been there for a while. Seems like its impeding airflow. Its very green.
View 5 RepliesJust returned from a 7,000+ mile cross-country trip. Didn't have any real problems with my 2006 Prius. But crossing the Rockies I was watching the Consumption Screen with the battery gauge going down, down as I'd climb some of the summits. Have to admit it made me rather nervous to get down to just two bars and then have those turn from blue to purple. Then it dropped to a single purple bar. Question is what would happen if I had used up all the battery before I reached the summit?
View 14 RepliesLately when I turn the AC on my battery runs all the way down to two purple bars. The temp here is hot and it happens when I'm traveling at low speeds. The battery finally gets back up once I drive faster.
View 14 RepliesIn the extreme heat her in Vegas, I've noticed that my hybrid battery is often in the 2-bar purple zone at startup. I have to put at least 20 miles on it to get it back up to full charge.
View 19 RepliesHad my 2011 Prius for two months. When driving yesterday two round purple circle lights blinked on the instrument panel. Never saw them before. What does it mean?
View 1 RepliesThis evening, long after sundown, I found myself stuck on an unmoving expressway with no sign of traffic starting up again (the radio reported a vehicle fire ahead, all lanes blocked). Time dragged on, and I started worrying about the possibility of the headlights draining the 12V battery , assuming that they do indeed run off the 12V battery. In a conventional car this wouldn't have been a problem because the idling engine would have maintained enough battery charge, but of course here the ICE wasn't running. So I turned off the power button to shut down the lights (it's a Canadian car, so there's no way of turning off the headlights with the power button on). That was safe in this particular situation because there were plenty of stopped vehicles behind me. It definitely would not have been safe if mine had been the last vehicle in the lineup.
View 7 Replies