Comments on: Battery Problems on First-Gen Hybrids

By: Christine J

Christine J — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:06:03 +0000

Hi can anyone send me a complete wireing diogram of the prius 1998 model Help pretty please

By: Thunder

Thunder — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:56:23 +0000

I had one more question,how do I change the cells in the high voltage battery?I can check each cell individually,can I mix and match the best cells?

By: Thunder

Thunder — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:50:40 +0000

I have a 2001 Prius.I hit a sign and rolled it end over end 2 times.After towing the car out of the ditch all 4 tires were up and 3 of the doors opened and closed as good as new.The roof was pushed down to the dash in the middle.I only had a bump on the head and a sore neck,this car is amazing.The car started up and I drove it to the garage shut it down,it runs great.The next day I purchased a 2002 Prius that didn’t run,the owner said he had a Toyota tech test the battery and said it needed to be replaced.I have a real problem believing that all them cells can go bad at once,I don’t believe them.I have replaced the battery with my battery out of my wreck.The car started up ran bad for about 20 seconds then shut down,now it won’t do anything.One at a time with a donor car I have changed the high voltage ecu,ecm,immobilizer,main relay,hybrid control unit,and the 12 volt battery,and the inverter unit.Still nothing.Codes p 3004,p3000,p3001,c2799. 01-d9,01-dc,01de.Sub codes 190-01-2,190-48-2,1c6-75-3.OK if you are not scratching your head like me and have any ideas please comment.Im so confused.

By: Yvonne Lucas

Yvonne Lucas — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:48:47 +0000

Hello there,
I wonder if anyone can help me. I’ve been to an official
Toyota dealer here in Valencia Spain, where, to no effect they changed the main battery in my first generation, 10 year old Toyota Prius and charged me €3000. iI don’t know how to explain this in technical terms, but basically, now and again – especially in summer when the car is in the sun, when I swiitch on, the the warning lights come on and the battery level drops so low that sometimes I think the car is going to stop completely. After driving for a bit the battery level comes back up and when I switch off and back on again the warning lights disappear. Apart from this, the car still goes like a dream. Any ideas?

By: leekshuster

leekshuster — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:15:12 +0000

Hi,

I'm a newbie here and have a 2004 HCH Manual that just turned over 85,000 miles. I bought the car in 2006 with 53,000 miles, from a local Honda Certified Used Car dealer. The car has seen mostly urban driving cycles the past 2 years, with the occasional bi-monthly highway trip. A/C does see seasonal use in May-Sept.

On a side note: I recently replaced the under-hood 12V battery (this was NOT really necessary, I just wanted the peace-of mind with winter fast approaching),

And as far as I know the IMA (144V) battery module has never been replaced. The car performs well and typically gets an indicated 38 - 42 mpg in city use and close to 50 mpg highway. (We do live at 5000 ft ASL, which reduces mileage and power.)

About a week ago the IMA and CHECK Engine lights came on. (P1600 and P1433). At the time they come on the SoC dropped from 75% to roughly half that. Throttle response becomes noticeably sluggish, but the REGen/ASSist meter still works. And the SoC gradually moves up and down. The most I have seen it come back to is about 67 % when the codes are thrown.

When I clear the codes, I observe the following: REGen/ASSist immediately at idle shows (GREEN) charge and the SoC rapidly comes up to 100% within a couple of minutes. When the car is driven, throttle response is crisp and instrumentation shows "like-new" REGen/ASSist and SoC behavior in urban driving.

Then, usually with a day or so (usually less than 20-miles) the same codes return (P1600/P1433).

To the best of knowledge, the ECM has NOT been re-flashed or "Upgraded" by Honda.

1) Is there a way to determine the ECM Version level? Especially, from the factory built original version?

2) If a Honda dealer flashes the ECM, will it potentially mask the P1433 code? Making AH less likely to replace the IMA battery of DC-DC converter under warranty?

3) What is actually happening when the P1433 code is thrown? It seems to put the system into "LIMP" or "LAME" mode? This obviously affects the performance (Power and fuel economy) and places greater wer and tear on the ICE powertrain?

4) Does anyone have experience with Honda's Certified Used Car POWERTRAIN Warranty or Third-Party Warranties, with respect to premature IMA failures? I still have mileage and time remaining on my AH Certifed Used Car POWERTRAIN Warranty. Is the IMA Battery considered a POWERTRAIN component, or excluded because it is a battery?

5) Have any other Honda Civic Hybrid owners here joined the Class Action Suit against American Honda? See: http://www.hchsettlement.com/default.htm

Any advice (or dare I say Insights?) would be greatly appreciated.

By: Bernadette

Bernadette — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:26:46 +0000

I have a 2003 Civic Hybrid. My malfunction and IMA lights have been coming on intermittently and my gas mileage is down significantly from the average that I had been keeping - 42 mpg in winter/48 mpg in summer. I took it to a honda repair garage and they told me the IMA battery is dying and needs to be replaced. My understanding is the warranty is 8 years/80,000 miles. I've had the car for seven, but the mileage is 95K. I'm I out of luck?

What happens if I don't replace the battery? Can I continue driving the car?

By: Mikeoo17

Mikeoo17 — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:17:13 +0000

Not to take anything away from what you’ve written, but you would get 500% more life from your brakes if they received 20% of the wear. 100%/20%X100%=500%

By: p elliott

p elliott — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:59:35 +0000

I have a 1998 NHW10 Prius (Japan Market model) which has 140000km which is still running fine with no battery issues. My sister has the same year model with 115000km and it too is still fine. Unless something untoward happens I am looking forward to more years of driving in this car. As it is a grey market import here in Australia I intend to run it into the ground so to speak as parts and service information on this model is limited. I have read a lot of articles that mention fixing the cells in these early model Priuses when they fail and wonder if there are any articles on the web that actually outline this process or show it being done.

By: bob1234567890

bob1234567890 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:18:12 +0000

Too bad that coal fired plant down the steet is still going to be pumping out the CO2 pollution for the plug in hybrid at a much higher rate than burning the fuel in the gas hybrid…

By: jane carmody

jane carmody — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:42:47 +0000

We have a 2003 civic hybrid and just had to replace the IMA battery at 96,000 miles. Because the battery is a part , it is under warranty for 12 months. That news really has disappointed me.