Corrolla GR sports Hybrid 2L battery problems again

[Louie]

HI Folks

Grrrrrrrrr

Today i got home and immediately started having problems locking the vehicle with the car emitting one long beeping sound followed by an intermittent  continuous beep. I then managed to lock the vehicle and everything seemed OK.  Later on i wanted to store something in the boot and thats when things started going south rapidly. Car refused to respond to the remote so remained locked i had to use the key to enter the vehicle and discovered that the car was as dead as a DODO. 

I cannot figure out what has gone wrong as the car is used daily on short and long runs and yesterday we went out on at least a 30-45 min journey. Today i took the car just up the road to the car wash which is a 10 minute event. I do remember that yesterday the ACC going haywire briefly something quite odd and scary but it righted itself. The RAC are coming out shortly so we will see whats going on and this is the second time this has happened  since i acquired the vehicle in 2020. There does not appear to be any kind of obvious warning that tells you your Battery requires charging or is "kaput". 

Lets see what RAC come up with. I hope they don't have to tow it away like last time when the recovery boys could not find the Battery and i kid you not.

[forkingabout]

FWIW: I had the bonnet open on my 2 litre C-HR today & I noticed there was a sticker on the underside of the front edge of the bonnet showing where the 12 volt Battery was located as it's not under the bonnet. 

[Louie]

HI Guys

Still waiting for RAC to turn up but discovered two worrying non events. The key will only lock the drivers side door tried a variety of methods to lock other doors but thats out of the window. Cannot open the hatchback door as there is no keyhole so how ill the RAC man get in to charge the Battery crawl through the passenger rear seat opening? This is probably another tow away again and Toyota will not not be on my contract renewal list for next year very ****** off. 

[50p]

There are terminals under the bonnet that a boost charger can be connected to.

[bigblock]

33 minutes ago, 50p said:

There are terminals under the bonnet that a boost charger can be connected to.

Correct and this is the right way to charge the 12 volt Battery.

[flash22]

Lock down killed lots of batteries, it just needs a new one TBH if it's a standard lead acid Battery (012) they are cheap enough

[Spo2]

45 minutes ago, 50p said:

There are terminals under the bonnet that a boost charger can be connected to.

If you get time, would you be able to post a pic of both terminal where booster is connected? 

Many thanks 

[bigblock]

'Ready Mode' 1 hour a week and the problem will not exist. The Toyota advice works. 

[bigblock]

2 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

If you get time, would you be able to post a pic of both terminal where booster is connected? 

Many thanks 

There is plenty of video's on you tube on this very subject.

[flash22]

9 minutes ago, bigblock said:

'Ready Mode' 1 hour a week and the problem will not exist. The Toyota advice works. 

Not entirely true, once a Battery goes to a low state of charge it can drop its current handling capacity - Current draw rises the voltage drops.

 

Also, a low state of charge and a cold snaps like we have had for the last few years will kill a Battery off - its only a 45ah that runs the Aux systems

as for the Battery terminals - read your owner's manual, it's usually in the "In an emergency" section

[Louie]

HI Guys

I fell under the Toyota booby trap last time and in this particular instance I followed all the guidelines to the letter so as not to run my Battery down. Last time i screwed up badly because i sat in the car with the radio on for about 30 mins so i deserved everything i got. I have had a variety of car makes in the past 40-50 years and have never ever broken down ever anywhere apart from a blown valve in a Saab Turbo and a broken gearbox in a Renault 25. I have always looked after my vehicles with great care. This is not my first Toyota and the last one ran without missing a beat. This vehicle is considerably more complicated and has two batteries and two engines hence more things to go wrong. I do remember in my previous vehicles there was always some fairly obvious warning that told your Battery is on very low charge. In this particular instance it did not happen also its not mid winter and i generally dont drive around at night so for the Battery to give up the ghost without warning is just not on. I shall wait and see what the verdict is when the RAC turn up in about an hour. 

[TonyHSD]

I am surprised Corolla doesn’t have warning when 12v power has been used in acc mode instead of ready mode. My car gives me warning if I use any power without car been set in ready mode and will switch off automatically to prevent Battery discharge. 

[Louie]

HI Guys

The verdict is in and its a faulty Battery the one located in the boot. Basically its a few cells gone. So have had Battery replaced.  RAC man stated this is very common call out on hybrid vehicles and he spends a lot of time doing replacements. The faulty Battery is not manufactured by Toyota but he reckons its a fairly reliable make.

[Spo2]

39 minutes ago, Louie said:

HI Guys

The verdict is in and its a faulty battery the one located in the boot. Basically its a few cells gone. So have had battery replaced.  RAC man stated this is very common call out on hybrid vehicles and he spends a lot of time doing replacements. The faulty battery is not manufactured by Toyota but he reckons its a fairly reliable make.

So the RAC man replaced the Battery on his visit? I thought they jump start and ask you to get the Battery replaced. How much does the Battery cost? 

[Louie]

HI Guys

The verdict is in and its a faulty Battery the one located in the boot. Basically its a few cells gone. So have had Battery replaced.  RAC man stated this is very common call out on hybrid vehicles and he spends a lot of time doing replacements. The faulty Battery is not manufactured by Toyota but he reckons its a fairly reliable make.

[Louie]

HI Guys

Battery was dead so had it replaced for free. My car is on a three year contract hire so everything is covered under that including RAC call  out. Battery probably covered under Toyota warranty i should think. He showed me the Battery check meter and it showed it to be faulty I think he tried to charge it initially but that failed. He initially connected an emergency battery to the whole circuit to get the car fully unlocked then carried on with the the tests on the possible dud which ran for about 15-20 mins. 

I did not read the relevant email re pics of the RAC man's  modus operandi until after he had gone sorry guys. 

[flash22]

Toyota gives a year on the Battery, the lease co pics up the tab for that as the car belongs to them, £120-150 is about the going rate fitted

[bigblock]

Sorry to hear about your problems Louie. It's a right bummer this 12 volt Battery issue. I think that Toyota should have some warning in place to tell owners when the 12 volt Battery is getting low. My Father's 68 plate Kia has this warning if he leaves the radio on too long. It's not rocket science. Ready mode for an hour is all well and good if you have a healthy Battery to start with. But as flash22 has pointed out, it's not very effective when the 12 volt battery is starting to loose it's voltage doing short drives etc. Then Ready mode doesn't appear to help much and then it's too late to revive the battery. Not good Toyota. Get it sorted please.

[bigblock]

3 minutes ago, bigblock said:

Sorry to hear about your problems Louie. It's a right bummer this 12 volt battery issue. I think that Toyota should have some warning in place to tell owners when the 12 volt battery is getting low. My Father's 68 plate Kia has this warning if he leaves the radio on to long. It's not rocket science. Ready mode for an hour is all well and good if you have a heathy battery to start with. But as flash22 has pointed out, it's not very effective when the 12 volt battery is starting to loose it's voltage doing short drives etc. Then Ready mode doesn't appear to help much and then it's too late to revive the battery. Not good Toyota. Get it sorted please.

 

[Louie]

HI Guys

Since the RAC man fitted a new Battery into the boot of my Corolla and performed a reset as the self park mode failed a lot has  changed. 

1. Its a smoother ride in that the CVT box  does appear to have stopped randomly  "hunting".

2. The response to go faster pedal is is instant whereas before there seemed to be lag.

3. Acceleration is noticeably improved .

4.  Around town the car stays more or less all the time in electric mode whereas before the petrol engine used to chime in a lot.

5.  A different performance display has appeared on my speedo which is better than the old one.

6.  Headlights seem brighter in fact all round lighting has improved.

 

It will be interesting to see if my MPG improves currently its about 44-47 mpg . I think the Battery in the boot has been wonky for a while and might explain strange electronic behaviour with the  car systems.  e.g. erratic locking door problems , ACC misbehaving during operation i.e not sensing car in front then slowing and not accelerating to set speed when traffic in front clears, strange media system behaviour, lighting dimming for no reason.

So if your hybrid starts to mysteriously misbehave the culprit could be a failing Battery. Let me know what you think guys.

Happy Motoring

Louie

 

[bigblock]

That's very interesting. I can't see how the 12 volt Battery has improved things as it's only supposed to start up the hybrid system and then the main traction Battery takes over and powers all functions while the vehicle is running. Maybe the hybrid system was having a hard time trying to re charge the faulty 12 volt Battery while driving which was causing strange things to happen. Very interesting stuff.

[TonyHSD]

16 minutes ago, bigblock said:

That's very interesting. I can't see how the 12 volt battery has improved things as it's only supposed to start up the hybrid system and then the main traction battery takes over and powers all functions while the vehicle is running. Maybe the hybrid system was having a hard time trying to re charge the faulty 12 volt battery while driving which was causing strange things to happen. Very interesting stuff.

That’s perhaps a statement from a non hybrid Corolla owner. 12v Battery in hybrids actually powers up everything except electric motor and air conditioning and can be easily discharged since it’s a smaller capacity then a regular petrol or diesel cars. 

[flash22]

The electronics have had a chance to reset so back to default, and get rid of any poor behaviour, electronics are very particular when it comes to voltage

all the aux systems run off the 12v and are independent apart from the HV DC to DC convertor (charging system)

[bigblock]

49 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s perhaps a statement from a non hybrid Corolla owner. 12v battery in hybrids actually powers up everything except electric motor and air conditioning and can be easily discharged since it’s a smaller capacity then a regular petrol or diesel cars. 

Learning more all the time.😉