Replace Hybrid / EV battery pack

[explorer257525]

Hi, 

I recently got engine light on on my Toyota estima x 2006 petrol hybrid imported car, so took to local garage where I normally go to, after diagnose he said replace hybrid Battery pack, 

while I thought hybrid Battery is for life, 

anyway my questions are

1. Do I have to replace Battery? Can’t I just run the car as it is now? If I have to change battery then where To get it from? 
2. Is this safe to run the car without hybrid battery pack? Although it’s running on patrol fine, the only difference is it is not running on hybrid for 1st when you are at speed of 30 or less miles per hour, 

3. If I don’t change battery and just run on patrol, how to switch off engine light, I believe having engine light on is mot failure, please confirm, 

4. has any of you come across in my situations and how did you deal with it? 
 

thank you for reading and replying

[Cyker]

I'd get a 2nd opinion first - The packs don't usually die that easily and hybrids usually won't work at all if there's something wrong with the traction Battery as they need it just to start the engine!

[Paulscarbs]

Welcome.

A typical hybrid Battery will last approximately ten years. Individual cells can be replaced after testing by a specialist.

[Derek.w]

If Battery pack is under 70% then Toyota will change faulty Battery cells modules under warinty.

If your high voltage Battery fails your car wont start.

What level ov voltage is displayed from your High voltage pack 3 pars or more will be normal.

When was the 12 volt battery last changed as this also gives you starting problems/

 

[Roy124]

2006+15=21

Hybrid warranty?

Plenty of 15 year plus cars around so non franchise repair outfits may be the way to go. 

[Cyker]

Also it's an Estima, so an import (Probably JDM) so the warranty wouldn't apply even if hadn't expired!

Alas, need to find a third party specialist as most Toyota dealers won't touch it due to being an import.

The Estima is a very popular car to import, so I'm sure there are people that specialize in repairing them - finding them is the trick!

[RUToyota]

The one that keeps popping up as an expert in the hybrid is

Kaspars Krumins....Wigan based (Liverpool Road).no phone number I'm afraid..might also come under Big Boys Garage...I'm afraid you'd have to do some searching but he has lots of good reviews via Facebook.

[Beduin_]

I have Kaspars phnone number. PM me if you still wish to contact him.

 

I will not post his number here as I'm not sure if he wants to.

But from business point of view he probably will want it.

 

[Hope House]

Hi I’ve just been told by a Garage that specialises in EV hybrid repairs that I need a traction Battery for a Toyota Estima Hybrid 2010. This is the second time I’ve taken the car too them after a whole hosts of warning lights came on the first time I took it too them they diagnosed it as a cell of a Battery malfunctioning in the top Battery which they “fixed” and cost me nearly £1,000 but now the warning lights have come back on again and they are now saying that the fault lies with the bottom battery called a traction battery and you can’t get hold of them over here what do people think? Thanks

[SLocteau]

Hello everyone,

Anyway to test the Battery pack? My one is just imported and after looking at it for an hour without driving it, I had an error. I reset it by unpluging the normal 12v Battery and it's fine for the last 3 days. Mileage is 180 000km 2011 2.4l model and don't know if the Battery pack was ever changed.

[Roy124]

James, by top Battery do you mean the small 12v Battery?  By bottom Battery I guess you mean the HV traction battery. 

They 'fixed' the top battery because of a cell malfunction.  This sounds very like a dying 12v battery and the solution is a new battery.  What did they do? 

You say the warning lights have come on again.  This sounds like the same fault. 

It is very difficult to say they are wrong but £1,000 to fix the first issue suggests a lot of work.  Tell us what they did for £1,000 that ultimately didn't fix the problem. 

[Catlover]

Same sad story, import a vehicle.......everything is goodie until they go wrong. Its then you need a deep pocket and a genuine repairer of imported vehicles. I heard Toyota UK dont want to know about imported vehicles outside of their scope.

[flash22]

7 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

James, by top battery do you mean the small 12v battery?  By bottom battery I guess you mean the HV traction battery. 

They 'fixed' the top battery because of a cell malfunction.  This sounds very like a dying 12v battery and the solution is a new battery.  What did they do? 

You say the warning lights have come on again.  This sounds like the same fault. 

It is very difficult to say they are wrong but £1,000 to fix the first issue suggests a lot of work.  Tell us what they did for £1,000 that ultimately didn't fix the problem. 

The pack in the esitma is in between the front seats and is split in 2 - 12 strings in the lower, 9 in the top

 

first port of call on an import is change the 12v Battery and drive it, a fluids change is recommended

[Hope House]

Hi thanks for the replies basically the cost was the hours of work it took to find the faulty cell in the top 12v Battery then purchase the cell which I think was only about £120 plus VAT then to replace the cell and balance the whole thing out! I exaggerated a bit as I think it was about £800is so It wasn’t quite £1000 but still a lot of money and as you say I only have their word on it that all of a sudden another fault has appeared and now in the bottom traction Battery after only about 3 weeks of them “fixing” the previous fault in the top Battery with exactly the same warning lights appearing! They were so positive about being able to solve the problem without having to slash out thousands on a new battery but since this has happened I put into Google the price of a Hybrid battery for a Toyota Estima and there are a few that will replace the current battery with a new one for about £3100 as they buy the battery at £2650 and charge the rest to fit it but apparently Toyota will sell a new battery for £3100 so it’s not as Sky high as I thought and as I was lead to believe by this EV specialist garage which has taken nearly £1000 and am back to square one and now looking to have to fork out another £3100 for a vehicle that originally cost £9750! The guy that I talked too that sells new batteries said he’s been doing this for years and says it near on impossible to replace individual battery cells as the voltage (he was saying a lot of technical knowledge that I didn’t really understand) outage is so narrow that if it’s out even by a little bit the whole system flags up there’s a problem so it’s always best to buy a new one! What do people think? Or does anybody know of another solution? Thanks guys 

[Derek.w]

When was the High voltage Battery pack last serviced ie cells equalised and what is the voltage differance between pairs of cells this can indicate a bad cell pack.

[Hope House]

Just last week the garage equalised them after diagnosing the new fault as a problem with the traction Battery and all the warning lights went off again for about 2 days then came back on again.

[RUToyota]

11 hours ago, Catlover said:

Same sad story, import a vehicle.......everything is goodie until they go wrong. Its then you need a deep pocket and a genuine repairer of imported vehicles. I heard Toyota UK dont want to know about imported vehicles outside of their scope.

That's not always true, Joe..it depends on what you are importing.!

The vast majority of imports are basically no different to their UK/Euro counterparts.

I would NOT, however, import a hybrid and have never quite grasped the efficacy of a hybrid Estima...just can't see any great benefits and many seem to develop Battery issues...and many are 10+ years old of course.

My own Estima is an old skool n/a V6...and in the 7 years I've owned her I've had no issues whatsoever with just the normal service elements to deal with (with parts freely available in the UK)...and is serviced by my local trusted independent with no dramas and reasonable expense.

[Beduin_]

Kaspar Krumis in Wigan fitting new  Battery for Estimas for £1800 it takes 2h and he will give you 1year warranty. He is Estima Hybrid specialist.

[Hope House]

Thanks for that Beduin is it definitely a brand new hybrid Battery as that is a great price if it is the cheapest price I have been given up to now is £2900! Can you send me his contact details or phone number please? 
 

thanks

[flash22]

A rebuilt pack is around £1600, it's worth getting a quote through the dealer

only real way to check the pack is with techstream that will show you what the pack voltages are in each string, the strings are 14.4v or 9.6v made up of 1.2v, 6500 mah Ni-MH cells

[ThruSST]

Did you manage to get your Battery changed @Hope House? Was it the lower price or a crazy high one?
You can see the voltages in the Battery packs with an app called Dr Prius (it's not just for the Prius) & a bluetooth dongle. You can see voltages for each pair of cells and SOC, temperatures and it can log everything so you can graph it too.
On my picture you can see the upper & lower packs. They are separate and different cells and operate at different votages which can clearly be seen on my screenshot

[flash22]

See my post above, Dr prius doesn't see the whole pack - the app does not support all the Estima PID's so gives incorrect information - it's a split voltage pack also described above

[ThruSST]

On 8/3/2023 at 8:47 PM, flash22 said:

See my post above, Dr prius doesn't see the whole pack - the app does not support all the Estima PID's so gives incorrect information - it's a split voltage pack also described above

Tried Techstream today and apart from the 12V Battery sometimes giving odd readings on Dr Prius it's showing exactly the same info. Must be something wrong with your setup or your running an old version of it.
Actually Dr Prius does a far better job of logging the values as it stores over a greater amount of time so they can be graphed later on too.

Where did you get the £1600 figure from or is that from some years ago?

[flash22]

£1600 is a rebuilt pack replaced cells, cycled and balanced

I can pull a lot more data with techstream than what you have

[Jozzy]

Hi all. Have the same issue. Have an import Toyota Previa/Estima Hybrid 07. Driving it for a month now. After 2nd day of drive “hybrid system check “(translated from Japanese) message came up. Went to my mechanic, he said hybrid Battery is gone. Car wasn’t on the road before got it for at least 5months. Do you thing guys the hybrid Battery can come back to “normal “ after a while due to driving or the Battery really has to be replaced?

 

Thanks for reading & replying