2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
#71
05-13-2013, 08:18 AM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
It doesn't seem possible to lose that much energy so fast without seeing some signs of heating or smoke. Where did the energy go? That is what got me started on thinking it was a display problem.
#72
05-16-2013, 05:05 AM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
New update - my wife says that the car DID go down to 3 bars on the energy monitor display a couple days ago while she was driving it. This was the first time she (or I) had seen it go below 6 bars, but it is welcome news!
Again, does anyone on this forum know what characteristics a brand new battery might display? I know with household electronics such as netbooks or laptop computers, NiMh batteries SHOULD be charged fully and then allowed to drain completely a couple of times when first used in order to preserve the life of the battery. Is this true also of hybrid car batteries? Would Toyota have already done this before shipping the battery to the dealer?
The car behaves very different with respect to hybrid charging and discharging than before the "battery change". I was just wondering what a new battery SHOULD do.
Thanks
#73
05-16-2013, 10:15 AM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
NiMH batteries are selected by Toyota due to their insensitivity in being recharged and discharged repeatedly at intermediate charge levels without causing a memory effect. They are most sensitive to overcharging, and can be damaged that way. Toyota limits the charge level to prevent damage, and I believe that even when all bars are showing full, it is still only at 80% of the real full charge.
Last night while driving at moderate city speeds of 30 mph or so, I saw the display stay at 2 purple bars while running in EV for the longest time I had ever seen it. I purposely kept the speed low and avoided any sudden acceleration to see if it would go down to 1 purple bar. While at a red light, the engine started and it never did go down to 1 bar.
I suspect there is no way you can over charge or under charge a battery when the controls are working properly.
Last night while driving at moderate city speeds of 30 mph or so, I saw the display stay at 2 purple bars while running in EV for the longest time I had ever seen it. I purposely kept the speed low and avoided any sudden acceleration to see if it would go down to 1 purple bar. While at a red light, the engine started and it never did go down to 1 bar.
I suspect there is no way you can over charge or under charge a battery when the controls are working properly.
#74
06-06-2013, 06:55 PM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
So, now a few weeks on the new battery, and things are looking good. The system monitor display shows the battery now charging to just one bar below maximum on the display (never yet have seen it go all the way to maximum), and down to 2 bars (purple)....and now it seems to display charge values reliably. That is, it looks very much like I expect, and the way it used to look with my old original battery. Our gas mileage is about 41 MPG - same as it was when our original battery was working fine. No more hybrid warnings or shutdowns.
So it looks like Toyota and the dealer did us right!
I'll keep you all posted and updated in a few months, or if anything odd happens.
So it looks like Toyota and the dealer did us right!
I'll keep you all posted and updated in a few months, or if anything odd happens.
#75
07-06-2013, 04:59 PM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
Hi All,
Here is the latest in the hybrid battery draining problem.
Quick recap....about 8 months ago I began to notice that the hybrid battery would be in the green on the nav display that shows the system hybrid battery level, and I would turn the car off, sometimes for only 15 minutes or so, and come back to find the hybrid battery in the purple - usually one bar.
This was irregular but happened at least twice a month for 3 months or so. I brought it to my dealer at around 95,000 miles, still under hybrid system warranty, and they tested it and said the hybrid battery was good. I was not getting hybrid system dash errors so the onboard computer was not seeing a problem.
A month or two later, I had an experience where the car seemed stalled when I pulled out into the road, and it took several seconds before the car moved....and for about a week after that the hybrid battery NEVER ONCE charged up to the green bars. It would vary from purple to blue only. I was about to bring it to the dealer when this stopped and it DID start to go back into the green.
Another month or so later, and just over 100,000 miles, my wife drives the car and about 30 minutes from home the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree and she sees "hybrid system failure" flash on the panel. She too is in the midst of pulling out into traffic and almost gets hit by an oncoming car because the Camry will not move for several seconds! She brings it to the Toyota dealer and they keep it for 4 hours and return it, indicating it was just a computer malfunction???? They had reset the computer andsaid that they thought the problem was caused by having the cabin heater on high when starting the car.
We drive the car for a week and all is well. Then one day the dashboard lights up again, flashing "hybrid system failure". We take it to the Toyota dealer and demand they fix it....at this point the car is dangerous to drive. You simply can;t tell if it is going to move when you press the gas pedal or fail to move and leave you stuck like a dead weight!
The dealer checks the car again and my wife (who was driving it at the time and brought it to the dealer) demands the problem be fixed...she will not risk her life on an intermittent problem.
The dealer takes the car and gives my wife a corolla rental car (no charge). He says he will replace the hybrid battery because we brought the car in well within the warranty period for this hybrid battery problem...even though they did not catch it.
A week later we get our Camry back with an invoice that says:
REPLACED HYBRID BATTERY UNDER TOYOTA GOODWILL.....
No charge for the rental car or for the hybrid battery replacement.
We just got the Camry back today, and so far it looks good. We'll let everyone know how things go!
I must say that we are thankful that Toyota (and our Toyota dealer) did the right thing. They asked us to call them if we see any further problems.
If everything runs well and we no longer see any problems, I will certainly give this dealer my continuing business.
Here is the latest in the hybrid battery draining problem.
Quick recap....about 8 months ago I began to notice that the hybrid battery would be in the green on the nav display that shows the system hybrid battery level, and I would turn the car off, sometimes for only 15 minutes or so, and come back to find the hybrid battery in the purple - usually one bar.
This was irregular but happened at least twice a month for 3 months or so. I brought it to my dealer at around 95,000 miles, still under hybrid system warranty, and they tested it and said the hybrid battery was good. I was not getting hybrid system dash errors so the onboard computer was not seeing a problem.
A month or two later, I had an experience where the car seemed stalled when I pulled out into the road, and it took several seconds before the car moved....and for about a week after that the hybrid battery NEVER ONCE charged up to the green bars. It would vary from purple to blue only. I was about to bring it to the dealer when this stopped and it DID start to go back into the green.
Another month or so later, and just over 100,000 miles, my wife drives the car and about 30 minutes from home the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree and she sees "hybrid system failure" flash on the panel. She too is in the midst of pulling out into traffic and almost gets hit by an oncoming car because the Camry will not move for several seconds! She brings it to the Toyota dealer and they keep it for 4 hours and return it, indicating it was just a computer malfunction???? They had reset the computer andsaid that they thought the problem was caused by having the cabin heater on high when starting the car.
We drive the car for a week and all is well. Then one day the dashboard lights up again, flashing "hybrid system failure". We take it to the Toyota dealer and demand they fix it....at this point the car is dangerous to drive. You simply can;t tell if it is going to move when you press the gas pedal or fail to move and leave you stuck like a dead weight!
The dealer checks the car again and my wife (who was driving it at the time and brought it to the dealer) demands the problem be fixed...she will not risk her life on an intermittent problem.
The dealer takes the car and gives my wife a corolla rental car (no charge). He says he will replace the hybrid battery because we brought the car in well within the warranty period for this hybrid battery problem...even though they did not catch it.
A week later we get our Camry back with an invoice that says:
REPLACED HYBRID BATTERY UNDER TOYOTA GOODWILL.....
No charge for the rental car or for the hybrid battery replacement.
We just got the Camry back today, and so far it looks good. We'll let everyone know how things go!
I must say that we are thankful that Toyota (and our Toyota dealer) did the right thing. They asked us to call them if we see any further problems.
If everything runs well and we no longer see any problems, I will certainly give this dealer my continuing business.
I just wanted to mention my wife and I have this exact problem. It's very scary when it occurs as its like a regular engine dying when you accelerate from a stop, typically right when you need the power most. The Camry will also stutter and you loose power steering a bit until the gas engine is running. Toyota looked at it once and mentioned they updated some software but the condition occurred again with my wife.
We can produce the issue by putting the Camry in drive, and just sit for 5 min. It's as if there's a short draining the battery power while we're still in drive. My wife was in stop and go traffic between Boulder and Denver and was afraid she wouldn't make it home. Had the stutter a number of times that day. Turning off AC may have helped but with our 1 year daughter in the back seat and 100 degrees outside it wasn't an attractive option for her to try.
We have not seen any "Hybrid Failure" messages yet which is frustrating. It would be nice if the car could afirm the "Holy s@)t that was close" feeling by at least giving is some message.
From my perspective there should never be a time that my wife fears that the car will not operate. I'm going to take my Camry in on Monday and demand Toyota keep it until its fixed this time. It has 55k miles on it.
Thanks for sharing your issue. You are not alone.
Last edited by wijgalt; 07-06-2013 at 05:10 PM. Reason: More info
#76
07-10-2013, 01:01 PM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
So I had the stalling happen a for about 30 minutes last week. Everything is operational again but the battery hasn't charged into the green for a long time now. I didn't pay much attention to the charge level until this had occurred. It drains fast and stays in the purple for longer than I could recall in the past. My gas mileage is much worse than when I first got the vehicle. However there are no such lights on the dash.
Did your dealer charge you to do a hybrid system check? I have a feeling my dealership can't replace anything until the dash lights are flashing.
Did your dealer charge you to do a hybrid system check? I have a feeling my dealership can't replace anything until the dash lights are flashing.
#77
07-13-2013, 05:30 AM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
Update, like before (last August to be precise) Toyota's stance is no codes, no problem. When I drove the car into service in the morning there was no rub hour traffic and the battery was t 100% or at least the top bar was filled on the battery.
Got to the service bay and showed them I could drain the hybrid battery in minutes, by just keeping the car in drive and hitting the brake. As expected it only took 7 minutes to get so low the engine had to start and stay on to keep the batteries from getting even lower.
They said "That's normal".
They have now had the car all week and when I showed up to talk to them about what they tried I found the didn't put a single mile n the car testing it!
Basically, no codes, no problem.
I'm escalating to regional but frankly my wife and I will probably dump the car and trade it in for something else.
Wish I had better news but I'm tired of being ignored that there's a serious drivability problem with the car and Toyota doesn't care enough to even put it n the road and really test it.
My first Toyota is apparently my last Toyota.
Got to the service bay and showed them I could drain the hybrid battery in minutes, by just keeping the car in drive and hitting the brake. As expected it only took 7 minutes to get so low the engine had to start and stay on to keep the batteries from getting even lower.
They said "That's normal".
They have now had the car all week and when I showed up to talk to them about what they tried I found the didn't put a single mile n the car testing it!
Basically, no codes, no problem.
I'm escalating to regional but frankly my wife and I will probably dump the car and trade it in for something else.
Wish I had better news but I'm tired of being ignored that there's a serious drivability problem with the car and Toyota doesn't care enough to even put it n the road and really test it.
My first Toyota is apparently my last Toyota.
#78
07-13-2013, 09:17 AM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
If you vehicle is still under the extended hybrid warranty they should check and address issues. While I have not tried it specifically you should not be able to sit in drive with your foot on the brake for 7 minutes and see the battery charge go from full down to purple. The ICE should almost immediately shut off. If it is hot the A/C will run as it is electric and will bring the battery charge down, but very slowly. At some point the ICE will start and bring it back up. So it seems to me something is very wrong.
Toyota have special equipment to test each individual cell in the high voltage battery pack. A starting point if the battery is suspect is to demand a full battery check, and ask to see the report from the the computer equipment that does it. The link below is to an article on HV battery problem diagnosis. It is for a Prius, but the Camry should be similar. At the end is an example of a battery test report.
HV Battery Diagnosis
Toyota have special equipment to test each individual cell in the high voltage battery pack. A starting point if the battery is suspect is to demand a full battery check, and ask to see the report from the the computer equipment that does it. The link below is to an article on HV battery problem diagnosis. It is for a Prius, but the Camry should be similar. At the end is an example of a battery test report.
HV Battery Diagnosis
#79
07-13-2013, 08:45 PM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
An independent tech with a good scanner can also check individual packs and run some fairly extensive tests as well. Most will charge $75 to $100 for an hours worth of diagnostic time but that might be money well spent when you can show the dealer what is wrong.
#80
07-14-2013, 05:03 PM
Re: 2007 Camry Hrybrid battery draining?
Update, like before (last August to be precise) Toyota's stance is no codes, no problem. When I drove the car into service in the morning there was no rub hour traffic and the battery was t 100% or at least the top bar was filled on the battery.
Got to the service bay and showed them I could drain the hybrid battery in minutes, by just keeping the car in drive and hitting the brake. As expected it only took 7 minutes to get so low the engine had to start and stay on to keep the batteries from getting even lower.
They said "That's normal".
They have now had the car all week and when I showed up to talk to them about what they tried I found the didn't put a single mile n the car testing it!
Basically, no codes, no problem.
I'm escalating to regional but frankly my wife and I will probably dump the car and trade it in for something else.
Wish I had better news but I'm tired of being ignored that there's a serious drivability problem with the car and Toyota doesn't care enough to even put it n the road and really test it.
My first Toyota is apparently my last Toyota.
Got to the service bay and showed them I could drain the hybrid battery in minutes, by just keeping the car in drive and hitting the brake. As expected it only took 7 minutes to get so low the engine had to start and stay on to keep the batteries from getting even lower.
They said "That's normal".
They have now had the car all week and when I showed up to talk to them about what they tried I found the didn't put a single mile n the car testing it!
Basically, no codes, no problem.
I'm escalating to regional but frankly my wife and I will probably dump the car and trade it in for something else.
Wish I had better news but I'm tired of being ignored that there's a serious drivability problem with the car and Toyota doesn't care enough to even put it n the road and really test it.
My first Toyota is apparently my last Toyota.
What happens if you come to a stop with fully charged battery, AC off and without turning the engine off put it in Park or Neutral? How long can the battery stay charged?
Please keep us posted.
Last edited by drini; 07-15-2013 at 06:58 AM.
