Hi,

TCH with 210,000 miles intermittently fails, loss of power, pull to side of road. Turn car off, wait a minute then push button, car restarts and operates normally. It has happened a few times over the last month but happened 3 time yesterday. is there a simple answer to this question or can it be 1000 different possibilities?

 

Error lights or codes?

 

Car still had electrical. Gauge dropped into e mode area but power was nonexistent. Turned it off then on and all was good. That’s it?

Heres a similar post in which the ba is defective. Anyone had this repair completed and not had any further issues?

Engine Shut Off Without Warning problem of the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid 2

Failure Date: 03/09/2012
My '07 Camry Hybrid(ch) has started to experience brake failure while driving. The first documented incident: 03/09/12. W/o warning, the ch will shut down and the "check vsc" light appears on the dash. All of the dash lights light up as well. When this happened, there were no brakes, no warning, etc. When I put the car in "park", turned off the vehicle and restarted it, I was able to resume driving. I took it to dealer to have the car diagnosed. The diagnosis: nothing wrong with the car, brakes, etc(inv. #227594). Over the past 9 months, it has occurred a few more times, usually when the vehicle is pulling out of the garage. When it happens,I turn off the vehicle, restart and go on. On 10/30/12 while my wife was driving 35mph, the car shut down, the "check vsc" light came on and the brakes completely failed. She caught a left turn signal and coasted into a parking lot. Obviously this was horrifying for her and our kids. I called aaa and had the car towed to Toyota. My service advisor(sa) told me they have begun to see this happening a lot and he predicted the abs brake actuator (ba) failed. I told him about the incident in March, which he acknowledged knowing of. 2 hours later he called to confirm that it was the ba. We spoke about it being a defective part, he agreed and would call and speak to Toyota national(TN)to see if they could help out with the $2200 repair. The next day he told me that TN wouldn't help, and neither would the dealership. My online research discovered many ch have had this problem. I discussed with the sa that if the part is defective and they are seeing more and more of this, what guarantee is there a new ba wouldn't react the same way. He couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't. I declined to have the repair done, aaa towed vehicle to my home. The sa seemed certain that a recall was coming. The car is garaged, I have the repair est/document.

 

BA failures almost always involve a code and show other symptoms. They fail frequently on the Prius (saw one today), and the symptom you describe doesn't occur. I would be surprised if that's what it is.

IMHO, get a code reader and see if you have any codes BEFORE you turn the turn the car off to restart it the next time it happens.

HISTORICAL codes should also be retained even if a restart is normal and would show on a Bosch code reader at O'Reilly.

 

P3011 code returned:

P3011 Description

If there is an abnormal internal resistance or electromotive voltage in the hybrid battery blocks, the hybrid battery Electronic Control Unit (ECU) determines that a malfunction has occurred. When the malfunction detection condition is satisfied, the battery ECU illuminates the MIL and sets a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC).

i have replaced 8 hybrid battery cells to date but was having a lot of trouble with the studs on the ends breaking off so I did not crank them down. This probably the cause of the excess resistance. I’ll correct this. I have the protective gloves etc.

no codes related to spontaneous shut down of car.

 

The only way you have problems with the studs breaking off is if you're hamfisting it and don't give a crap about doing it right. 48 in-lb on the terminal nuts. Period. Don't have a in-lb torque wrench? .

I wouldn't be surprised if you left a nut off. I've seen it half a dozen times before with DIY efforts.

Since you're playing whack-a-mole with this car, you really should disclose that when presenting a performance/maintenance issue. You're just putting band-aids on it and clearly having major workmanship issues. Since it's not likely that you're doing any meaningful testing on replacement modules, there's also a good chance that the module(s) you've put in aren't meaningfully better than the ones you're replacing. If you actually want to replace modules with high quality ones that you KNOW are good and have a 1 year warranty, Hybrid Automotive sells fully reconditioned modules with a one year warranty. I've personally tested them on my equipment and would expect none of them to ever fail within their 1 year warranty period.

Problem is they charge a fair price for them. Most people don't want to pay $50 for a fully tested module when you can pick them up for $25-30 "fully tested" by someone putting a voltmeter on them and saying they hold X.XX volts like that has any significant meaning. It's the difference between someone dong 30 seconds of work and charging $30 vs. someone putting several hours into testing a whole pack and wanting to charge a fair price for their time.

Even so, I'm not convinced you've found your issue. P30XX (weak block) codes are persistent, so you'd see them the next time you check codes. Good luck.

 

Keith, is hybrid automotive still good?

I am in situation where i got 07 camry hybrid. I was told 2 cells are bad. lights are on to replace. car goes to e mode stalls and dies till i turn off and car back on then drives normal with lights, car has 117,000 miles, so frustrating. this car stalls dies in e mode, hybrid battery is at 50% discharge, am i wasting money to replace 2 cells or better to sell? if u can call ne 970 702 4020, i need advice, especially anyone.