I see some here in the forms are worried about the traction batteries longevity. I own a '07 TCH. The local toyota technician told me not to worry about the battery. It's made up of small AA size batteries but they area square. Seven volts to each rectangular module that plugs in. If one ever goes bad they simply replace it with a new one. I'm not sure how they determine which is low or bad. Could be led indicator lights on the weak module.

The tech told me they were two high mileage Prius cars in our town of 40,000. One had over 200,000 and the traction battery had never been touched. The other was over 300,000 and did have to have two battery modules replaced.

 

HAHAHA - You believed that 66,000 Double-A Batteries story? Shame!

There are pictures in here of a Traction battery cut open (from a wreck) - NO AAs in there!

My '07 Touring already has 40,000 in 18 months - and I'm wondering about a Valve adjustment on the Gas engine - anyone done that?

BeechSportBill

 

My goof. The Camry's traction battery contains 34 modules with 6 cells per module. That's 204 nickle-metal hydride cells (1.2 volts per cell) that make up the 224.8 dc volts.

I was trying to say each of the 6 cells in each plug in module is similar in ma to the AA hydride batteries we see in the stores.

I mention AA and it's easy to visualize a standard size battery that fits into the tab and spring mount.

 

rburt07 — The individual cells in both the current Prius and Camry hybrid modules use cells of 6.5 Ah (ampere-hour) capacity. A rechargeable NiMH 'AA' cell has a capacity around one-third of this. These are thus much larger cells.

Stan

 

A valve adjustment on a current gen. Prius is not really an owner doable service. You will be changing valve shims, and will need a good selection.

Usually the Toyota techs. listen to the engine. If it idles rough or is noisy they do the valves. If not they leave them alone. Lower RPM bucket follower engines don't really need valve service for quite awhile.

 

A quick and cheap out on the valves, is to flip the shims over somewhere around 175,000 miles. I did this on a VW diesel Rabbit I owned for many years. It also got great gas mileage, but later the vibration and engine noise go to me. I hear diesels are not like that any more. I like the hybrid method best.

 

I had a look and your right. The 6.5 Ah or 6500 mah battery is almost exactly between the nickle hydride, C and D cell size in ma.

I had read in 2006 about the traction battery using a special battery made up of a cell that was similar to the AA cells. Evidently they were referring to the traction batteries in that size for simplicity. I wish they had used the 9000 mah instead. Later and heavier may be why they used the 6.5 Ah.