aceswild

Pat that's a complete no-brainer, €50 is very good. 15kms is a bit low though, I'd love to see the terms and conditions on it but it sounds great.

They're exactly the symptoms that I had originally, losing power, blower on etc. Sounds to me like you had an overheat on the Battery. I would try a simple reset first as this may clear it (i.e. try to clear the alarms using a OBDII code reader - available for about €30 on ebay), other than that, it sounds like it's strip down time again my friend. If nothing shows upon the strip down you could be looking at a problem with the HV converter (that's the part where the air duct enters the the silver box unit suspended below the HV battery). Hope this helps.

Can't see a part number on mine (the golf clubs in the way isn't helping though), I'd imagine that it would be a fairly standard lead available from any good motor factors.

It is indeed Sherlock Holmes ;)

8 hours ago, carnut1980 said:

Lovely

Where does this small silver strip go?

It looks like it fell off the hybrid lead input to the HV battery

That is some sort of shield that sits behind the HV (orange cables) on the protruding bolt shown just to the right of it in your pic.

Those voltages should be fine once you've cleaned up everything.

Carnut, The last cell I put in was about 7.5 too. I didn't bother charging it and it made no difference. 

Toffee pie, they are all individual Battery units i.e. the silver rectangular unit shown in the initial post, each unit has 6 * 1.3v cells, sealed in within. There are 40 of these Battery units linked in series in the HV Battery.

Halfords or Maplins do a slow 12v charger for about €15 - or whatever that equates to in sterling

Yes, that cell is the same

7.48v is fine, they just probably haven't been charged in a while.

Hi Carnut

Thanks for that. My engine didn't run with the HV Battery out. The boot however will open with the key.

There are a good few things that will give you a "check hybrid" alarm, have you any codes for your problem? 

That sounds pretty much the same as mine. I have hardly turned mine off this winter as they don't ever get too hot.

Mine wouldn't start with HV Battery out.

Hi all. I have a 2007 gs450h.

When on the move, there is a noise from the rear, gets louder with speed. It sounds a little like a blowing exhaust, though it just passed an MOT, and the noise doesnt get louder with the windows down.

I think it could be the fan/fans attached to the HV battery. As if the blades were hitting something at speed.

Is there a way of revving the engine so that i can have a good listen?

I can't put someone in the drivers seat, because at stationary in neutral, the engine doesnt 'rev'.

I could sit in the back while someone else drives, but its still not going to guarantee that any noise i hear will be the HV battery fan.

The noise is very annoying. Please help!

I had the exact same thing. It turned out to actually be the exhaust. It has a weakness at the y-junction at the rear where the pipe splits to the 2 rear boxes. It's pretty hard to see it. I welded mine and it's back to being quiet again. Hope this helps.

Just wanted to post a big thank you from across the water. I got the Check Hybrid system at 107,000 miles and dealer wanted $7,500 to replace the traction battery. But after checking around a few other resources and this thread decided to give it a go. Ordered 3 cells from Belarus just to be sure I had extra parts. Took me an hour to remove the traction battery. All of my cells tested at 7.3 - 7.6v though and I didn't have to replace any individual cells. But my copper bus bars were quite corroded. Was quick work with a rotary tool with sandpaper attachment to polish them up and have it reassembled. If it helps anyone though, I used a small power drill to remove and replace the nuts on the bus bars...bad idea. I didn't think it had much torque, but it sheared one of the battery posts off. Doing it by hand it much was more reliable. Another dumb move was in reassembling the unit I forgot that the service disconnect had to be inserted and slid all the way over...dumb. On the other hand, I can now reliably disassemble and reassemble the unit in less than an hour each way. An hour to check and clean the battery and voila. No more error codes. I posted a copy of my bus bar before and after cleaning, it seems this is also a common problem, and not just bad cells.

You're very welcome, interesting that it was just the copper bars giving you trouble, glad it all worked out for you.

Further help needed. Took your advice and after I bought 2 batteries from Belarus (eBay) I stripped the Hybrid pack following your step by step guide. Now I've check every cell and they all show in region of 7.9-8.0 Volts. There is only one with 7.6, so the drop is only 0.3, not like you had 2.0. Where else can the problem be?

Thanks

Sounds as if your Battery was fine, did you have any fault codes before you started? It could be the converter or the likes, it's quite a complex system. I recommend having a dealer run a diagnostic on it to point you in the right direction.

best post ever. There should be 'like' button somewhere :)

Thanks, I've it down to a fine art now, 2 hour job.

06 reg 155000 mileage. I guess it sounds about right time for the battery pack to fail. Just spoke to Richard from Northampton (guy who restores batteries and gives 12 months warranty) and he is pretty confident the battery pack is gone :(

Have you seen my step by step post on hybrid cell replacement? its usually just a cell that needs replacing as opposed to the entire Battery. I got out of it for under €50.

I've checked the forum and previous posts and it seems that it was discussed before, but desperately need help or sensible garage as I don't want to get ripped off by Lexus dealers

Hybrid System fault just appeared on the screen. Done some investigation:

When I drive around the battery charges up

When stationary the battery drops to low 2 but engine does not ignite.

Then if I go D and drive engine starts and it drives OK (no limp mode, still pulls like a train)

Could it be battery current/voltage sensor? where to start?

Is there anybody in South East London, Kent, Essex who could help diagnosing the fault?

(chose to believe that Lexus is still the best car)

Thanks

Hi Extream

What are you driving, year, mileage, model? Voltage sensors for the hybrid are attached to the cells themselves. Have you any fault codes?

hi

have a read here about prius cells compatibility:

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/102648-lexus-gs450h-2006-re-hydrating-hybrid-battery-cells/

Thanks Mark, that confirms my suspicions. It's great knowing that there will be a ready supply of cells in the coming years.

are these 18650 batteries connected up in series? very good tear down and fix btw.

I can't see a part number on the individual cells, but yes they are connected in series. Negative to positive on alternating sides. There is only one bolt hole underneath each cell securing it to the frame/chassis. These alternate every cell, i.e. bolted on the RHS for the 1st cell, LHS for the second and so on, making it impossible to reverse the polarity if you bolt every cell to the frame/chassis as you go.

I have seen since that the Prius cells from 2006 onwards certainly "look" very similar to the GS450H cells so they might be a more ready supply of replacement cells. The older Prius cells will not fit I reckon.

Nice one Mark must meet for a coffee some day in Cork, that battery issue turned me off a 450 but I am thinking about one now..

Thanks Malachy, mine is a 2007 so I pay a bit more on the road tax over the gs300, but I save it on the fuel economy hands down.

There is great value to be had on the 450h if you keep your eyes peeled. Getting up to 2008 and beyond is a bit of a price jump though, the 07's are around €7k, the 08's are closer to €15k.

You have no reason to fear the hybrid Battery anymore, and the extra horsepower is quite noticeable.

Interesting thread. Do Lexus Ireland guarantee the battery at all? I ask as I was discussing the 450h with Lexus last week and I was told that if you have an annual battery check (around £50 iirc) they will guarantee the battery until the car is eleven years old

Lexus Ireland give a 3 year 100,000km on new cars. I think I remember the extended program in Ireland being around €1,600p.a. for the GS450H when I stumbled across it. I went searching for it again there and had no luck finding it. Lexus.ie is a pretty crap site, designed mainly for car sales.

£50 a year would be a great deal though if you could get it, I must explore it more.

Great job and great post Mark, knowledge really is power..

Thanks for demystifying the whole shebang. Whether doing the job diy, or getting it done elsewhere, your how to will be a real help to 450h owners...

A couple of questions:

Would you advise other cautions on protection from electric shock over and above guidance about steering clear of cells 1 and 40?

Is the replacement cell you sourced a Toyota/Lexus part, or another supplier?

And last one, did the car warning lamps/messages reset automatically with the cell replaced?

Thanks again for posting this. Not a job for the fainthearted I'm sure but priceless knowledge

M

Just spotted the question about the warning lights, I had a reader that I bought for about €30 on eBay that I was using, as soon as I had everything connected back up, I used that to reset the faults.

excellent post!

this does restore my faith in the gs450h to some extent - as someone said above knowledge really is power.

does one cell failing mean you will likely see the problem return in the future?

ps at what mileage did you have this problem

Thanks

My mileage is 106,000 miles.

I guess it's too early to tell if the other cells are headed the same way. Some Prius cells are knocking about for over 15 years. I bought 2 more cells from Belarus just in case, that I will trickle charge every now and then going forward. Hopefully I won't need them. As you can see from the original post there was very little variance on the voltage of the good cells.

GS450H just deserves to be driven as it is a fantastic machine.