Hi all,

I recently purchased my hybrid and drove it straight to the dealer for much needed tranny work.
It ended up being at the dealership for a month getting a used transmission put in (they first told me a reman was available...this is the only reason why I bought the tuck to begin with)
Prior to the dealership, auto stop would stay on till 40 kmph (25 mph) which I understand is less than it should be, but I thought it was because it sat for a good bit before I bought it and needed a charge.
Now, after the dealership, its in auto stop until 20 kmph (12 mph).
Dealer says they cant do anything about this except install a new battery at $9000 +. After being lied to about the transmission I said no thanks.
I've driven it in manual mode now for two days and there have been no improvements.
All local shops said they are unable to check condition or recharge the battery. This includes the stealership.

Looking around the net I came across a few options;

Venice Hybrid tech.
https://www.venicehybridtech.com/
He sells a grid charger that I can wire up with the battery in the truck and recharge as needed.
Seems odd but its the cheapest "remedy" by far at $430 US shipped to my door.

Global Hybrid Batteries
https://www.globalhybridbatteries.ca...-tahoe-hybrid/
The only shop in Western Canada that sells and installs reman units.
$2200 cdn ($1630 usd) for 1 year warranty
$3450 cdn ($2600 usd) for 3 year warranty

Green Bean Batteries
$2644 USD + shipping (not installed) for "life time" warranty

Out of the above options what should I go with? Anyone tried the Venice grid charger with success?

 

what mph you can get up to in electric mode isn't a great indication of how the hybrid is doing. I believe the true max is 28mph down a hill off throttle zero load before it cranks the engine. so you need to very very light throttle, most speedo's are off a few mph anyways.

down a few threads is the proper way to test the battery. you need a obd2 scanner and log the 20 cell voltages under a load. how well they hold up their voltage will tell you.

what's the back story, mileage and stuff? age of the battery? how's it driving. jerk or buck when cranking the engine?

most people seem to use green bean. as I understand it they take used prius cells, run them thru a few referb cycles, it brings the capacity back up some and balances them. the prius takes care of its cells pretty well, where ours are hurt by 80k they got 200k. so there's life in them, our heavy trucks over use them and under cool them. there's no referb for our packs. they are damaged by the time they show signs of being weak.

there's also aftermarket cells if you're a diy guy that can swap the cells yourself. lots of debate if they are good or not. not much real world testing on either side. I went that route with the lithium ones and so far so good, but only been about a year or so. can't say how they will be in say 5 to 10 years till I get there.

 

https://electricvehicleforums.com/fo...results-31736/


read, follow, do. post results, confirm battery toast. replace with green bean is the common sequence.



sucks you're tranny went out. do you mind telling us what happened? or what the symptoms the tranny was showing as it was failing. besides being a hybrid and saving some gas, the big upside to these trucks is usually the trannys last 2 to 3 times as long as the 6 speeds in the normal trucks. those things lunch themselves every 100k unless you know how to replace certain parts with upgraded ones. but most just put gm remains in them at $6k a pop every 100k miles. so a 3k battery isn't so bad when you look at it that way.

the down side being there's zero technical support for these trucks, no one knows how to troubleshoot and only replace what's broken. countless number of threads of guys with simple worn out hybrid battery taking it to a dealer, getting the run around. ending up with bills more than they are worth and junking them. it's a shame really

 

The Venice charger is:

1) poorly made. The guy is a total hack.
2) 100% guaranteed that it won't fix your battery, nor will any other grid charger product.

Concerning #2, these cars damage their cells. This isn't a case of a battery deteriorating over time, miles and seasons. It's a matter of the vehicle abusing the battery and damaging it. It must be replaced.

If Global Hybrid is going to be around for the next three years, that's the option I'd go with. You'd go bankrupt paying for shipping to and from Greenbean every year.

However, until your car throws a battery related code, I would not replace it.