Dorman. You can usually deal face to face with NAPA or another auto parts store, and they have to hassle with shipment, etc. You just have to do the install. Install is easy.

 

They ship to Napa or Pep Boys?

 

You order it through a major chain, and it ships to them.

 

So you don't use Dorman? Are the new toyotas lithium ion or NMH? I think I read you said they have better warranties now too.

 

No.

NiMH - changing battery chemistry is a nightmare and not at all cost effective for the manufacturer. LiPo requires 12X the battery management of NiMH.

3 years on Toyota, but you should reasonably expect performance similar to the original. 4 year failure rate on Toyota packs is about 1 in 333.

 

I just had mine read, error code p3024, bank 14 had a low reading. Now what? Can I take her apart and replace bank 14 and be on my way? I'm sure it's a dumb question but the dealer wants my left kidney to replace the battery and oh, by the way, there's a TSB for cleaning the cooling battery that you'd get if your car was under 100k miles...

 

Yes. No. Maybe.

There are 34 modules in the Camry pack. You have no idea of their state or balance levels. You could certainly replace it, but you will likely be doing it every few months as they continue to drop off. You'll eventually tire of removing and disassembling the 120# pack. I'm not kidding when I say it's a ***** to get apart. The 07-11

The first time will probably take you 6 hours. You'll get it down to 3-4 hours by the 3rd or 4th one.

Here's the analogy. You KNOW you have a bad tire. However, all you can check of the other three is size and tire pressure (voltage). You can't see how much tread is left on them. How long will they last when one of their brethren has already failed?

You have no idea.

I assume you mean cleaning the cooling fan?

 

You're right, I meant the cooling fan being cleaned. It's a TSB that would be performed had the car not been a 07 and have 13x,000 on the clock. I wonder if the 'dirty' cooling fan, which is running on the Camry, could precipitate a failure or is the result of a computer read/sensed failure.

I do like your analogy of the tires, it makes sense. If I could disassemble my laptop battery/cellphone battery/whatever type battery and replace only ONE bad cell within the battery pack, I agree, it's not worth the effort-especially in the case of basically taking the back of the car apart and for a novice like me, risking a potentially fatal shock to then zip it all back together-6 hours or so later-only to find 3 months later the same **** thing has happened in another block. I guess I'm just 'lucky" that I'm one in 333 to fail in a car that was maintained by the book, literally, from new by one fastidious owner.
Keith, thanks for your advice and knowledge. I'm in the Burbs of Chi-town and far from your shop, bummer

 

In retrospect, 1 in 333 is for Prius, and that's for 4 years, not 9 and no mileage data. I don't have official stats on the Camry, but they're worse based on my experience. The newer ones are even worse. 2012 w/124K miles... completely destroyed its battery. Owners were out of warranty, but Toyota quietly covered it.

You wouldn't like bringing it to me, either. I'd just offer you a new Toyota battery. Granted, it would be about $1K cheaper than the dealer, but still an arm and half a leg.

Too lazy to scroll up to see if I've said it... Dorman and Greentec both make reconditions. You can order a Dorman through your local auto parts store.

 

I wonder if installing one of those Hybrid Automotive battery systems you sell would take care of the problem? My guess is that the answer in my case would be "no".

The independent used car lot owner I purchased the TCH from told me that the battery issue that I was unaware of until I had my Toyota dealership pull-up the full vehicle history and saw the hybrid battery was bad and needed replacement was due to "the battery's cable was crystallized and he had a shop clean it for 600 bucks or something. Perhaps the guy who was not from America used the wrong term for rusty? Who knows but he turned out to be a scumbag (big surprise and MY BAD dealing with him) so I wouldn't phone him. Side note, it took the Secretary of State's police stepping in to get my title and plates.