Mine only has about 41,000 and I grabbed it last November when it had about 34,000 on it. I am not 100% that it's behaving "differently" but someone else I know who has the same exact car as me says she NEVER gets this stuff happening. And I'm thinking it's happening more than usual.


What it's doing is struggling to get to EV mode, or make those transitions when it should. It seems like if I drive it for about 10 minutes, it wants me to stop for about 5 seconds with NO DEFROSTERS, AC, HEAT, ETC. settings on at all, and if this can happen it'll switch to EV mode and be a little faster. Sometimes it still won't do it even if I do this, and there are a lot of times it will actually switch to EV mode when I'm coasting for a long time before I get to a stop, but it ultimately still won't let me do that 5 second rule I just mentioned before it gets back to keeping the ICE engaged anyways, and this is really starting to **** me off.


This can't be normal? Or, maybe some TCH have this problem and others don't? I'd like to think the Hybrid battery or Synergy Drive etc. aren't having issues when the car only has 41,000 miles on it, even if it is about 8 years old, but I can definitely tell you it has been really well maintained by myself and its original owner.


Any thoughts? Much appreciated.

 

I absolutely, positively would not rule out the battery. The worst thing for these cars is to sit for extended periods of time. The worst batteries I have seen in terms of gross imbalance and failure of multiple modules has been the lowest mileage ones.

Furthermore, I would avoid EV mode altogether. It is a consumer driven novelty that has little to no actual economy benefit and likely reduces overall efficiency and decreases battery life. Just drive it conservatively.

 

Well, I've thought about all that, and from what I can tell it didn't really do a lot of "sitting" but the previous owner was presumably a bit older than me and didn't have to drive long distances very often. His mileage, though small, was evenly spaced over the entire lifetime of the car before it got to me. Maybe there's not much of a difference either way.

Are you saying I should prepare for battery failure? I'm doing my best to be prepared either way, but I'm not exactly rich, and can't afford for this car to be having this issue any time soon. If it happens 3-5 years from now I'll probably be able to deal with it though. Not sure how...

I do somewhat prefer to engage the ICE and hybrid system together, where it generally stays at 40-60 MPG while I'm coasting. I know EV mode will only deplete battery life faster. I agree the benefit of EV mode is counter-intuitively minor because if you use that battery it will have to be recharged. Cruise control however will use EV mode and there are many situations where I'll have to be stopped and engage EV mode.

Thank you for your input, and hopefully your continued input.

 

Marik,

It sounds like your car is just fine.

The Toyota Hybrid system is multi stage and dependent on primarily the engine temperature, though I suspect, there may be a requirement for a certain minimum temp of the exhaust system as well.

This is all identified in the new user FAQ by Heraldo (one of the sticky posts)

The minimum temp requirements for the different stages is:

Stage 2: 50C
Stage 3: 60C
Stage 4: 70C

 

I definitely agree it's fine because I've had it inspected by multiple sources and inspected it myself with my own knowledgeable sources. Well, you might be hitting on something with the exhaust theory - I had a mechanic I previously trusted, but have been questioning lately, and here's why. I took it to him for a check engine light that was going off and on once in a while, and seemingly coinciding with gas fillups, and then when they inspected it and did a smoke test they said the vapor canister was not operating properly. However, I figured out how to get the gas cap tight enough by simply starting to turn when the caution symbol is pointing straight up, 12 oclock. And I've never had a check engine light since then, so I'm not really sure what to make of that.

However, it is a bit surprising that it can be difficult to get this car to shut down the ICE sometimes. Also, I seem to remember differently, but lately when I start accelerating it goes all the way up to the 10MPG OR LESS marker on the gauge, and that seems remarkably...low. I'm not exactly flooring it or anything like that, in fact it's just barely past the point of engaging the ICE....sometimes it will go almost to the zero. I'm not a speed racer, as most people still slam the gas harder than me and I'm keeping things fairly light to moderate.

 

I can't tell you the number of times I've heard people say, "I had my battery checked," or "I was just at the dealer, and they said the battery was fine" days, weeks or a few months before their battery fails.


The process of actually measuring a battery's state of health requires block voltage response and current data.


Have you connected this car to Techstream or other diagnostics capable of RECORDING drive data to include SoC, current and the 17 block voltages as well as Min/Max values and temps?


If the answer isn't "yes", nothing you have done has provided any real diagnostic value to indicate health of the battery.


Again, I'm not saying you have a pending battery failure, but I am saying that unless you've done the above, you have ZERO indication of the battery state of health. Poor performance and decreased mileage very commonly precede almost every battery failure, but there can be multiple causes for those symptoms.


I frequently record my Prius drives with Torque Pro for android and the Gen2 extended PIDs that allow me to record the key parameters above. From that drive data or other deliberate tests, I can calculate the exact state of heath of my pack.


I don't know if those data are available for the Camry Hybrid. If so, I vigorously recommend you pursue it. For about $20 total for the adapter and Torque Pro, you'll have the ability to collect valuable diagnostic data provided you discover that someone has already decoded the extended PID for the Camry.

 

Always tighten the gas cap until it starts to ratchet (click). A loose cap can trigger a CEL which sticks around for a few starts.

 

1. I am not sure what the problem is
2. System ability to switch to EV mode only is based on a large amount of variables. Large. And we know none of them.
3. I say there is not really anything wrong with it and it may be more of unreasonable expectation than real issue.

 

Interesting. The issue is that the car will not switch off the ICE at times, and as I'm to understand, this is one of the first steps to transitioning to more desirable stages?

Of note, earlier today I was driving to get my wife and since the ICE never shut off, I stayed there when she got in for a second to try to get it to do it. To my surprise, I ended up waiting to see how long it was going to take - I shut off all temperature controls and the music - and it still would not do it. But it did start shutting off the ICE as I was driving it. This was weird and something I saw for the first time today. It NEVER stayed engaged with my foot on the brake. I even tried placing the transmission in Park and it still didn't shut the ICE off. Oh well.

 

Marik, until the engine and (more importantly) the catalytic converter get up to temp, the engine will not shutoff. At that point, it takes a 6 to 10 second stop in gear for the engine to shutdown. After that point, it will go into EV at any speed under 40mph. Once at temp but before a long stop, the car will go into EV mode between 35 and 40 mph under a light load (coasting or downhill)