chikoo

If you work for a dealership, do tell me which one. I know which one to avoid then. I am serious.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

i cant see a dealership repair shop doing this component repair service for you, they want to sell you parts. I can see a non dealer affiliated private shop doing this, who doesnt make money off parts

Stormwind

I'd put his work time on it between 20-50 hrs, just taking out the battery from under the car alone I would guess will take half a day then to take the battery out of it's protective casing and going throu each individual copper connectors is not something that can be easily done in a day or two. We also have to figure in trial and error time as he probably the first time working on a hybrid car battery, that alone will probably be the most time consuming work out of it all.

When you buy a new battery you do get a New battery plus your old one will still have resale value that you can get back.

Stormwind

Had it been a cool project car or a hobby then sure you can write it off as leisure. But a used boring old carmy used as a daily commute? Oh the time spent on it definitely counts toward work.

LeX2K

This is an extreme example. I don't expect the dealership to be rocket scientists capable of replacing surface mounted components. What I do expect is a fair price, not outlandish estimates choked full of items the car does not actually need.

And don't tell me this doesn't happen I have numerous documented examples.

spwolf

i wonder if it fails under 8 year / 100,000 miles warranty, will you accept them changing 0.5$ part to get it working or do you want new battery?

This goes both ways. For warranty work, it is awesome. For after-warranty, you have a choice to go to specialized hybrid shop for these kinds of repairs.

Same goes when your AT, turbo, fuel pump, starter, alternator and many other parts go... in many cases dealers will only replace parts while there is huge industry around repairing them outside the dealer network. And of course, during the warranty, you will also want everything replaced with new product.

mmarshall

Agreed, time-wise on the car itself, it's usually easier to replace. But, with replacing, comes strict EPA and other regulations on how to dispose of or recycle used or worn hybrid-system parts. That itself may cost the repair shop or dealership time and money.

LeX2K

There is a core charge for the old battery, meaning Toyota takes it and the battery is recycled.

geko29

Your estimate is way off. First off, the battery doesn't come out from under the car, it comes out from inside the trunk. I just watched a 24-minute video on the removal AND replacement of said pack, where the guy doing the work was very slow and methodical about the process, and explained everything along the way. Battery was fully disconnected and ready for removal before the 14-minute mark. I've also seen other reports of people doing this with no previous experience whatsoever, and taking a total of 45 minutes from opening the trunk to having the battery on the bench.

From there, there's a couple of covers to remove (looks like 6 bolts for the main cover), and two buss bars to take off (56 bolts total). That process should take no longer than 10 minutes. One of the articles mentioned that he spent two hours doing exhaustive tests of the pack as a whole and the individual cells, and about an hour cleaning the terminals (not including the 30+ hours of soak time, of course). How exactly are you getting to 20-50 hours?

Stormwind

Like I mentioned in my previous post it's a guest-estimate time as I have no knowledge in hybrid batteries I am also assuming the guy in the OP has not either. Just because you watched a 24 minute how to video doesn't mean you can do it in 24 minutes, the guy in the video is probably a master tech or something. The video is edited right? So that means it takes a lot longer than what it would suggest.

chikoo

My apologies. I just watched a video by Dorman Products and realized my folly. The way the OP article was written, it sounded as if he was talking about the cable contacts. Evidently he did not show or indicate that this is all under covers and requires opening up the battery itself. I'll call it out as a Design Flaw. Toyota needs to make sure that contacts are user serviceable just like they are with the regular batteries under the hood.

geko29

Edits at the beginning, none that I saw during the actual work. And as I said in my prior post, I've read reports from others who have NEVER touched one of these things before who went from closed trunk to battery sitting on the bench in under 45 minutes. I can't assume that they're all master techs.

I'm not saying I could get it out in 14 minutes, but I also don't think it'd take me a half day to pull back the carpet, remove 3 cables and 4 bolts and yank the thing out. I think I'd probably fall in the 30-40 minute range.

I8ABMR

brilliant. I am sure he will be a BIG DEAL on the Camry forums for figuring this out. Reminds me of a member in the LS forum that fixed the LS wind noise issue on his own for pennies.