Art's Automotive wants to maintain and repair your hybrid!

This is Honest Tea's Ford Hybrid Escape. One of our very good customers brought it in for us to check out while he was picking up his personal car. He uses this Escape to travel back and forth from LA to the Bay Area with the back filled with cases of tea in glass bottles. Despite the weight, he says the Escape has no trouble with the very steep mountain climb at Grapevine, CA. The Escape is similar to the Prius in design, but we won't be repairing them. Subscribing to information services like TechInfo, ServiceExpress, and Alldata costs money, and since the Escape would be the only Ford we'd consider working on, the extra monthly investment is unlikely to pay off for us. If these start selling like hotcakes, maybe we'll change our mind.

The Aluminum Cow. Well, I guess there's no real danger of anyone bringing this in for repair, since there's only one. It's a light aluminum car with a diesel engine and a manual transmission. The motor/generator is on the transmission side, unlike the Civic and Insight, which have the motor on the engine side. This is a better idea, in my opionion, because regen braking can be captured without dragging the gas engine along. I also makes an electric only mode possible.

The Peugeot Citroen hybrid. Another diesel hybrid with the MG on the transmission side. Looks like it's a long way off from being a production car, and I didn't see any mention of the diesel engine being CA emissions legal. Maybe we'll see something like this in another 10 years or so.

Art's Automotive would like to be the Bay Area's #1 independent source for hybrid repair and maintenance.
Why should you trust us with your hybrid? If I were looking for a shop to service my hybrid, my biggest concern would be the mechanic's ability to maintain, diagnose, and repair my hybrid competently. At Art's Automotive we've gone out of our way to make sure we have the tools, training, parts, and experience necessary to do the job right. Hybrids have been on the road for many years now, and not only have we been servicing them, but we have also been jumping into heavy duty diagnosis and major repairs, the type of stuff most independents are shying away from. We won't take your money for routine service, then shoo you off to the dealer as soon as you have a problem. Body shop sublets and poorly repaired salvaged vehicles have given us early exposure to some real "head scratchers", the type of diagnosis normally reserved for the top level dealership techs. We've also done some major hybrid repairs, often underbidding the jobs just to gain the experience. Not many independents have replaced an HV transaxle or an MG2 or EPS rack on a Prius. Even fewer have rebuilt a CVT, resealed an ICE, or diagnosed a bad battery control module on an Insight. We have been seeking out the toughest hybrid challenges early, so when we start to see problems with the "normal wear & tear" crowd, we'll be ready. If you bring your hybrid to us, you can rest assured that it will get maintenance done correctly with the proper parts and specialty fluids, not only to maintain the warranty, but also to keep it running long into the future. You can also feel confident that we will be able to diagnose and repair your hybrid when it breaks. Why not just take your hybrid to the dealer? Aren't they experts? Most of the dealerships will provide very competent hybrid service. However, we believe we can equal their level of expertise, and charge substantially less money for the same services and repairs. Our labor rate is $92 per hour, many dealerships in our area have a labor rate of $150. You may need to forgo the dealer's waiting room with the leather couches and big screen TV, and the handy shuttle to Bart. However, with the money you save on service, you should be able to rent a car for a day and still have money left over to save up for your own big screen TV. Why we originally thought we didn't want to work on hybrids and what changed our mind When the hybrids first came out, most of the technical information we heard came from a guy who knew a guy, who supposedly knew about hybrids. We heard many reasons for not buying a hybrid; stories of electrocutions, $7000 battery packs that would only last a few years, people stranded on the road unable to get a tow because a special hazmat endorsement was required to tow a hybrid, toxic battery packs that negated any benefit to the environment gained by the improved fuel economy, horrible burns caused by battery acid spray after an accident. And we could also imagine many reasons not to work on hybrids, chief among them, inability to get information and inability to get special tools. These were the reasons we originally had for wanting to avoid the hybrids. As it turns out, none of the rumors were true. All of the information available to the dealers is available to the independent mechanic at reasonable cost. This coupled with the number of our customers who went out and bought hybrids makes us regret the fact we didn't tell our customers we could be their full service hybrid shop sooner. If you are one of the many customers we told we would only be doing basic hybrid service in 2000, please disregard our earlier statement. We have invested heavily in training, information, and tooling and we want to be your full service hybrid mechanic. Hybrid tooling vs. hybrid knowledge The biggest obstacle to repairing hybrids is not purchase of special tools and equipment. Most tools necessary to do most hybrid repairs are already in a well equipped mechanic's tool box. Big rubber insulating gloves are required for safety when disengaging the battery pack and testing for power prior to repairs, but other than that, there are very few hybrid specific tools that will be required on a regular basis. The biggest obstacle is knowledge. It's very hard to diagnose a system you don't understand. It's also easy to do damage to yourself or the car with improper repair techniques. That being said, most of the skills, methods, and systems in a hybrid car are already familiar to a skilled mechanic. Electric motor / generator theory is well understood by a good "gas" mechanic. Computer control is certainly nothing new. Internal combustion engines are still found on the hybrids. In fact most of the familiar automotive systems -- brakes, steering, suspension, drivetrain, engine management, heating and air conditioning, are still on the hybrid and still operate in much the same way as they do on any modern car. There is a relatively small amount of training needed to make a good gas car mechanic into a good hybrid mechanic. I think it's similar to when a computer programmer learns a new language: he already knows how to program, he just needs learn the differences in the new language. Both Honda and Toyota have excellent subscription based websites with all of the information we need to understand and diagnose their cars. We were recently (09/06) profiled in the national automotive industry magazine "Parts & People". Click the link below to read the article. Leading hybrid repair shop stays on cutting edge technically and environmentally If the link above goes dead, click below for a locally stored copy of the article Leading hybrid repair shop stays on cutting edge technically and environmentally
The Hybrids We Repair
The Insight (2000-2006) This is the car Art drives. It was the first hybrid to market in the US. The Insight gets the best mileage of any of the hybrids owing to it's aerodynamic body shape and very light aluminum frame. If you want the insight, you'll have to be willing to trade some space for the better gas mileage. The Insight is a two seater with very limited trunk space, so it's not ideal for a family, but it's a very good choice for singles or couples. The insight come with a 5 speed manual or a Continuously Variable automatic Transmission (CVT), similar to the unit found in the 1996 - 2000 Civic HX. What can go wrong: We get quite a few complaints of the auto stop not working, but nothing is really wrong with the car most of the time. Click here if your Auto Stop has stopped working We have had quite a few complaints of shuddering when taking off from a stop on Insights with CVT transmissions. This is usually caused by the start clutch, not because it's bad, but because the transmission fluid is degraded or the wrong type. The Insight must use the Genuine Honda CVT fluid. For a while, this was unavailable and Honda said to use ATF-Z1, but that turned out to be a bad idea. CVT fluid is now available again, and if your CVT develops a shudder, it can almost always be fixed with total CVT fluid replacement. (I'd call it a flush, but Honda recommends against using flushing machines :) We've had one CVT with a failed intermediate plate bearing, which spun in the case, and loosed metal throughout the transmission, destroying the differential, intermediate plate, pump two sections of case, start clutch, and most of the bearings. Very bad news indeed. Honda does not currently have a reman program for the Insight CVT. They also do not sell a new unit. This leaves repair or used as the only options. We recommend a transmission fluid drain and fill at least every 15,000 miles. The electronic EGR valves fail sometimes and cause surging when driving at light throttle. They're easy enough to fix, and not very expensive. The engines sometimes leak oil from the timing chain tensioner O-ring, and we had one leak from the timing cover / head gasket joint. There is a battery pack warranty extension and a campaign to replace two control units to prevent premature battery pack failure. These repairs are done with no charge to the owner if it applies to your vehicle and the mileage is under 150K. Overall, the Insight has proven to be an extremely reliable car! Too bad they stopped making them in 2006.
The Prius 1st generation (2001-2003) This was the second hybrid in the US market. When we saw it at the 2000 auto show, it was obvious that Toyota was rushing to get it out: the show car had the steering wheel on the right side and headlight and grill that had been broken and put back together with a glue gun. This car is very roomy, has adequate power, gets great mileage, and has brilliantly simple transmission that is only made possible on a hybrid car. Unfortunately, we are starting to see some with wear and tear mechanical failures, but most first generation Priuses will make it to 100,000 miles before anything breaks, which is a whole lot better than whole lot of other cars. What can go wrong: There was a recall on the battery bus bar. Toyota did a very good job of getting the word out, and I've never come across a first generation Prius that has not had the recall done. Some of the first generation Priuses had a recall on the EPS rack (electronic power steering rack). There was also a campaign on the EPS control unit. Most of these racks have already been done by dealers, but we've done two here that we not covered. You do need a factory scanner to do this job (or even to do an alignment) because there is a zero point adjustment that must be done after steering repair or adjustment. We have now repaired/replaced 3 out-of-warranty HV transaxles. This is the part with the two motor / generators, MG1 & MG2. This is one of those things that works the hybrid naysayers into a frenzy. "See! I told you they were gonna break and be expensive to repair!", they say. There is no denying that it's expensive, but then again, anyone who owns a Subaru with a 2.5 DOHC motor knows that sometimes really expensive stuff breaks, and the Subaru is a conventional car, that gets less than 1/2 the MPG and cost the same as the Prius when it was new, and is worth far less than the Prius now that they've deprecated. So there! Sometimes the gas motor does not start when cold once the car gets to 100,000 miles or so. This causes the Master Warning Indicator (the exclamation point) to come on. There is an updated ECM that may correct this problem on some cars. Sometimes the electronic throttle body gets stuck and the MWI will come on. It usually will start to work again after a key cycle (turn off, then turn on). I've been told by a very good Toyota tech that cleaning the throttle body will not help (based on his own experience with a whole lot of Priuses). Hobbit (of Prius hacking and lighting systems internet fame) is convinced cleaning will cure the problem. We've seen one first generation Prius with this problem so far, and we replaced the throttle body. The gas pedal position sensors reportedly go bad often. We've actually never seen a first generation Prius with this problem. Were they all fixed under warranty? I don't know.
The Prius 2nd generation (2004-2005, 2006-2007) This in my opinion is the most best hybrid so far. It doesn't beat the Insight in miles per gallon, but it has a lot more room and a lot of really cool technology. Until Toyota (or whoever) comes out with a diesel, all aluminum & plastic, plug-in version, this generation of Prius will likely continue to dominate the market. It used to be you'd have trouble finding your car in a parking lot if you bought an Accord or Camry. Now you are more likely to need your alarm remote to find out which Prius belongs to you. (well, in Berkeley at least). So far, this generation of Prius has been pretty break-down free. Most problems we've seen have been due to previous accidents or errors while servicing. What can go wrong: So far, this generation of Prius has been very reliable. Most of them are still under 60,000 miles (as of 07/07). We've registered Smart Keys, replaced tires, done alignments, and a bunch of servicing. However repairs have been limited to dead 12 volt aux batteries and crash related problems, such as unplugged coolant pumps, kinked thermos hoses, and an leaking coolant fitting on an MG2. There is a recall for a software update to prevent the car from shutting down if the driver foolishly presses the power button while driving on the freeway. (It's actually not that hard to do while reaching for the stereo). Funny, Toyota never came out and said the "stalling" was caused by driver's pressing the power button, but I've tested this theory by first pressing the power while driving, and observing the "stall". Then trying the same thing on the same Prius after the recall was done, and observing the power would not shut off until the car was stationary. Instead of saying "driver error" Toyota made a nebulous comment about program logic to allowing a the vehicle to enter a fail safe mode. They're taking the high road I guess. There is a recall on the lower steering shaft on the 2004-2006 Prius. The 2nd generation Prius, unlike the first generation Prius, has the electric assist motor on the steering column rather than the rack. This means the full torque of the driver's input plus the motor assist, is going through the tiny little shaft and u-joints. Over the years we've had quite a few customers with non-EPS steering stubbornly refuse to fix their power steering when it breaks, opting instead the muscle their steering wheel when parking. This can lead to the same sort of problem, a broken steering column and no steering control. If you own an affected car, be sure to have this recall performed! When it comes time to replace your tires (about 30K miles for most people) we have a better option for you. The tires for this generation are not low rolling resistance / high load tires. The Goodyear tires that come with the 2004-2007 Prius are "Standard Load" and have load rating of 86. We stock two tires in this size that have a higher load rating , which should improve fuel economy a bit. One of the tires is the Toyo Proxes TPT (400AA, 88). The TPT is a good performance touring tire, but the Prius isn't a performance car, so it's not the best match for the car in my opinion. We also stock the MasterCraft Sensys 01 (620AB, 88). This is a long wearing tire with a nice ride, and so far, I think it's the best match for the Prius. On the 2007 Prius, be sure to warn your tire installer about the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) sensor. It must be removed and pushed into the tire before breaking the bead or it may be damaged. We had a customer who said a dealer had charged him $700 to install & register a new TPMS sensor after it was broken at a tire shop. ($700 seems a bit high, so there may be more to the story. We'd charge $207 in the worse case scenario for one TPMS sensor). When the recommended air pressure of 35 PSI is used for the second generation Prius with the stock tires, the tend to wear on the outer edges. We recommend running 36 - 40 PSI, which will improve tire life and fuel economy, but does make the ride a little rougher.
The Civic Hybrid (2003-2005) This Civic looks just like a regular Civic, except for the light weight aluminum wheels, pillar antenna, and hybrid placard on the back. It's not as light or as aerodynamic as the Insight so it has a larger gas motor and a more powerful electric motor to compensate for the added weight and drag. However, it may not compensate enough for some drivers. When compared to the Insight, the Civic is obviously less zippy. The Civic weighs about 30% more than the Insight, but only has 14% more power to compensate, causing one of our former Honda techs to dub it "a slug". But hey, not everyone wants or needs zip. Some just want to save some gas in a normal sized car. Because the Hybrid Civic uses a larger gas motor and the resultant increased compression braking interferes with the regenerative braking, Honda uses their VTEC technology to close the valves on deceleration. This allows the gas motor to spin freely and the electric motor / generator to slow the car and charge the battery on decel. What can go wrong: The hybrid Civics with CVTs share the Insight's troubles with start clutch judder due to degraded or wrong type transmission fluid. We've also seen EGR valve problems with the Civic hybrids. Overall, the 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid is very reliable.
The Civic Hybrid (2006-?) This is a very slick looking car. The 2006 Civic has 26 more horsepower than the 2005 Civic and it's only 143 lbs. heavier. That's power to weight increase of 25%! It's mid 2007 now, and we have 15 customers with this generation Civic hybrid compared to 160 Prius customers. They just aren't selling that well. The Prius, with the same "old" body style from 2004, is clobbering the new Civic hybrid. It could be the that the Prius did better on the EPA mileage test, or it could be that the Prius is heavily advertised and I've never seen an ad for the Civic hybrid. Either way, Honda had better step it up soon if they don't want to go back to making piston rings for Toyota. OK, an extreme overstatement. Just trying to motivate Honda. It's just not fun watching my two favorite rival automakers compete when one winning by such a wide margin. What can go wrong: Nothing so far. There was a recall to reroute a DC to DC converter cable, but that's about it. They are all still low mileage and under warranty. The 2006 - 2007 Civic hybrid is able to capture more energy during regen braking than the 2003-2005 Civic owing to two improvements. One is the addition of a Prius style "fake brake". The Civic is no longer just doing regenerative deceleration (as I like to call it), it's doing real regen braking, more like the Prius. The other improvement to regen braking is that the VTEC system closes all of the valves, rather than just valves for 3 cylinders like the 2003-2005. This decreases the amount of braking energy absorbed by the engine and allows it to be captured for charging the battery.
The Accord V6 Hybrid The 2005-2007 Honda Accord V6 Hybrid. It's not the swoopy Insight pictured in the breezeway above, but the rather regular looking sedan blocking the driveway. If you are one of the people who thought the power on the first generation Civic hybrid was too low, this is the car for you. The brakes are very responsive and the suspension is taut. It actually has more power than the regular V6 Accord and get better gas mileage as well. This is a great sleeper car for old folks like me who miss their teenage muscle car days, but don't want admit to a middle age crisis and buy a Corvette. It also less likely to offend your left leaning friends since Honda is estimating 37 MPG highway and 29 MPG around town. However, most of these are getting more like 22 - 26 MPG combined in the real world.
The Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV The Toyota Highlander Hybrid came out in 2006. Our Zep chemical rep had been on the waiting list long before the car was released and was one of the very first people to drive the new Highlander. He brought it by with about 1,000 miles on it so we could check it out. It wasn't ready for any sort of service yet, but we racked it just to poke around and see what's under the hood. The hybrid set up looks very similar to the Prius, but there seems to be an additional (3rd) electric motor in the rear differential. The power is much better than average, with a lot of low end grunt. Max reports a real mileage of 29 MPG, which ain't bad for a car this size and this powerful.
The Hybrids We Don't Repair
This is Honest Tea's Ford Hybrid Escape. One of our very good customers brought it in for us to check out while he was picking up his personal car. He uses this Escape to travel back and forth from LA to the Bay Area with the back filled with cases of tea in glass bottles. Despite the weight, he says the Escape has no trouble with the very steep mountain climb at Grapevine, CA. The Escape is similar to the Prius in design, but we won't be repairing them. Subscribing to information services like TechInfo, ServiceExpress, and Alldata costs money, and since the Escape would be the only Ford we'd consider working on, the extra monthly investment is unlikely to pay off for us. If these start selling like hotcakes, maybe we'll change our mind. The Aluminum Cow. Well, I guess there's no real danger of anyone bringing this in for repair, since there's only one. It's a light aluminum car with a diesel engine and a manual transmission. The motor/generator is on the transmission side, unlike the Civic and Insight, which have the motor on the engine side. This is a better idea, in my opionion, because regen braking can be captured without dragging the gas engine along. I also makes an electric only mode possible. The Peugeot Citroen hybrid. Another diesel hybrid with the MG on the transmission side. Looks like it's a long way off from being a production car, and I didn't see any mention of the diesel engine being CA emissions legal. Maybe we'll see something like this in another 10 years or so.
Some Neat Technologies Found in Hybrid Vehicles
The coolant thermos! You'll find this in the 2004-2007 Prius. It is exactly what it sounds like; a insulated container that holds coolant and keeps it warm just like thermos you'd put coffee in. Why would you want to keep your engine coolant warm you ask? A warm engine operates much more efficiently than a cold engine. When the engine is warm the pistons have expanded to their operating size, the piston to cylinder wall clearance is optimal and blow by (think wasted power sneaking past the piston) is reduced. A warm engine will also use less fuel because fuel atomizes (mists) better in warmer temperatures. Only atomized can be burned by the engine. The more of the fuel that atomizes, the less fuel is required. Auto makers have been trying to get there engines to warm up quicker for years. They've prevented the transmission from going into overdrive until the engine is warm to keep the RPM up for a faster warm up, reduced the coolant volume, ... The thermos is by far is the best idea yet. You're likely to see this idea creeping into standard gas cars in the future. The cost to add a thermos must be pretty low and the improvement in fuel economy and emission will be great.
The fake brake! When you step on your brake pedal in a conventional system, you're pushing a piston that is pushing fluid out of a cylinder (think bicycle pump), through brake lines, to a hydraulic caliper that squeezes stationary brake pads against a rotor that spins along with the wheel. When you step on the brake in a Prius, your still pushing fluid with a piston, but instead of going to the calipers, the fluid goes to a "dead end" chamber with a piston that pushes on one or two springs. The only purpose of the chamber is to provide a pedal feel for the driver. When the brake is pressed with moderate pressure, the piston is only touches the softer of the 2 springs, providing a little give in the brake pedal. This simulates line and caliper flex normally felt on a conventional system. When brake pedal is pressed harder, the piston comes in contact with the second, stiffer, spring, providing a harder brake pedal, simulating the feel of a conventional brake system once the "slack" has been removed. The real braking work is controlled by a brake control computer, which monitors the brake pedal position with two redundant sensors. The brake computer then uses the electric motor / generator MG2 to slow the car and charge the battery or applies pressure to the calipers using pressure stored in the ABS accumulator. If there were a serious brake control problem, two solenoids open, by-passing the dead end chamber and computer control, allowing the brake system to function just like a conventional system.
Fly by wire! Well, not exactly... When airplanes first abandoned lever and cable control of their rudders and such in favor of sensor and servo control, they called it "flying by wire", referring to the electrical wires connecting the sensors and servos. The hybrids have abandoned the physical cable connection between the gas pedal and the throttle valve in favor of a gas pedal position sensor and throttle valve control servo. The computer needs to be able to control the internal combustion engine's output, so your direct input is no longer required. Instead the computer observes how far down you press the gas pedal and then decides how best to provide the acceleration you've requested through the electric motor, the internal combustion engine, or a combination of both.
The single planetary transmission! Anyone who has ever rebuilt a traditional automatic transmission will tell you, there are a LOT of moving parts to wear and fail. The transmission on the Prius has only one planetary gear set consisting of one sun gear, one ring gear, 4 planetary gears mounted to a carrier and a couple shaft bearings. That sentence accounts for all the moving parts if you don't count the integral differential and drive chain. Mentioning all of the parts in a conventional automatic would take me pages instead of a sentence. I would guess that is has less than a quarter of the wearing part of a conventional automatic. It's too early to tell how long these transmissions will last before needing repair, but it seems logical that the likelihood of failure goes down with decrease of parts that have the potential to fail. The power flow through the transmission is very simple compared to other automatic transmissions, but still requires putting on your thinking cap to understand it. Graham Davies has done a much better job of explaining how the single planetary transmission works than I ever could, so if you are interested in the specifics, click here to check out his site.
Electronic assisted steering Most cars provide the driver with some form assistance when turning the wheels. Usually, this is done with a hydraulic assist system. A hydraulic pump is spun by with a rubber belt connected to the engine's crankshaft pulley to build hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic pressure is directed to push the steering rack gear to the left or the right depending on which way you turn the wheel. There are two problems with this system. 1) the pump is putting a load on the engine whenever the engine is running and burning up gas whether you need help steering at that moment or not. And 2) the pump is not spinning when the engine is not spinning, which is a problem for hybrid vehicles, since the engine shuts off at idle. EPS (electronic power steering) is made easier to implement on hybrid vehicles because there is plenty of electrical power available.
Modified VTEC for Honda Hybrids! Honda has used their VTEC system to modify valve timing for peak power and efficiency at different engine RPMs for years. Now they are using their VTEC system for a different purpose: reducing engine drag during deceleration so more energy can be captured with the electric motor/generator (AKA "MG") to charge the battery pack. Honda, unlike Toyota, has the MG bolted directly to the crankshaft, so any time the gas engine is spinning, the MG is is also spinning and vice versa. This creates a problem when trying recapture energy on deceleration. What Honda wants to do is spin the MG with the wheels as the car is slowing, but since the the engine is attached to the MG, some of the energy will be used up by the gas engine's "compression braking". Honda's hybrid VTEC system solves this problem by keeping the intake and exhaust valves closed, preventing the engine from wasting energy by pumping air.
NiMH batteries! NiMH batteries are great! We have been using them to power most battery powered devices in our shop for years. We haven't had one fail yet despite poor charging practices, dropping them on the ground, and generally abusing them. Currently, all hybrids are using NiMH battery pack. The batteries should last a long time because the hybrid's computer maintains the battery pack in a way that will provide maximum service life. The battery pack is never charged over 80% of full charge and charging does not begin until 40% of full charge. The hybrid's computer also monitors the battery pack's temperature and will shut off the electric motor assist if the battery pack begins to overheat. Batteries can be rated by their energy to weight ratio, which is a very important metric if you are hauling your battery around with you. This type of rating is expressed as watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). The higher the number in the Wh/kg rating, the more power the battery has per pound. Lead acid batteries (like the one you will find in a conventional car) have a Wh/kg rating of 30 Wh/kg. Ni-Cad batteries (the older style rechargeables that turned a lot of people off to rechargeable batteries) have a rating of 60 Wh/kg. NiMH batteries have a Wh/kg rating of 70 Wh/kg and have a much longer service life. Lithium-ion batteries have double the Wh/kg rating of NiMH at 140 Wh/kg, and are found in some full electric vehicles. I don't know why they aren't used in hybrids, perhaps the occasional news item about exploding laptops or cell phones has something to do with it, maybe they just don't last long enough, or maybe they are hard to recycle or dispose of. If you know, drop me a line; I'm curious. NiMH batteries can be recycled, much like the lead acid batteries are now, so they do not pose the disposal danger that some have claimed. In fact, the regular single use Alkaline batteries that everyone seems to be buying in bulk and throwing in the landfill pose a greater environmental risk than the long lived NiMH. For more on our battery recycling program, click here.
Hybrid Tools
Most tools needed to fix Hybrids are pretty basic, but there are a couple special tools.

Battery testers
The Prius has a glass mat auxiliary battery that lives in the trunk. Charging this battery with some conventional chargers can cause damage. We bought the official Toyota battery charger just to be on the safe side. Besides, it wasn't that expensive and it looks cool.
For testing high voltage cable and motor/generator testing a "megger" is necessary. We didn't run right out and buy one at first. We waited until we needed it. It's not an expensive tool, we mainly wanted to make sure it was something that we would use. We didn't expect that there would be many problems with the cables or electric motors. As it turns out, we were wrong.
Lineman's gloves are absolutely necessary if you are going to work on hybrids. Many mechanics may think that as long as they know what they are doing, and are careful about what they're touching, they don't need the gloves. I say that like most disasters, it will take more than one domino stacked to closely to trigger. If you don't use your gloves, AND the area around the service plug has been modified, AND you're not paying adequate attention, you may find yourself dead. So why not wear the gloves and avoid being dead?
For Honda hybrids, you'll need HDS, the Honda Diagnostic System, to access many of the control units not covered by the OBDII standard. Currently the HDS comes in 3 flavors: the Honda Interface Module (pictured to the right), a Pocket PC based scanner, or a Tablet PC based scanner. We own the HIM, which connects a laptop running HDS software to the data link connector on the car. The HDS software is updated quarterly via email.
For Toyota hybrids you'll need a Vetronix scanner with a Toyota software card or the recently released TechStream laptop based scanner. We'll be purchasing the TechStream as soon as it is available. The Vetronix scanner can access all of the available data, but the tiny low res screen requires the user to scroll through page after page. It also lacks many other features available on a laptop based system like saving files, printing, wireless connectivity, etc.. Toyota has dropped support for the Vetronix scanner as of MY 2008.
If you are working on a 2004 or newer Prius, and you are using a Vetronix scanner, you'll need the CAN adapter.
If you want to do CVT transmission work on Hondas, you'll need a start clutch installer. This is a tool that would be a real pain to make, so you will need to buy one from the dealer unless you are an accomplished machinist with quite a bit of free time.
This is also a Honda CVT tool. It is used to compress a set of clutch pack springs. A suitable replacement can be easily fabricated. The tool pictured to the right took so long to arrive, our tech Sandor had built and used his home made tool, and the car had already been delivered to the customer, by the time it finally arrived. If you are crafty, you can save your money.
This is another CVT tool. There is an embarrassing story surrounding this puller, which I'm not going to tell. I'd rather leave the world in the dark about the dumb stuff I can do. Anyway, most pullers in commercial puller sets do not have long enough feet to grab the CVT start clutch in the appropriate spot. You can easily fabricate new legs to use with a Snap-On two jaw puller if you want to save some money. The puller on the right can be purchased from Honda.
This battery tester is the exact same Midtronics tester used by Honda, just with the Interstate brand on it. Internal resistance testers like this one are ideal for testing the glass mat auxiliary batteries found in the Prius. Interstate batteries was kind enough to supply us with this tester for free as a reward for the volume of Interstate batteries we sell. There are a few other testers that will work for glass mat batteries: the Snap On "MicroVat" and the Bear ARBST (also available rebranded from MAC Tools).
There are an amazing number of excellent hybrid websites. When researching specs and such, I found lots of sites that had so much more information than I was willing (or able in many cases) to write. Many appear to have been created solely as an outlet for smart people bursting at the seams with information about their new passion -- hybrids! Rather than attempt to rewrite what has already well explained on other sites, I decided to keep our page short and provide links to some of the most impressive sites. http://prius.ecrostech.com/ This is my favorite hybrid web site so far. It's written by a very smart guy who owns a 1st generation Prius and has enough time to do some great research and testing to better understand how it works. If you are bored by the information on Toyota's web site, and think the Toyota workshop manual doesn't go into enough detail, this is the site for you. http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/#prius I love this site! There is a lot of information and a bunch of links just in case you're able to read all there is before Hobbit adds more. All sorts of exploratory hacks, including disassembling a body ECU, not sure why yet, but it sure looks fun. http://www.hybridcars.com You'll find a lot of hybrid & green minded stuff at hybridcars.com -- information for potential and current hybrid owners, hybrid model reviews & specs, discussion forums, environmental articles and news, technology explanations, and more. http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/ This site has a database stocked with mileage measurements from hybrid owners. You can register and contribute your own mileage measurements as well. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm This has all of the basic information about hybrids. You'll have to ignore the flashing banners and such, but it's a small price to pay for free info. http://www.familycar.com/Classroom/AlternativePowerSystems.htm This is an interesting site. It's an online magazine with some of the same features as our site. Anyway, I thought their hybrid article was pretty good. You can click on the home button to see the rest of their site.