Hey guys, so I bought a Camry hybrid at 406k km 2yrs ago and it’s the top trim with tons of great features. The car was in absolute mint condition and literally never gave me any problems. It’s now sitting at 472k km. Very recently, the car popped up codes on the dash relating to replacing the hybrid battery, as well as a VSC code. My car would not turn on the engine after this. It would still go onto accessory mode, but nothing more. So I bought a hybrid battery from a local reputable store for $1200 and installed it according to specs, I went to go and turn the car on but realized that the 12V had died due to the car being parked for over a week while I arranged for a new hybrid battery. So I boosted the car off of a known good battery, and the car immediately came to life, and the codes briefly flashed. But all disappeared within 2 seconds. And the engine also turned on. SUCCESS!!! or so I thought, I noticed the rear view mirror, and there was a puff of white smoke coming from my trunk, so I immediately shut the car off as I was afraid the battery would catch fire. Then I ran back to see what caused the smoking. (For context, the hybrid battery and 12V battery are both back there, and the 12V was being boosted at this time.) I couldn’t figure out what caused the smoking, I rechecked the hybrid battery connections, and they were done correctly, and didn’t seem to have been burned. Next I checked the 12V, it looked perfectly normal. Nothing appeared burned. I was very hesitant to try again as I know very little about vehicle electronics, however I hooked the booster cables back up and tried again. Since then, the car has not been able to show any signs of life, won’t even come into accessory mode. No lights turn on, and nothing happens when I try to start the car.
I towed it to a shop, and they’re now saying that some fuses were blown, and that replacing those has the car showing signs of life. But my 12V battery is dead, and the hybrid battery is internally shorted, as well as the orange cable that goes from the battery to the inverter in the front of the vehicle is corroded and needs to be replaced.
Does anyone have any insight on what this cable is called, and how much it costs. As well as, is it reasonable for me to replace that cable on my own? I know there a lot of labour involved as a lot of components of the car have to be removed, but that would make it an extremely expensive repair, and if it’s not super complicated, I can just do it on my days off.
Thanks in advance for any help. Means a lot.
