Thread: Hilux hybrid 4x4 - interesting event while off road

Had a chat with me mate the other day, interesting report.

He was off road and had to roll through some gorse and crap. It caught up underneath and popped a regen brake cable off, which damaged the 48v hybrid battery and that in turn didn't do good things to the alternator which decided to stop cooperating. 50km later, it stopped with no electricity as the 12v starting battery went flat.

He said he was able to charge the battery enough to get it to the dealer and it was repaired under warranty, but something to be aware of with these if way out back I reckon - careful what you drive over!

Kind of serves him right for buying one.
Just my opinion.

Haven't taken mine on a 4wd mission yet. They dont have alternator as such but a set up like a generator to convert 48..12 volt. I guess thats the world we live in now. I think they all are 48v models the new ones this year apart from the manual model. Too much electrics in new vehicles these days
Wonder where that cable connector. is located underneath.

Originally Posted by Quackers

Haven't taken mine on a 4wd mission yet. They dont have alternator as such but a set up like a generator to convert 48..12 volt. I guess thats the world we live in now. I think they all are 48v models the new ones this year apart from the manual model. Too much electrics in new vehicles these days
Wonder where that cable connector. is located underneath.

He seemed to think it was at one of the hubs. Not too much info as it was a warranty repair - apparently Toyota team's comms to him were that the damage from the cable getting pulled out shouldn't have happened. I'm not hugely familiar with the Hilux setup to be honest as well, so only going on the short discussion I had - but if being a little more careful about running over debris and things like gorse prevents someone else from ending up in this situation... I'm not sure what the alt/gen, battery and any other parts are worth but I would not like to be paying for that repair out of my pocket!

Yeah I hummed and hatred about it before I bought one. Tbh the interior is outdated it rides hard but tbh Im happy with it. Was so many options when looking for a new one. Had to avoid ranger 2.0l for wet belt . And got told to stay clear of dmax by a good mate. Brother surprised me one day amd bought one couple months back if id known I would have told him dont buy .sure there are most people who will never have problems
Little to say his was back at isuzu after 1 week and returned for a refund months later
I believe they on sold.it as a demo I feel sorry for the poor bastard that has probably being lied to about it before they bought it from isuzu as the 2nd owner

I doubt its a "unique" to EV thing, Ive disabled tractors both modern and old by picking up sticks etc whilst working in trash type conditions, shit happens.

Originally Posted by Tentman

I doubt its a "unique" to EV thing, Ive disabled tractors both modern and old by picking up sticks etc whilst working in trash type conditions, shit happens.

Accurate. Sums up most vechiles when bush bashing

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Originally Posted by Quackers

Yeah I hummed and hatred about it before I bought one. Tbh the interior is outdated it rides hard but tbh Im happy with it. Was so many options when looking for a new one. Had to avoid ranger 2.0l for wet belt . And got told to stay clear of dmax by a good mate. Brother surprised me one day amd bought one couple months back if id known I would have told him dont buy .sure there are most people who will never have problems
Little to say his was back at isuzu after 1 week and returned for a refund months later
I believe they on sold.it as a demo I feel sorry for the poor bastard that has probably being lied to about it before they bought it from isuzu as the 2nd owner

I had a DMax for work and ended up giving it back and driving my own vehicle

I wouldn't touch a DMax with a leper's dick

Originally Posted by 308

I had a DMax for work and ended up giving it back and driving my own vehicle

I wouldn't touch a DMax with a leper's dick

we like our, best 4wd we have had

Originally Posted by Tentman

I doubt its a "unique" to EV thing, Ive disabled tractors both modern and old by picking up sticks etc whilst working in trash type conditions, shit happens.

True - a stick through the sump etc etc. But this seemed to be a fairly innocuous sort of failure to be honest - just ripping a fairly exposed cable out taking out that many other systems and stopping the thing going forwards after 50km travelled is a biggie if you are right out the back blocks. He had no idea anything was wrong until it stopped and wouldn't start - no warning lights, nothing. Unusual.

I have a cheap plug in volt.meter that plugs into the cigarette outlet on mine. Cheap.onsurance always had one in all.my cars can see the voltage while the car is running

It seems to me that IF you're going to build a hybrid 4WD you'd make damn sure there was nothing that could get caught easily on rough stuff. I mean bashing through a bit of low lying bush isn't exactly hardcore and you'd think they'd of been aware that that kind of activity is likely...then again maybe that's indicative of the present demographic of most ute owners, most of them are polished pavement princess's and the most off road they see is parking up for the kids footy match. It just reinforces my desire to stay away from the last few generations of utes. When the time comes, the '08 Hilux I currently have, won't get replaced. I'd rather spend the money on maintaining/repairing it, even if that includes recon'ing the engine and drivetrain. It's got minimum electrical bs and it turns up everyday to do what I need it to do, no fuss, no drama.

That being said, in a ironically similar scenario, the other week I rolled over a tape, usually I'm checking the mirrors to ensure the muds haven't picked it up...this day I was distracted, got to the end of the drive and something didn't feel right, hopped out and there was a tape going from the back of the ute vanishing off round the corner, ducked underneath and the bloody mud tread had flicked the tape up and over the hub and pulled the handbrake cable down tight onto the axle....applying said handbrake! One slice of the knife sorted that out and off I went but yeah, it can happen to ANY vehicle....just the consequences are maybe less dramatic!

Originally Posted by Zedrex

It seems to me that IF you're going to build a hybrid 4WD you'd make damn sure there was nothing that could get caught easily on rough stuff. I mean bashing through a bit of low lying bush isn't exactly hardcore and you'd think they'd of been aware that that kind of activity is likely...then again maybe that's indicative of the present demographic of most ute owners, most of them are polished pavement princess's and the most off road they see is parking up for the kids footy match. It just reinforces my desire to stay away from the last few generations of utes. When the time comes, the '08 Hilux I currently have, won't get replaced. I'd rather spend the money on maintaining/repairing it, even if that includes recon'ing the engine and drivetrain. It's got minimum electrical bs and it turns up everyday to do what I need it to do, no fuss, no drama.

That being said, in a ironically similar scenario, the other week I rolled over a tape, usually I'm checking the mirrors to ensure the muds haven't picked it up...this day I was distracted, got to the end of the drive and something didn't feel right, hopped out and there was a tape going from the back of the ute vanishing off round the corner, ducked underneath and the bloody mud tread had flicked the tape up and over the hub and pulled the handbrake cable down tight onto the axle....applying said handbrake! One slice of the knife sorted that out and off I went but yeah, it can happen to ANY vehicle....just the consequences are maybe less dramatic!

There in is the problem that Tentman is aluding to...if you haven't run over manuka or gorse bushes etc in any sort of 4wd its irrelevant if its a ev connection or brake line it will ruin your day and some us have seen it plenty and some have " heard" about it.
It doesn't matter if its full on bush truck with full belly plates or a pavement basher it happens.

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If your going to charging (planed or otherwise) through, gorse, brush, cutover where there is a a chance of a stick, stump, rock that your not going to see belting the underside, bash plates covering the vulnerable bits might be worth considering.


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Originally Posted by 308

I had a DMax for work and ended up giving it back and driving my own vehicle

I wouldn't touch a DMax with a leper's dick

I’d love to know what issues people have had with the D Max as I currently own a 2025 model. It has 150,000 km and 6 year wty so should be good. Had no issues at all with the two former Isuzu vehicles, but bailed from 2017 Hilux due to harsh ride and expensive servicing.