Cause
Seized battery air flow valve
The valve or flap directing cooling air through a traction battery pack, seized so airflow cannot be controlled. Air-cooled packs draw cabin air through ducting, and the valve manages how much and when — so a seizure leaves the pack either permanently cooled or not cooled at all.
Stuck closed is the damaging direction. The pack heats under load or fast charging, and the module protects it by limiting power, restricting charging, or shutting the system down — so the complaint is a hybrid or electric vehicle that loses performance when worked, recovering after a rest. Reduced power that follows heat rather than distance is the pattern.
Stuck open costs efficiency and comfort rather than the pack, drawing conditioned cabin air continuously and cooling a pack that would rather be warm in winter. Check the intake as well as the valve — these draw through a grille in the rear seat or parcel shelf which blocks with dust, pet hair and luggage, and a blocked intake produces the same over-temperature codes with a perfectly free valve. Both are checked by looking, which is worth doing before anything is dismantled.
Typically a moderate job.
Codes this can cause (3)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
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