The revival of the $300 Prius

I brought home a 2004 Toyota Prius with about 259,000 miles on it. I handed over the princely sum of $300.
You don't get much for $300 nowadays, but I'm hoping I don't get more than I bargained for.
So what does a $300 Prius look like?
Well the paint is it pretty poor shape, as pretty much all of the older ones are, there's a couple of dents and dings. It has new replacement headlights, new tires, the typical Prius rear hatch water leak, which I've already fixed, some mildew and the stench of a wet dog. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, a dashboard displaying a big red triangle.

There will be some affiliated Amazon links when describing what I used for repairs etc.
Living in the PNW, the first thing that had to be done was to fix the leaks that appear at the rear end of the roof gutters, under the trim. To do so, I cleaned it out thoroughly with soap and water and then a toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol. If you inspect closely there is panel sealant that runs down from the roof line to about below where the hatch struts are bolted in. That's what dries and with the hatch opening and closing umpteen times, cracks. So I cleaned thoroughly all the way down to the struts. I then applied this https://amzn.to/2NSjkz5 "flowable windshield silicon" so that it really gets into the cracks and seals it up. The cracks look small but let in a surprising amount of water. In my other Prius the trunk was almost full of water.

If you haven't yet downloaded Hybrid Automotive app for your phone or tabet, you should. It's been an indispensable tool in the repair and monitoring of my other Prius. Paired up with this bluetooth dongle https://amzn.to/2sZuU4e, it enables you to gather lots of helpful data.

Tomorrow a new harness arrives from Hybrid Automotive, as soon as I get it installed I'll start the Prolong battery reconditioning. I have 1 cell that's not playing nice and thought I'd take a long shot and see if I can avoid having to rebuild the battery. It probably won't work but I'll never know if I don't try.

Progress to follow......

 

The Hybrid Automotive, HA, harness arrived today. So I wired it up, cleaned out the fan with a dry toothbrush and a small can of compress air.
Then on the charger it goes.

Starting at about 15:00, 1.25.2020 with 227 volts
I just checked it at 18:00 and it has 242 volts.

If it gets to 244v before bedtime, about 10.30, I'll pop it on the discharger for an overnight shift.

 

Oh yeah, I left the car in pieces, just in case the reconditioning doesn't work and I have to remove the battery for module replacement. And I've just spent the last couple of hours shampooing and scrubbing anything soft that I removed. Hours and hours more of that to do. Stinky dog and a few patches of mildew will be the end of my back.

 

Is it not the discharging that brings the weaker cells back to life?

 

Poor little fella. All the doors and windows are closed so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

That would put it at 476v, that doesn't sound right me ole boy.