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The Tangled Web of Traction Battery Repair That Tortures Me

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Barry CLEMENTS, Jan 2, 2021.

?

This dude is a...

Poll closed Jan 9, 2021.
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  1. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
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    I had a traction battery module blow out and vent into the cabin with that characteristic "electric gas" about 10 minutes after a Dr. Prius life expectancy test. Heard a loud "pop" and had a pretty good idea of what happened. In fairness, my 2006 Prius with nearly 200K was already limping a bit from multiple dying modules including the pair at position 13 where the blown module was eventually found and at position 12. So after the module eruption, the car was still able to limp home and the car was also still able to start so that I could reposition it for repair a day later.

    IMPORTANT---The car still started before I started working on it 24 hours later, even with the exploded module.

    So I replaced the bad modules with 4 deep cycled modules at 12 and 13. I did not recondition my other modules before reinstalling the traction battery. All nuts are well torqued. I should mention that all the non replaced modules measured from 7.56 to 8.04 an hour after removing it from the car about 90 minutes after the car was running. So not letting the modules fully drain was just my first mistake because when I tried to start the car a week later (after replacing the 4 modules at positions 12 & 13), I got the voltage leak code of P0ADC-226 and measured 5 modules in the suspected positions at less than 7.1. The first Dr. Prius pic below shows where those bad modules resided. I, unfortunately, did not capture the pic of my pre-repair battery status but did capture the first Dr. Prius pic shown below (which was after replacing 12 & 13). All dash lights came on, including virtually every warning light, but when shifting into gear it went only into neutral and the ICE did not start. 12v is fine.

    So I removed the battery pack and replaced 6 more modules so that none measured below 7.59V. Then tried again to start the car, and like the first 2 times, plenty of warning lights and good 12v power, but check out the second Dr. Prius pic below. Does anybody know what I did wrong here? P0ADC-226 is still the only code. I checked all connections, and yes, the orange safety plug was clamped and pushed down. What is that 2nd picture telling you, please? Does Dr. Prius have a place where these patterns are diagnosed? Frustrated. Thanks in advance for your help. And don't forget to respond to the poll.

    Here is the Dr. Prius reading before installing the 3 pairs of modules and the 2nd image is the Dr. Prius reading after reinstalling the traction battery (refreshed with 6 additional deep cycled modules) and attempting an obviously failed restart. Are the consistent 19.0 milli-ohm readings on all modules on both Dr. Prius pics telling in any way? Help, Please! Screenshot_20201209-134428_Dr Prius.jpg Screenshot_20201218-144108_Dr Prius.jpg Happy Holiday for whatever you celebrate.
     
    #1 Barry CLEMENTS, Jan 2, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2021
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Wow that last Dr. Prius Screenshot looks cool...
     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Did you check to make sure orange safety plug is all the way pushed down? Also check all the connections related to pulling the pack/modules... There's over 100 of them and that's what this problem seems like to me.

    I think you're just one loose plug or connection away from success.
     
  4. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    Don't it, though. Very symmetric and kind of an existential allegory the way it graphs out the ups and downs of life
     
    jgcannon2 likes this.
  5. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    When you say hundreds of connections, I only count 56 terminal connections. Unless there are more than one connection at each terminal that I don't understand.

    And yes to the Orange safety plug question, though I did forget it at first. Interestingly, the weird Dr. Prius graph is the same with the plug connected as when not correctly installed and fixed into place. Weirder and weirder.
     
  6. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    What are the chances the modules are installed backwards, polarity-wise? The module furthest from the ecu should have its negative terminal connected to the long orange cable. The module closest to the ecu should have its positive terminal connected to the short orange cable.

    It just seems way too symmetrical. Module order or sensing tab order. Something unusual. Can you post a photo of the wire harness side of the battery?

    Wire frame #2 not plugged into the ecu?
     
    #6 TMR-JWAP, Jan 2, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2021
  7. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    I thought the same and they are all installed correctly. It's hard to install the modules backward without being suddenly stopped as you try to connect the cooling tubing. You would be alerted to the mistake immediately. Just a bizarre reading that I am sure somebody has seen before. I know it is likely a simple fix but I don't know just what needs fixin'.
     
  8. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    If you can, remove the covers, take several photos of the harness side of the battery, top of the battery and electronics section. Post them.
    There's a lot of experience on the forum that can possibly provide guidance.
     
  9. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    Thanks TMR, I'll do that. This car never resided outside of arid California so corrosion is not an issue, but maybe the PC savants will notice something that is amiss.
     
  10. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I can't make out the voltage readings on the chart. Can you write them out for each block? Just for the chart with the + and - red lines

    Are they all actually zeros? Is the grounding strap on wire frame #2 harness connected to the stud at bottom of the ecu? Actually I think that grounding strap is part of the long neg power cable.
     
    #10 TMR-JWAP, Jan 2, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2021
  11. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    Yeah, there are no voltage readings on the 2nd chart and you can see that no voltage is being read by looking at the pack voltage...near zero. I'll recheck the grounding strap in the morning too. Thanks again.

    Also, do you know what the red bar on Block 11 means. Is that a bad block even though it has low-normal voltage?