Dreaded P0A80 Code - Car Running / Charging Good.

I can see this conversation happening if we were talking theology and you belonged to one of the denominations believing the Bible is completely inerrant in every word.

But the Repair Manual is a book we know was written by mortals, and edited and translated by mortals, and does have rare, occasional mistakes.

So if you were a theologian and you noticed two things in the Book didn't seem to make sense together, yes, you would have to bend over backward and say the only possible explanations must somehow fit "to the T" with both parts 'cause you can't allow there could have been a mistake.

But the Repair Manual doesn't require that treatment. It has very few mistakes (really amazingly few, given its sheer size and the complexity of translating technical info from Japanese to English). But I've found a few over the years, and others have too, and Toyota does have a process in place for accepting reports of errata and fixing them in the online version. I know they do that 'cause they've accepted at least one from me.

So, first off, if you haven't checked yet what the current, online version says at that spot, there's a very good chance that what we're still going on about is something that may have been clarified or fixed years ago. (I had a permanent P0102 for, like, a year, that I couldn't clear because I was looking at a 2010 Repair Manual edition that had straight-up left a step out of the confirmation pattern. Found the missing step in the updated online version—well, really, Elektroingenieur found it for me—and good to go.)

And, second, for times when you don't want to check for later corrections online, but you see something in the Repair Manual that looks like it might be a goof, it's ok to think it might be a goof. You don't have to limit yourself only to possible explanations that preserve the inerrancy of the Repair Manual. It's allowed to ask questions like "if this was a goof, what did they probably mean?".

 

I never had a problem with the hybrid battery in my 2011 Prius, so there was never a need to clear a permanent P0A80 code.

One thing you seem to be missing in your written description of the Universal Trip Driving Pattern. It needs to be 10 minutes or more in total time, not just the 5 minutes or more driving above 25 MPH.

I trust the Autell AP200 to read all the trouble codes on a Gen 2 or 3 Prius, so if you do a complete scan and find no codes, then it is ready to get the smog inspection done. I do not care if any of the other scanners that you own show a permanent code.

 

From website, (US Ship)Autel MaxiAP AP200 Bluetooth OBD2 Scanner Auto Car Check Engine Light Code Reader for Family DIYers – AutelShop.us

Functions:
1. ....
2. ....
3. COMPLETE OBD2 FUNCTIONS:

1. Read extensive current, pending and permanent codes in OBD system quickly
.....

You wrote in post #68:

 

I know there are denominations confessions groups of Christian-identifying people who hold the position you hold there, and other groups of Christian-identifying people who do not, and saying which ones are right is above my pay grade. For the purpose of this thread it doesn't matter, because the key on-topic point of my post is that no such treatment is merited by the Toyota Repair Manual. That's a book we know can have mistakes.

So if you come at Repair Manual interpretation using the same approach you have to use when treating a different book as inerrant, you can miss possible simpler answers to puzzling bits.

 

Just drive it. However you normally drive. Eventually it will go away.
If the issue that threw the code is repaired, according to Toyota.

It will take a few cycles for the mileage to equal out.
Just use the same station, and the same pump each time. Fill up the same way each time.
That way you can get the most accurate readings.

I believe you said you disconnected the 12v battery, so it resets everything.
The computers learn how you drive, and the accuracy of the guestamite will get closer
to the real thing. The best way is to reset one of the trip meters when you fill the tank.
drive to about half a tank, fill up and write down the mileage. Then divide the mileage by
the number of gallons.

Enjoy the car!