Did I kill my main battery ??? !!!

Ok, a few months ago I posted about my SOC swinging around after initial startups. Some responded that this was a sign of impending battery failure but all seemed well as it still got 60+ mpg hypermiling and the swings were only at initial startup. These swings were between SOC 80 and about 30 SOC (very occasionally it would swing briefly down to single digits on the scan gauge) but it would always normalize in the first 5 minutes and then was pretty steady. Now I have a totally different situation:
Got back from a month of vacation and started the car up. When the ICE started it made a horrific noise sounding like it had no oil in the top grinding and jerking. Just as I was reaching to kill it, it started to pump oil and smooth out. Ouch! Ok, now it was running smoothly so I took it for a drive. All was well for about 2-3 minutes until the red triangle came on with "VSC", "Check engine" and an exclamation point. The main display said "problem and had a little red Prius with and exclamation through it. Hmmm. I reset the power button a few times to no avail. I had loaned out my scan gauge so I couldn't investigate further. Instead I went ahead and drove the car on 3-4 30 minute trips in the next few days and noticed it would have a FULL GREEN battery almost the whole time. Not good. Any braking would max it out right away. Today I got my scan gauge back and hooked it up.... 2 codes, P0A80 and P3017 (It also showed P0000 briefly). With the car running and the ICE idling, I cleared the codes the engine smoothed out immediately, all the warning lights cleared and the ICE shut down. Ah, normal again......or so I thought. I happily drove a few miles and all appeared normal. No warnings, ICE turns off, I can hyper mile again, etc. Coming home I noticed the Green Battery was still prevalent. SOC on the Scan Guage showing 100!!! Never seen that before. Basically it fluctuates wildly now between 38 and 100 and of course the ICE starts and stops very frequently when the charge drops to ~38. When it gets above 80 the ICE doesn't start as it normally would to dissipate the charge. At first I thought the scan gauge would clear the stray "trons" and save me a trip to the dealer. Now I think the dealer may have bad news about the main battery instead. I love my Prius but this is a bummer!!! Any ideas on if I damaged the battery driving in the weird state before I cleared the codes. Thanks (BTW when I damaged the 12v battery a few months ago the dealer replaced it and said he had checked the main battery and that it was ok)

 

You guys are right. I really haven't used the car that much since I discovered the issue so it seems weird that I could damage it so rapidly. I have only had the car for 8 months and it has had some subtle SOC issues as previously described. I hope that the previous owner didn't do anything stressful like multiple drives after running out of gas or something similar. Clearing the codes with the scan gauge helped as it did immediately bring back normal operation - the idle smoothed out and the ICE started to shut off normally, but the battery is still seeming weird.
Anyway, its going straight to the dealer on Tuesday for a thorough checkup and wont be driven until then. I thought about driving it for a few hours like Dan mentioned to charge everything thoroughly, but instead I will bring it in for the checkup first in case a relay, a short or something can be corrected - to make sure i don't cause any unnecessary damage. Ill keep you posted in a few days. I always hoped my NIMH battery would last long enough to replace with a LiIon, maybe convert to a plug in, but researching these shows they're like $10k. Too much for now. Hopefully I wont need to get another Nimh.

 

BTW, I looked up those codes I mentioned in the original post. The say "Replace Hybrid HV Battery" or something close to that. Not a good sign, although they haven't reappeared in the 2-3 miles I drove since resetting the codes. Lets see....

 

Not really sure what package I have, touring or what. Basically it has everything except the navigation package and bluetooth phone. I have 70k on the car so if I have to replace main batt I think I can some proration. tomorrow I will update when I go to the dealer.

 

Dealer was able to pull up the codes. Changing main battery! So far they are doing the right thing and covering it under warranty. Im very impressed by their service and straightforward decision. They need 3 weeks to get and change the part. I will post again with final results, but keep you fingers crossed that all is covered by warranty.

 

Here's what happened I just got the car back after 2-1/2 months for battery to arrive by ship and get installed. Dealer covered the cost under warranty thank goodness! By covering this under warranty they built a LOT of goodwill and I will probably buy my next Prius from them. They did a great job with no hassles. They determined that the old battery had corrosion on some terminals and at least one bad cell. Living in Guam definitely contributes to corrosion and I will inspect this from now on regularly.

The car runs much better now. It never gets out of the blue range. Before it frequently showed red and green. SOC now is almost always between 52-58, even hypermiling and on big downhills. On initial startup the battery hardly decreases at all as I drive in the first minute. Before, it would go down to about 40 SOC driving in the first minute. Also, long down-hills used to overcharge it to 70-80 SOC pretty fast. Now it has much more battery capacity all around. Mileage is way up. It seems to be getting about 4-5 MPG better and I'm at 56 MPG with only mild hypermiling. I'm eager to try for a max hypermile to beat my old 65 MPG record. I bet I can now get a 70 MPG tank with just my 15 mile commute and no short trips - no A/C. I'm Happy to have my Prius back and better after 3 months. Hoping for no more major problems!!!

 

Interesting. Its about 92 degrees here. Of course the car sits in the sun and gets much hotter when not in use, but when Im driving around with the windows open its around 90. Do you think 90 degrees can contribute to battery failure? I've only heard the battery fan run a few times and that was just before it failed. Maybe I should monitor battery compartment temp with the Scanguage. Thanks for the input.

 

Patrick, you were right about me having a package #9 without nav, and also about the dealer covering the battery replacement. Thanks