'05 Prius with Triangle of Death!

Hi! So, I just bought a '05 Prius that has some issues. First off, it has a "refurbished" battery pack from Falcon Hybrid that was put in about a month ago. Previous owner says it drove fine for about 2 weeks then gave the dreaded P0A80 code. Owner used it for a business and decided not to work on it. So, I got a good deal - or so I hoped. Probably not the wisest choice.

Anway, Falcon told him that before they would warranty it, he needed to run a procedure that would force charge the new battery pack. This involves disconnecting the aux. battery to clear the code, then starting it, putting it in drive, holding down the brake so it won't move and pushing the gas down about 30-50%. Do this for 3-5 minutes until either the battery is charged or the ICE turns off. Once either of those conditions happen, turn it off and don't drive it for at least 12 hours. Do this over 3 days.

I have now tried their procedure and am fairly certain that at least one module in the HV battery is bad. Using Torque Pro, I have one module that is consistently lower than the rest when not charging and goes higher than the rest when charging. All modules are around 17 volts when not charging except "Block 5", which is around 15.5. The HV SOC says it is about 30% and the Delta SOC ~.9. The only code I get is the P0A80, no codes for specific modules/states.

So, my question is, would it be worth it to pay to ship the battery back to Falcon if they will honor the warranty or better to buy a module to replace the bad one and replace it myself? Also, how can I test the rest of the pack under load to see if any others need to be replaced? I have a BAFX bluetooth OBDII reader and Torque Pro. Not much else yet. Can I load test it with only those things? If so, what is the procedure?

Thanks for any help!

 

I am going to contact Falcon tomorrow to find out whether they will honor the warranty and how much it would be to ship it back to them. Going by another thread on this site, I am expecting it to be around $290.

I am learning how to use Torque Pro to give me the information I need. Here are two screenshots, one after my previous attempt to force charge the battery (where blocks are around 16.6) and tonight (where blocks are around 17.1).

Interestingly, the low one also seems to be gaining voltage, so is it possible it just needs to be charged and balanced with the rest of the pack or is it bad since it is below 16.x?

Also, is there any other information I need to get from Torque Pro that would make diagnosis easier? I checked the resistance of the blocks and according to TP, all are the same and are very low (around 0.18 if I remember correctly).

Thanks for any help/info you can offer!

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the cash right now to put in a new Toyota pack.

I have been doing a lot of reading and watching videos. I'm not afraid of removing the battery and changing out modules myself. I did plan on doing work on the car when I got it, just not necessarily the battery. However, I don't have a way to recondition it myself.

I did find out that autobeyours (which was mentioned in another thread as a good Prius shop) is about 30 miles north of me. Their website says they will rebuild the battery and replace any bad modules for $750. I may just get an appointment there and have them give the car a good going over as well as a battery rebuild.

In the meantime, if I decided to go the route of replacing the bad modules myself, are there any recommended places to get them?