Hybrid battery cooling system bad?

I bought a 2006 Prius 2 weeks ago. I'm the second owner. It has 113k miles and perfect maintenance records (dealer serviced, etc).

Two days ago, I was driving on the highway when all of the warning lights came on about 30 minutes into the 45 minute drive. It was 85 degrees outside. The car continued to drive normally with no other indicators that anything was wrong. I parked it for the night. I drove it to work the next morning and just the master warning light (red triangle with !) came on. There was also the red car icon with the ! where the navigation system is located.

I checked fluid levels and for turbulence in the coolant. Everything looked good and functioned well.
I took it to a Toyota dealer yesterday to get the code(s) read. They came back with a $1600 estimate to replace the hybrid battery ECU (computer) and the fan that cools the battery (blower assembly) because it was "fried." They told me the battery could overheat and die prematurely if I didn't have the computer and blower replaced ASAP.

I drove the car home (gently) from the dealer and the battery fan came on when I got close to home (it was hot outside). The battery fan seems like it's still working fine (turning on and off as needed). The dealer told me the fan wouldn't work, but it IS working.

What should I do? I'm planning to go to a hybrid specialist to get a better quote and opinion.

Note: The dealer pulled code P0A80. The fan looks and sounds clean from the outside. Nothing is blocking the intake vent. I put a piece of paper in front of the intake vent to see what kind of suction the fan was creating.

 

The fan doesn't seem to be dirty, but I'll try just to be sure. The car is in excellent condition for its age and is very clean. Could cleaning the fan remove the error message/code?

 

The only code is P0A80. No other codes.

 

Sounds good. Assuming I have the following three options, which would you choose? Dealers will only do option 3 from my understanding, but a hybrid specialist (non-dealer) will do 1 and 2 as well.

1. Replace the bad cells ($200-$700)
2. Replace the entire battery with a rebuilt/reconditioned battery (around $1000)
3. Replace the entire battery with a new battery (could be $4000ish?)

I have 113k miles on the Prius now, and would like get another 100k or so from a repaired/replaced battery. It seems like the battery is failing too soon, but then again the car has lived its entire life in San Antonio, TX, where the temperature is 80-100 degrees for most of the year.

 

Thanks for the help! One more question: Can driving with a bad (or going bad) hybrid battery harm any of the computers or other components?

 

Update: I talked with the service manager at the Toyota dealership. They put the wrong diagnosis code on the report they sent me. It should have been P0A82 instead of P0A80. Code P0A82 does indicates here is a problem with the cooling system. The dealership agreed to clean the fan at no extra cost (since I already paid their diagnostic fee). When they took it apart, they the discovered the hybrid battery had been replaced by a Dorman battery (is that a good brand?). Whoever installed the replacement battery did a poor job because the fan vents weren't hooked up and the tubes on the battery were disconnected. They did their best to connect the fan vents and the tubes, but said they would need to do another 4 hours of work to ensure all of the tubes were connected (?). They also reset the ECU. No lights have come on since then.

Should I have the dealer or a hybrid specialist go through the extra trouble of thoroughly evaluating and servicing the battery? Thanks for the help everyone! I'm a new first-time Prius/hybrid owner and I feel like I'm learning a lot in the process

Next project is to change out the HID headlights since one is going bad (doesn't come on sometimes).

 

Yeah, I'm not going back to that dealer. I only went there because of their proximity to where I live. The service advisor told me that I had been "playing around on the internet" when I came in for the second appointment to have them actually do a diagnosis that I would have never received without talking to the service manager. Definitely some honesty issues. Otherwise I would have been out $125 to have them read the codes, put the wrong code on the report, and nothing else.