Hybrid Battery Issue

I have a 2005 with 218,000 miles on it. It's my daughter's car. She recently was driving and got the dash full of warning lights (red triangle, check engine, vsc, circle/exclamation). I had her pull over so I could come check it out. When I tried to start it about 10 min later the 12v battery was dead. It had died once before a few months ago after lights were left on. I jump started it and a couple lights were no longer on. I drove it home and everything seemed like normal operation so I ordered the 12v replacement from elearnaid and popped that in. Started right up, went for a test drive, everything fine. Next day, lights on again. I ordered a mini vcs cable and installed techstream last night.

Codes read P3000 and P0A80. I reset the codes after reading what they were. Restarted the car several times and drove it a few blocks. No codes returned.

I then reconnected techstream and did the charge/discharge test from another thread (select drive, gas and brake, watch block voltages rise, reverse, brake and light throttle, watch voltage drops). On the charge cycle block 3 goes about .1-2v higher than the others. On the discharge block hangs around .3v lower until it gets well into the cycle (about 40sec or so) and then starts to lose more than the others until it's about 1v-1.2v below the others. All the others are within .2v of each other and fluctuate slightly between them. So far the codes have not shown back up.

I'm assuming the codes will come back and that the battery will need replacement. I'm not an electrical engineer but I'm very mechanically inclined and haven't paid a mechanic to do anything on one of my vehicles for 20 years. I'm interested in possibly just replacing the two modules making up that block but I'm a little confused as to what I need to do to "match" the replacement cells to the rest of the modules. Also, will she be causing any damage if she drives it with these lights on? Will it overheat or damage anything? Is there a source via this website for reliably tested used battery modules?

 

I understand that more is required than dropping in one "block". As I understand it I would need to replace both modules that make up that block and then charge and balance the pack. How do I find "good modules" to use for the replacement. As I understand it from reading the threads here you need modules that more or less match the voltage of the existing units. I'm not sure I trust the guys selling modules on eBay to accurately represent that number so how can I be sure I'm getting appropriate modules for this specific car?

 

I'm near Eureka, CA. The FAR North Coast. We're 4-5hrs from everywhere but I can easily go to Sacramento or SFO to get what I need. Or I can order it all online. If I can recondition this battery by replacing a couple modules myself and buying a few tools then I'm more comfortable doing that even if I have to do it once or twice a year from now on as other modules reach their end of service point. Based on other's experiences here the refurbished batteries are still fairly pricey and are a crap shoot on quality. We bought the car two years ago with 200,000 miles on it for $6k so I don't really want to spend almost half that amount on a new pack from Toyota. My daughter just drives it around town and we have another car she can use if needed as a short term thing.

 

So if I understand correctly the Prolong system would allow me to charge and balance the cells without collecting multiple hobby chargers, speaker wires, 12v power supplies, etc... So if I was able to find a couple modules and then use that system it would work until another module gives up the ghost.

I'm fine with this needing to be done every so often and I'd rather buy the tool and keep replacing modules given the age and mileage of this car. Basically for the cost of the cheapest, least reliable, Craigslist replacement battery I can do it myself this time and then only be out the cost of the module(s) next time.
...Or am I missing something?

 

Double

 

I understand that it won't be totally trouble free and I might have to keep replacing modules every few months. I'm fine with that. We're so far out that we don't have annual emissions so that's not a problem. Who is a good source for replacement modules on here?

I assume that I'll need to get the battery out and voltage tested to see what voltage I need to match.

 

Thanks! I'll hit you up after I get the battery out and fully tested.

 

What discharger and load tester would you recommend? I know this may be a continuous process but I'd rather get the tools set up and then be out $100-$200 every so often. The car is in great shape otherwise but with that many miles I'm not sure I want to spend 50% of the car's purchase price for a battery that will last another 200,000 miles and then have the ICE or some other expensive component break after 25,000.

 

I've ordered the Deluxe Reconditioning Package from them this morning. So I will now need to wire up a tester ( I already have a multimeter so I didn't spend $79 extra on theirs) and determine if any other modules are weak in addition to block 3. Then find modules on here that match the voltage of the other modules. Is that correct? How close do they need to match?