Hybrid Battery Warning (next steps)

Hi there - new to the group, hopefully going to be using this over the coming weeks! I had a Hybrid Battery warning light come on the other day - and the car was towed home with our breakdown recovery company.

Since, I've stuck a OBD2 Bluetooth transmitter in there to find out the error code and test the battery, if indeed it was the dreaded P0A80 message. Sure enough it was.

I read the battery module voltages, and they all seem relatively OK. Under no load, they were all coming in at 15.9v apart from one, which was at 15.7v. I tested it under load (AC, stationary), and the 15.7 module went up to 15.9v, as did 4 of the others, the rest were at 16v. Driving the car, I took another reading, and the voltages were between 17.3 and 17.0v. The lower cell from no load being the 17.0v module. All of this, indicates to me that one of the modules might be slightly lower, past it than the others, but it's only 0.8%.

As it stands, I've cleared the error, and am going to keep an eye out for any more coming up. I think I'll spend a bit of time making sure the battery vent is clean and keep an eye on the temperature. This happened during/after a motorway drive, so could be related to some overheating.

Foks, am I right in my conclusions? Is there anything else you recommend doing? Any other ways of testing the battery? I've seen folks bring the battery down to almost zero with AC and no engine to check the modules thoroughly, but was a bit worried that this might cause some problems with it.

 

So - re corrosion, we're looking at the metal on the terminals etc or the actual battery cells - something like swelling or leaking? I'd imagine if they're doing that they're going to show a lower voltage, right?

 

@HybridCPR I'm assuming you're referring to resetting the codes? If yes, I can do this using the Torque Pro app. Are you referring to something else?

@TMR-JWAP - no other codes came up on Torque Pro.

The car is a 2007 Prius Mk2 on 110,000 miles, which I've been told is getting towards the end of the Hybrid battery life. I'm not totally convinced looking at these voltages that it is the end.

My next steps are going to be:

1. Inspect the fan for any blockages - this hasn't been cleaned in at least 5 years (since I owned it) and possibly more!
2. Do a visual inspection of the battery to see if there's any corrosion on the contacts or leaking of the modules.

Does this sound about right? Or is it worth me just biting the bullet and getting an entire reconditioned battery?

 

No sign of any blockages in the fan. Next step I think is to drive the car for 30 mins or so and see whether any warning lights come up. Keep a close eye on the Torque app settings all the while.