Driving with no coolant = replace hybrid battery?

Here's my situation:

I have a 2006 Toyota Prius that I brought in to the Toyota dealership on 6/29/15 and everything checked out fine. All of the fluid levels were good but they recommended getting my transmission fluid flushed since I had 121000 miles and had not had it done since I bought it with 108000 miles on it.

I took my Prius on 7/2/15 to Jiffy Lube and had them do an oil change and transmission fluid flush. After driving away, my check engine light and big red triangle light came on while driving on the highway (about 5 miles away). I immediately turned around and went back to Jiffy Lube where they said that the check engine code was related to the coolant system and my coolant was low so they filled the car up with enough coolant until I could come back and get it completely flushed and re-filled the next week. The check engine lights got shut off and I drove the car home with no problem after that.

On Sunday, 7/5/15, I drove the car for the first time since taking it to Jiffy Lube and the lights turned on again about 2 miles into my drive. I only drove about 8 miles total and when I got home, I checked and noticed the coolant was below the "low" line which I assumed is why the lights turned back on. On Monday, 7/6/15, I took the car back to Jiffy Lube and got a pressure test and the coolant flushed and re-filled but the technician said that the there was no leak and that the check engine light was now P0A80 which is the "replace hybrid battery" code and I would need to take it somewhere else since they do not do that.

I took it to another technician and he told me that the battery and fan "probably" needed replaced.

I can hear the battery fan running like it is working really hard when I turn the car on and it does not look like the hybrid battery is holding a charge. Would I be able to hear the fan if it needed replaced?

Does anyone else find it odd that my inspection on 6/29/15 said my levels were fine but then I had a problem AFTER Jiffy Lube worked on it? Do you think that they could have flushed my coolant by mistake when flushing my transmission fluid and then I drove the car without any coolant which in turn caused my engine to overheat which caused it to shut off and only use my electric engine which then led to my hybrid battery being overworked and now possibly needing to be replaced? Just trying to get to the bottom of this. Any input is helpful.

 

Not at all to which question? I asked a few.

 

Would I be able to check out the fan myself? It sounds like it is running as it is really loud in the back of my car while I am driving, which I never noticed before today. And you're saying that if the hybrid battery was no good, you don't think I'd be able to drive it around town like I have been?

No, I have not taken it to a Toyota dealer yet as this all happened today.

Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, the engine is running now. But I don't think it was running when I was low on coolant. I think I was driving on the electric motor alone which looked like it was draining my hybrid battery. All my fluid levels are good now and it appeared the hybrid battery was recharging while I drove but it did not appear to be retaining its charge. The lights are still on my dashboard.

I will look up how to clean the fan. Would I hear it running if it wasn't working though? Because it is quite loud right now.

 

Yes, it may just need cleaned. I'll look into it.

 

It feels like air is coming out of my back seat vent. By the way, should there be a filter under the grill?

 

Okay, so I should not feel any air coming out of the vent? I bet my fan is the problem.

 

Couldn't tell you. Is it only safe to take the Prius to the dealership for maintenance? They are just so expensive...

 

Okay, I'll look into that. But does that explain why my hybrid batter code would be on?

 

Okay, so cleaning the fan, although it may need done, may not be the solution to this problem?