My 2009 has 201K and the P0A80 code came on on two occasions; one in early December of 2024 and one early this month. I noticed that both happened when there was an extreme temperature drop overnight. My car is parked outside and I realized it could be more susceptible to these extreme temperature fluctuations. I've have reset the code with my OBD scanner on both times. I have Dr. Prius and it showed 25% capacity when the P0A80 happened. Since the last reset early this month, the P0A80 code hasn't reappeared and I've driven around 700 miles since then. I ran Dr. Prius recently and the capacity showed 45% but there was a warning about it’s accuracy since the battery was charging/discharging during the test. I think the traction battery could be nearing it’s end of life. Do I need to replace it now or can I wait? I may have to pay more if I wait longer. I know the price of OEM battery has increased by 1K from last year but so far the refurbished shops haven’t follow suit.
you can wait. it might be worth opening the case and checking for corrosion. in the meantime, keep an eye on prices. refurbished are not the same as new
Do I need to remove the battery from the car in order to check the corrosion? In the car, is there enough room to look around the battery after removing it's case?
It is not necessary to remove the high-voltage battery from the car to inspect it. You can get to the cover in about 20 minutes if you have tools at hand.
Getting rid of vehicle (selling/scraping) or putting money to keep it going is always a very difficult, and complicated decision. I think we've all been there and it's hard. I do remember a great video by The Car Care Nut on this topic...he said he gives advice to folks every week in his shop on what the options are. (But, in the end, it's our car and our money...some cars have a sentimental value you can't put a price one...like an old Toyota that was you're Mom's car and she's passed away.)
Great video, I follow his channel. I'm a DIY'er for the simple fixes and I think the cost to replace the busbar is reasonable, if necessary.
Corrosion on tires can be removed with household vinegar. It is more difficult if corrosion has eaten away the thin wires for measuring voltage on pairs of modules or the connector on the ECU inside the high-voltage battery. The main thing is to take precautions when working with high voltage.
True, but expect to break some or all of the white clips that hold down the hatch floor above the pack. These are OEM part number 90467-10161. The way these work is that the top part slides into a retainer on the bottom of the hatch floor and are then pushed through holes below in the pack. When that section of floor is pried up in theory the bottom part will pop back out, but in practice, with old clips, the top part often rips off, leaving the clips embedded in the metal. If you get lucky only half the top rips off, and it can be reused once by rotating it 90 degrees from the original position when sliding it back in to the retainer. A big pack of generic ones is like $10 for 50 on Ebay. Honda Accords use a very similar clip to retain the pillar plastic and some other parts. The pack I have is actually the Honda ones, and they worked fine for this in the Prius. The difference is that the dimensions of the top 3 disks on the Honda ones are 1 mm smaller than the Toyota ones.
