2005 Prius - Getting Triangle with !, CEL, VCS and the circle with !

That sounds good , that the dealership checks out your car before the work is done.

Beyond that, its hard for me to say without seeing and testing out the car in person to know for sure.

Plus I've never actually had to change a HV battery, just thought about it.

 

You need to add the cost of the reinvolt battery. I think it should be about a 2 hour job, so its sounds 2x what it should cost. It is actually fairly easy to replace, you don't need any special tools to do it. You should be able to find a used battery from a lower mileage car for $500 or less.

I know there are some posts with some pictures covering this, but the search function does not seem to be working at the moment. Maybe you can locate them.
Basically, once you remove the safety interlock on the left side of the battery, it is fairly safe to open the battery by removing the cover on the top left side, disconnect the two orange wires that leave from the drivers side, and the two (?) harnesses that plug into the computer. Then just remove the bolts dicosnnect the fan shroud and pull it out. Replace in reverse, but remove the interlock first from the new battery, and install it last.

I have an extra battery lying around, but I don't think it makes sense to ship it from NY.

 

This link may help:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...7-replacing-2005-hybrid-traction-battery.html

 

The Prius Dismantling Guide is a great source that has all the precautions and steps needed to remove the battery. Installation is the reverse of removal. You do not need to remove the entire back seat, just the seatbacks, and you do not need to remove the trim pieces around the side doors, just unclip them from the top and fold forward a few inches. A good trim tool is very helpful, I like the OEM/Upholstery clip tool (25313) | Upholstery Clip Removal Tool | AutoZone.com

Disconnecting the 12V battery will clear all codes. That is step 1 of the removal process.

http://www.eaa-phev.org/images/d/df/Priusdisman.pdf

 

The HV batteries in a Gen2 Prius are good for 200k-300k miles on average (a little shorter life in hot climates). Mine died at 195k miles.

NO! The labor to install a new HV battery takes more time than installing a ReInVolt (the ReInVolt comes with it's ECU; The new battery does not and they reuse the ECU from your old HV battery). My dealer in CT charged me $400 for a ReInVolt installation.

JeffD

 

It is possible, but I think your battery is toast. A battery that has overheated too many times will have the worst modules in the middle. Of the four modules in your bad blocks 7 and 8, each may have less an 1 amp-hour of capacity, compared to 6.5 amp-hours when they left the factory. The remaining modules will be maybe 1 amp-hours to 4 amp-hours.

If you only had one bad block, and it was 1-4 or 11-14, then I'd say it would be worth a shot, but in your case, I think you would be wasting time and money.

 

my mother is the owner of a 2005 prius 109k, I try to borrow it as much as possible because of its great gas mileage, yesterday I get in the car, drive it for about 20 minutes, I notice the traction battery is charging and discharging quickly and then I get the same thing triangle, circle with ! and vcs, I also hear the battery fan for the first time turn on (it was about 30 degrees fahrenheit. I got the ODBII and indeed got codes P0A80 and P3012, I want to fix this before my mother finds out, I'm willing to buy a re-manufactured battery. I like this car so much I couldn't sleep last night thinking of how to fix this, I want to return it to my mother without her noticing anything went wrong with it, she's on vacation and will be back in 3 weeks. Please need some urgent advice..

 

You mean something other than having a dealer diagnose the problem and fix it? Re-Involt are the go-to people for rebuilt HV batteries, and they may be able to advise on a shop near you for installation.

 

update - thanks for the advice, I was a bit intimidated after reading about the 200+volts on the packs so I decided to get the battery replaced by re-involt, I shipped the car to Sanford NC from NY, they refurbished the battery and reinstalled for $2000, then I took the bus down there to pickup the car, total with shipping of the car, battery replacement and bus ride to NC, $2,580. I did notice on the way back that the battery level fluctuates allot less, I saw it go down to one bar below green in nyc after allot of ev stop n go in traffic, so far so good averaging 45mpg, hopefully it's good for another 100k+ miles. Much cheaper than the almost $4k the toyota dealer wanted.

 

I just paid toyota to replace my huge battery in my prius a grand total of $5K because it was only 9K out of warranty which I think is horrible customer service. Now they are telling me that I need to Coolant Fan replaced?!?!!! for $500?!?!?!?!?!?

Is this too much?

Is there any way I can get Toyota to cover this because its still only 9K out of warranty?

Is there any way that the coolant fan just needs to be cleaned and they are trying to upsell me?

My car is maybe worth $5,000 and I have already forked over the money for the huge battery in my prius, is it even worth keeping this car if huge problems like this are just going to keep happening? Because the repairs on the inside of the car are costing more than its worth

Could this problem have anything to do with the new battery they just installed?

If someone has a link they can share or any replys/comments/went through the same situation please message me or reply to this post.

Thanks

 

I never heard of the main battery replacement costing $5,000. I think the price, in New Jersey, is around half that. Complain to Toyota and tell them you were "hosed". Sounds like the dealer is way off base. As far as cooling fan, I doubt it was caused by the main battery replacement. $500 for that seems also very high. Find another dealer.

 

Is it possible that when they installed the new HV battery in my car they didn't check the cooling fan for that high voltage battery and it would be their fault? Also I only have one Toyota dealer within an hour of where I live, do you suggest driving with this problem, or do you mean for me to find an independant dealer or specialist?