P0A80 - 275,232mi, A Story of Resurrection

About a month ago my 08' threw the dreaded P0A80 code. I knew I was on borrowed time. Initially I had planned on the DIY remove and replace bad cells route. I live north of NYC, and I found a Hybrid repair place (Aloy Hybrid Battery/ Lazarus Resurrections) in Long Island city that would sell me individual cells. I took the drive down to the city, happily planning on buying cells and spending the afternoon rebuilding the pack. When I got there I was met with a shop literally STACKED with used and refurbished batteries (they service cabs), after a chat with the owner we made a deal for an entire refurbished battery pack for $500 + my old core. The pack had his shop seal lock on it meaning they had inspected it, but it wasn't painted green or anything like fancy.

Buying an entire replacement battery for $500 seemed like a good way to go vs disassembling and fixing my old pack. This way I dont have to worry about other cells failing etc.

When I installed the replacement battery and tried to start the car......nothing....full display of warning lights and beeps, but no start. I called Aloy Batteries and spoke with the owner, he advised I should disconnect the 12v battery for 5 min. I did this several times, once for 15 min, still nothing. Using Dr Prius I found a battery code P3140, hybrid battery safety switch. I made sure the switch was properly inserted, locked, and pushed down. Still nothing. Called Aloy again, the owner offered to send his tech out to take a look, which was very cool of him as it was a Friday and with traffic it's an hour and a half drive. While waiting for the tech I decided to inspect all the wires around the safety plug and.....EUREKA......one of the wires for the switch position plug (engages when you push the switch lever "down") was broken right at the plug. Very hard to see. I repaired the wires, and BAM, the car started and is running like a champ.

I ran a Dr. Prius battery life test and the replacement pack is showing 90%. Win win win. Im so stoked. I realize this post partially comes across as a plug for Aloy, but in truth the owner was friendly, gave me a great deal, and was willing to help and share info. I want the community here to know about this resource as he literally helped my resurrect my car and I know Im not alone in terms of battery pack issues.

Here's a picture of the white plug in question. The wire was broken off right at the male plug (I probably stepped on it). In this pic I twisted the wires together to bypass the plug and made sure this was the problem. Once verified I took the plug apart and reinstalled the wires. Tedious, but doable.



I wouldn't have been able to do this repair without the support and info of this community. I hope this post gives others the confidence to attempt this type of thing. And if you're in the North East and need a battery go see Aloy!

(I'd post a link to Aloy but im a lurker newb and dont have the post count yet to do so)

 

Returning with an update. What a difference! I admit that confirmation bias, enthusiasm, and relief are all factors, but it sure feels like a different car. It's peppier and I can feel the electric motor's power more, and for longer. It also drives on electric only longer, and there is more time between when you start off at an intersection on electric only and when the ICE kicks in. There is also less fluctuation in battery levels. I also saw a decent increase in overall MPG. It fattened up the electric power.

TL;DR: new battery makes big difference