Hi all, Im losing my wits with my Prius...I had the Red triangle of death a year ago and managed to replace the 2 cells that were effected. It ran OK but i got the red light every now and then and I just deleted it while i was driving till I had the time to properly test it. The car was hesitent for the first minute or so when starting cold and If I tried to accelerate hard on the motorway, it would also be hesitent and the battery would drain the the matter of seconds. Long story short it is still happening and I have now replaced 3 cells in total. I did a test on each cell unloaded then loaded with a healamp bulb for 30seconds then measured the recovery of each cell after 10 seconds. Could someone look at my results and check which you think I should replace next. I used the Hybrid Automotive charger and discharger to balance the cells after. I get the P0A80 each time. The first result is the unloaded voltage, the middle is the loaded voltage and the last is the recovery voltage after 10 seconds. 1. 7.85 --->7.68 --->7.70 2. 7.85 --->7.65 --->7.71 3. 7.83 --->7.65 --->7.70 4. 7.82 --->7.61 --->7.67 5. 7.83 --->7.62 --->7.67 6. 7.82 --->7.64 --->7.67 7. 7.73 --->7.42 --->7.47 Replaced 8. 7.77 --->7.57 --->7.61 Replaced 9. 7.81 --->7.66 --->7.76 10. 7.81 --->7.58 --->7.62 11. 7.81 --->7.63 --->7.67 12. 7.78 --->7.55 --->7.59 Replaced 13. 7.82 --->7.60 --->7.64 14. 7.79 --->7.59 --->7.63 15. 7.79 --->7.61 --->7.66 16. 7.81 --->7.62 --->7.66 17. 7.83 --->7.63 --->7.66 18. 7.89 --->7.66 --->7.71 19. 7.80 --->7.61 --->7.66 20. 7.83 --->7.64 --->7.68 21. 7.83 --->7.65 --->7.69 22. 7.82 --->7.64 --->7.68 23. 7.80 --->7.58 --->7.62 24. 7.80 --->7.63 --->7.67 25. 7.80 --->7.61 --->7.65 26. 7.80 --->7.65 --->7.69 27. 7.82 --->7.67 --->7.71 28. 7.84 --->7.69 --->7.72 Thanks so much in advance I am pulling my hair out with this problem.
This is why it's referred to as the wack-a-mole method. Not sure but maybe your load test is too short to reveal the weak link(s); one minute is what is typically used. After the 3rd failure of my 06 pack and face with more time/labor, I got a new OEM battery and it's been driving like a "new" car since (starting year 4). GOOD LUCK!
Siber, Perhaps you would get more info by getting an OBDII bluetooth enabled adapter and running an app like Dr. Prius. How many Km on your Prius? How long do you hope to keep it and how many Km do you hope to put on it? Looks like the cells that you replaced are the weakest. That's part of the whack-a-mole that fotomoto is talking about. You replace old cells with old cells and they may fail while the ones that haven't failed yet may also fail soon. What would a new battery from Toyota cost you in the UK?
All those volts looked fine to begin with. Download Dr. Prius app or the like. Put it all back together and drive it until it throws codes again. Drive agressive like the gas doesnt matter making sure to coast and glide and try and charge the battery to full.
Here are the results of the Dr Prius app when accelerating on the motorway. See what you guys think. Thanks
