In reply to jfryjfry :
High voltage battery not working, so it was immobile.
I brought a spare 12 Volt battery from one of my other cars, and we were able to jumper cable it to get the ignition to switch on. This allowed it to be switched into neutral, but wouldn't go "READY" or into forward or reverse. After we got it into neutral, we used a come-along to pull it up onto the dolly.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Its been my experience that the seats and carpets clean up really well. It seems very hard to permanently stain the seats. The center console lids get pretty haggard, but there are cheap kits to recover it yourself or a Dorman brand replacement cloth lid
Door armrests wear too but are readily available
I pulled the high voltage battery out and over the past several weeks I've been reconditioning the cells, replaced one dead cell and two others that had low capacity.....
I soaked the bus bars in vinegar for several days to remove the corrosion and then hit 'em with steel wool.
I rearranged the cells to get matched pairs, balance charged them all and got it installed tonight.....
SUCCESS ! ! ! 
Budget update:
$600 car
$90.30 replacement cells from eBay
Note: I purchased a $75 battery charger to cycle the cells for reconditioning.
Edit: Budget. I forgot to include the Catalytic converter cost. An Amazon cheapo ~ $60
$600
$90
$60
=$750 all-in at this point.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Glad to see you got it running again!
You did it a lot cheaper than I did... I hope the cells give you much long life!
In reply to 90BuickCentury & jfryjfry:
I drove it last night about ~ 3.5 miles after the installation, and then 5 miles to work this morning. As I was backing into my parking spot the red triangle of death appeared again. Sigh. . . So maybe the celebration was pre-mature. I'll pull the codes & check into it a bit more this weekend.
Just left work and pulled the Codes. Here's a screenshot:
These don't look hybrid battery system related. I cleared them, so let's see what happens.... Fingers crossed.
best of luck!
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Thanks. After clearing the codes I made a quick stop to the BMV to get the car's title transferred and plates. ($255.23 total) Car performed normal, no issues. I then drove home and it's still all good. No red triangle, or other codes.
Here's code P3191: "failed to start" , well that may have been just a one time ordeal, as old gas gets worked through the system, or perhaps a dirty MAF. I'm not worried about it, because the engine started and stopped several times on the drive home.
Here's code P0037: "fault with the B1S2 downstream oxygen sensor heater circuit", well that makes sense, because currently the car doesn't even have an o2 sensor attached. It's still just the bare wires hanging from when the cat was stolen.
I'm optimistic now that it's truly unrelated to the hybrid battery service I just performed. Stay tuned for more updates....
I have to admit that as a recently as a couple of years ago I had zero interest in anything Prius related. Now I look forward to reading about them and have learned a lot from you guys. Your ability to R&R the battery is impressive to me. Nothing is better than a bargain basement high-mpg commuter!
Loweguy5 said:I have to admit that as a recently as a couple of years ago I had zero interest in anything Prius related. Now I look forward to reading about them and have learned a lot from you guys. Your ability to R&R the battery is impressive to me. Nothing is better than a bargain basement high-mpg commuter!
Me as well! Thanks John and Indy-Guy!
BBC
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps & Loweguy5 :
No problem guys. Just sharing the journey & knowledge. John Welsh blazed the path, I'm just following along. These are the first Toyota's I've ever owned. The Prius is perched in a good spot for the do it 'er. Enough of them were sold to make them plentiful and as a result there's a pretty good knowledge base for quick problem solving and repairs. Bonus is they get good mileage. Not exciting to drive at all, but a good transportation appliance.
Here's a few more pics:
Battery installed (pics from same perspective as the ones above)
Several weeks ago I pulled the front bumper and installed some fog lamps (they're just for appearance, no bulbs or wiring. I had them laying around left over from Humpie). I also zip tied some expanded metal in place of the broken grill insert.
A couple of "drift stitches" to heal up the bumper cover. I also painted the foam behind to blend in the repair.
I really like how good the sliver mesh looks in the lower grille area. I think I remember you saying it is a Lowes/Depot product. What is it?
In reply to John Welsh :
Yes I did the same thing to one of my other Priuii. Adds a bit of a custom touch. This came from home Depot. $25 for a 4x8 sheet. It's original purpose is for attaching stucco.
It's zinc plated and the one on the Prius hasn't rusted despite going through an Indiana winter with Salt.
Well. Poop! Look at block #7.
Looks like one of the reconditioned cells has failed. Sooooo.... It's battery out . Again.
Good news is, I'm getting faster at it. Out in 31 minutes
I wish I still had some of my original modules to send to you. I sold them all for $15 each when $25-35 is the going rate.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
I know that garage and the car on the right needs some loving.
In reply to jfryjfry :
Thanks for the intention. I have a few cells (that didn't make it into the build the first time around) I continued to deep cycle that came back to life and now have acceptable capacities. I threw those into the pack last night and it's ready to reassemble after work.
In reply to Stampie:
Yes. Indeed, it does need some loving. If I could just keep the daily driver junk cars from being so needy, I can clean it off again and start forward progress again.
Indy - Guy said:In reply to Stampie:
Yes. Indeed, it does need some loving. If I could just keep the daily driver junk cars from being so needy, I can clean it off again and start forward progress again.
Amazing how adding a couple driving age kids to the mix can eat up so much project time, eh?
In reply to gumby :
# True.
Got the battery pack back in and took it for a proper test drive..... All is good and this thing is delivering great mileage. Must be a strong pack.
I was cleaning up from the weekend's work and discovered this on the failed cell from the battery:
Cause or effect? I don't know. I assume that's why it failed. At least now I know why.
Quick update. Battery refresh is still doing good. This is now my highest mpg Prius. Last tank averaged 46.7 mpg.
I've been driving this one in and off for awhile, and it's time to dive into the non functional A/C. Hit it with some R134 and it's working again. Posting here to document the start to see how long the charge lasts.
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