Master Warning, ABS, (!), and Hybrid Vehicle Warning icon

[firepa63]

I think the original 12v battery may be contributing to this issue.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

The 12V battery is original.

Ahh...that's where I would place my bet then. I hope for your sake that this is it, since it would be the cheapest thing to replace. Good luck!

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

... The brightness of the instrument panel and MFD illumination dropped down to the level when headlights are turned on, although the headlights were off.
...

Would a weak 12V battery cause the display to dim? Just wondering.

[jayman]

A shorted/bad cell in the battery? Maybe. We won't know until Patrick gets word from the dealership

[Patrick Wong]

My Prius is back in service now. DTC P3000, info code 603. I don't have access to the repair manual right now (as the computer that I am borrowing does not allow multiple browser windows to be open) so if someone wants to look that up and comment, that would be nice. Apparently that DTC has to do with the battery control system. The solution was to clear codes and download firmware for the HV and engine ECUs per SSC50P.

What is interesting is that SSC had previously been performed back when my dad owned the car. I had driven >60K miles since buying the car with 15K miles in late 2006 and had no driveability problems until now. I'm not confident that this will be a permanent fix but have driven the car ~300 miles so far without further incident - except that the traction battery SOC gauge seems to show 2 red bars more frequently than I would expect during normal driving. So we'll see.

In Hawaii, Servco Pacific is the distributor and that entity does not share vehicle repair info with TMS USA. Therefore TMS USA had no record that the three applicable SSCs had been performed on my vehicle. According to an email that I received from Servco Pacific back in Nov. 2006 when I asked about the SSCs, they were performed as follows:

40L stop light switch April 2005
50P ECU reprogram March 2006
60C intermediate steering shaft July 2006

The Tucson dealer re-performed all three. Apparently inspection of the old steering shaft was inconclusive as to whether it was original or not.

[dogfriend]

Battery Cooling System malfunction. Abnormal signal input from battery.

[Shawn Clark]

Glad to hear you are back on the road, Patrick.

I should have stuck with my initial guess. So if the codes are correct, the HV cooling system either isn't really cooling (making noise, but no effect or no airflow?) I've never heard the traction battery cooling system kick in, or at least never realized that it was running. Of course the temps here are pretty mild.

What is it using as a temperature reading for the HV battery? Is it a single point, multiple points, some sort of polling?

Patrick, I should have asked this before, but since it was you I figured you had already considered this: is there any chance that you had something in the back passenger seat covering the cabin vent for the HV battery? (The sales rep. actually warned us about that.)

[Patrick Wong]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for posting the repair manual pages. Looks like the battery ECU is suspect if the code reappears. This morning the SOC gauge started at 2 red bars so I'll keep an eye on that as we drive around today.

Hi Shawn,

The battery vent is clear. I believe there are four thermistors that track battery temp, spaced throughout the battery modules.

[hobbit]

You had just been doing a lot of regen toward a fairly high SOC,
and it was hot out. That will definitely tend to get a battery
fairly toasty. Perhaps the normal, expected operation under
those circumstances is right on the edge of abnormal conditions
as defined by Toyota, and you managed to make a brief excursion
outside the envelope? Maybe some accumulated dust in the air
passages could have let one of the thermistors see something
higher than it liked. Maybe one of your thermistors is itself
out of spec and erroneously reported a higher temp?
.
I've been considering opening up my own battery case at some
point just to check around for corrosion and crud and maybe blow
things out a little; haven't gotten there yet as I've noticed no
issues other than the high-altitude weirdness last summer.
.
Glad to hear it was most likely a transient thing, though.
.
_H*

[jayman]

Patrick

So everything is ok so far??

jay