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02 Prius P3000, P3006, P3019, P3020, C1521, C1522

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by Raqune, Jul 23, 2014.

  1. Raqune

    Raqune Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2008
    28
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    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I am looking at a Gen 1 project car with codes shown in title. The dealer pulled these codes last October 2013 and told owner the car needed a new battery. Owner drove car home and let it sit, starting and moving it occasionally. Last time it ran and drove was about 2 months ago, now it won't start. Jumping the 12v battery will power up car but it won't go to ready mode.

    Original reason for owner taking car to dealer was she ran over a metal object that damaged her exhaust system. The dealer changed out the cat and exhaust but then told her she needed a battery for about $2,200. The insurance company covered the road hazard damage to exhaust but said they don't cover electrical problems. At the time she didn't trust the dealers advice since car ran fine with no CEL before the exhaust damage so she took it home and parked it, not wanting to spend another $2,200 on an older car.

    Now she has decided to unload the car. It appears to be very straight and clean, mostly garaged, and has newer trans-axle so I thought it might be a candidate for repair. I have access to a 2002 prius that was running great except it took a hit on the left front so I can have all the parts I need off of that for $1,100.

    Research so far shows:
    - P3000 Traction battery problems / battery control system
    - P3006 Battery levels unusually different
    - P3019 Battery block 9 weak
    - P3020 Battery block 10 weak
    - C1521 Power steering motor malfunction
    - C1522 Power steering motor malfunction

    I have seen several chat threads with the P30xx battery codes combined with the C152x codes but usually the advice is all related to the battery issue. I did see Patrick Wong mention the C152x codes on a Yahoo site as possibly spurious (Yahoo! Groups).

    Can traction battery problems cause a false power steering motor codes to set?

    I'm hoping just swapping the traction battery will fix the P300x problems, but wonder if the C152x codes could be caused by the same object that damaged the exhaust. If the steering rack was somehow damaged wouldn't the owner have noticed drive-ability problems when driving it home from dealer? also, worst case scenario, does anyone know how big of a job is it to change out the steering rack?
     
  2. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2004
    4,365
    3,209
    1
    Location:
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Ignore the C codes for now, they may simply be spurious.

    Let's deal with the battery.

    A dead/weakened hybrid pack will not allow the car to start because the hybrid battery "spins up" the gas engine on startup.
    No hybrid battery, means no gas engine spin up.

    You will first need to charge up the pack.
    • You can do this one module at a time which can take several weeks if you use a $100 charger. There are 38 modules.
    • Or you can buy a consumer grade grid charger and charge it all at once in about a day. I have customers that have purchased these from me. These chargers are more in the $660 range.

    A steering rack is not a newbie job. But let's move past that for now since it is likely spurious codes.
     
  3. Raqune

    Raqune Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2008
    28
    12
    0
    Location:
    Portland Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    What is the minimum voltage I need to start? Or is it hard on the inverter and MG1 to let it do the bulk of charging?