2001 died in another state, help?

So, my daughter took our prius from Salt Lake to San Diego for a vacation. While she was there some warning lights flashed on so she took it to a dealer there. Turns out the car needs a new transaxle, and inverter. All together the repair would cost much more than the car is worth. I should also mention that I had the battery replaced a month ago. My question is, what can I do with the car while it is stuck in San Diego. It does not seem worth having it shipped to SL, I would sell the battery on e-bay, but I wonder what the car would be worth sold as-is. Does anybody have any ideas?

find a member in that area who can store the car or fix the car for you as a project

Hi new poster, sorry you're off to bad start here! It always seems appropriate to have a second shop confirm these high-dollar diagnoses. There is a San Diego group forum and please post there for local advice.

OWCH! But that is the problem with older cars ... they tend to fail at the most inopportune times. That is why we'll be using our new 2010 Prius for 'day trips' and the older 2003 will be a home town and backup car.

Recommendations:

1. Work with U-haul and get it back home - I was able to rent a truck and platform to trailer our old Dodge van back to Huntsville, 750 miles, back in 2000. You may need a 'block and tackle' or a 'come along' to get it on the trailer but once there, bring it home. It cost me ~$900 but got the car home where we later scrapped it. There are professional car moving companies and I would expect similar fees.
2. Get the actual failure codes and subcodes - this is key to understanding the failure mode(s). Sometimes false codes can be reported when simpler faults have occurred. Share the codes either here or over in the YahooGroup, "Prius Technical Stuff." It would be a shame if a potentially easy to repair, 'leak to ground' or a failed inverter pump or even a weak 12 V battery were causing the codes versus a real failure. Only you and yours will be able to find out and tell.
3. Can your daughter post the failure symptoms? If she was able to drive it to the dealer with the error code light suggests this is not a hard failure. The more details we can get about the failure, the better we can understand what may have happened. For example, unusual noises? What the car was doing when the light came on? What the car was able to do after the light came on?
4. Salvage vs repair - given the age of the car, there comes a time when it makes more sense to turn it over to the salvage yard. Certainly salvage in place works and then be done with it.

Bob Wilson

Codes are P3120 with info code 250. My daughter also reported a whining noise after the warning lights flashed on.

A quick Google brings up a bunch of results. Sounds like if it still runs at all, there's a *chance* you could find/fix some sort of coolant problem. Otherwise,not good...
Car Talk - Prius Transaxel

Levi

So, heres some more detail: the day after my daughter arrived in SD,
all the warning lights came on. she didnt know what else to do, so she
filled the tank and let it set till the next day-- turning it on
occasionally to see if the lights were still on. In the am they were
off, so she drove it about 20 miles to her friends house. She said it
made a high pitched whine she hadnt heard before, which was worst at 25
and 50 mph. when she took it to the dealer, he pulled the 3120 code.
When we talked to him, he said he had done additional tests that indicate the transaxle was bad. From what I've seen on here, thats
when you replace the transaxle? He also said the inverter was affected. The car still runs, but the tech at the dealership said it wont make it back here, and the middle of the Nevada desert is a bad place to break down.

So my questions are this:
1. This all seems correct to me-- do you agree that this is a reasonable
diagnosis, or do you still suggest a second opinion? If the latter, does
anyone have a reccomendation for a SD dealer-- I tried the SD forum, but
the last post on there is a year old. I think I'll have better luck
here.

2. Does it seem worth trying to get toyota to help cover the cost of
this repair? I cant quite see putting $10000 into a 9 yr old car. ($2000
for the battery, $8000 for the inverter and transaxle), but Im not
really ready to give up that car.

3. All else failing, any suggestions for unloading it in SD? If we cant
fix it , I dont see any point in bringing it back here, but I'd at least
like to get my $2000 back for the battery.

from Graham Davies scanner manual:
"
P3120 - HV Transaxle Malfunction
...

250

Motor Temperature Sensor Malfunction. Motor temperature sensor performance problem
"

I still say another shop's opinion may clarify matters. Absolutely, telephone Toyota 800-331-4331 and open a case file. Give them yet another opportunity to demonstrate that they have unwavering support for their early Prius buyers.

I agree that it sounds like at minimum the transaxle is bad. The inverter might or might not be OK. Maybe your daughter should call around to the local salvage yards to see what the unrepaired car is worth (if anything.)

It'll be hard to recover the value out of the battery unless you remove it and try to sell it on eBay... If you're lucky you might be able to sell it for $1K.

Unfortunately, your car provides an example of how a Prius out of warranty can become painful to own, especially if it fails far from home.

Another option would be to donate it to a trade school and take the tax deduction. Most schools would be glad to get a hybrid in any condition. most would even pick it up where is as is. Depending on your tax situation it could be better that scrapping it.

Art's Automotive were trying to resolve exactly this problem when they tried to replace MG2, rather than the whole transaxle. The outcome, unfortunately, was that while MG2 was relatively easy to obtain, the correct shims to set the bearing preload up correctly were not.

I would run through the steps to resolve subcodes 247 and 249, checking what the actual recorded MG2 temperature was, just to make sure it wasn't a bad connection or a problem in the ECU, but most likely it was actually an overheating MG2.

The steps to resolve those subcodes (on Gen 2) are: check the value of MOTOR 1 TEMP in the freeze-frame and active data, check for a shorted or open circuit sensor, check the wiring harness and connector for a short or open circuit connection from the transaxle to the HV ECU, check whether the correct value is shown when the sensor is bypassed, and disconnected at one and both ends. If any of those give the wrong value, the fault could actually be in the wiring harness, a connector, or in the ECU itself.

For anyone like me with access to the Gen 2 service manual but not Gen 1, code P3120 has been changed to a variety of P0Axx SAE-standard codes on Gen 2, as follows:

239-242 => P0A90 Drive Motor "A" Performance with the same INF code
243 => P0A3F Drive Motor "A" Position Sensor Circuit (INF 243)
244 => No equivalent
245 => P0A41 Drive Motor "A" Position Sensor Circuit Low (INF 245)
246 => No equivalent
247 => P0A2C Drive Motor "A" Temperature Sensor Circuit Low (INF 247)
248, 250 => P0A2B Drive Motor "A" Temperature Sensor Circuit Range / Performance
249 => P0A2D Drive Motor "A" Temperature Sensor Circuit High
253 => P0A4B Generator Position Sensor Circuit
254 => No equivalent
255 => P0A4D Generator Position Sensor Circuit Low
256 => No equivalent
257 => P0A38 Generator Temperature Sensor Circuit Low
258, 260 => P0A37 Generator Temperature Sensor Circuit Range / Performance
259 => P0A39 Generator Temperature Sensor Circuit High

Subcodes 234-237 (Energy Balance Malfunction) appear to be equivalent to P0A90 Drive Motor "A" Performance INF codes 604 and 605, and P0A92 Hybrid Generator Performance INF codes 606 and 607. This one's a little less certain as the description is a bit different. There's also an INF code 251 (P0A90, motor)/261 (P0A92, generator) that means magnetic force deterioration, or same-phase short circuit.

Well it has taken me a while to get back with some more information. It is a little hard to coordinate things when your car is in a completely different state.

Took the car to Tom's Master Mechanics. They want 11000 to replace the transaxle, and inverter.

I have been in contact with Toyota as some of you have recomended. They are supposed to get back to me today.

Ebay had inverter up for sale a few weeks ago for a 2001 to 2003 Prius that was $599 so they are out there...

Steve

I think I have a Gen one service manual at home.
I bough back in 2001 I though I might need it but I never used it.
I think I gave about $400 for all paper three volumes.
make me and offer?

If it come to the point you want to donate the Prius
Vincennes University would take it and pay transportation and you could write off the value.