Warning lights :(

Bit desperate. It must be a sign of the quality of these things that I haven't been posting for a while but I now have a problem.

I bought a 2002 a year ago and all has been well. This car was for my dad in the UK, I am in Greece working and it has developed this problem. I am trying to diagnose through my sister. She has taken these two pictures. I can call on friends to assist and if required I can get the cell voltage read outs off the main battery, I already got a friend to charge the small battery but he is very nervous about this particular car having no experience at all with hybrids. The car does very little miles, average maybe 2 miles a day.

Before I do call on people to test specific things I would appreciate some input so that I can hopefully not take too much of their time and minimise any risk because obviously things need to be approached differently. I've searched some on here and other places but am struggling to find specific tests that can be defined.

Car has done 90,000 miles and is in pretty good order generally.

All input gratefully accepted.

 

Hmm, local Toyota response last time I called there in it they came out of the workshop to look having never seen one. Doesn't fill me with confidence

What I seem to have gleaned from what I have read is that if the starter battery is not good then charging or replacing it will sort out the problem (depending how knackered it is) but the warning lights may not go off for a few starts stops and so on. Trouble is that I am very reticent to ask my sister to take the car anywhere with it in this state. Will it be OK? She can choose to go uphill from the house rather than downhill. If it was flat on the starter battery then will starting it without moving it reset the lights if all is now OK? Is any damage likely to happen by either driving it or starting it.

 

OK, first report battery cell voltages OK at 16.14,.16.15, etc all within 0.02 of each other.

Fautl code is P3000, car runs OK start fine seems to behave properly.

Fault code returns immediately if cleared.

On phone to UK (expensive call)

Will report more as I get it.

Anyone anything to suggest?

 

Launch X431 is being used to read it.

Access to the display is not possible, it is possible to get the display that shows MPG / regenerated power but not the power flow diagram showing hte engine / wheels / generator.

It is being done by a friend in the UK. Convoluted really, sister driving, friend in passenger seat who is a lecturer in electronics and another friend with a garage and all the gear needed.

 

I am back in the UK at the beginning of December and will be there until middle / end January. So really at that time I can rip the thing apart and investigate properly. Of immediate concern is whether the car will be OK to use for the next two weeks given that my parents are 90 years old they get stressed easily and I know my dad will be worrying to death over this problem which, let's face it, is hardly an important thing

SO should I advise them to leave it on the driveway or that it will be OK to nip to the shops and back?

Is it fairly certain that the fault is either the main battery or the main battery ECU. If so then I will start googling for bits. New are certainly not an option, the car isn't worth it

I did wonder if it hasn't had the HV battery leak fix and that is the problem then is it possible that Toyota will do something about it?

As you can tell, I have a head full of what ifs and maybes.

Seems best option for main battery is to find a later one a cobble it together for the gen 1. That sounds like a fun project to be doing over Christmas if I can find a couple of battery packs.

Bit more info.

It seems that about a week before this happened the beeper on the reversing sensors went a lot quieter than normal. No idea if that is related or not.

 

Sister and friend are out in it as we speak. Have rung everywhere they may be and typically, sister left her mobile in her handbag at parents house

For sure they have driven it 25 miles right now, 8 from home to friend with garage, 15 to another friend where I know they were going but they had left when I rang and they haven't arrived home yet, tahts another 10 miles.

Fingers crossed.

 

Hmm, 10 phone calls later and much questioning they decided to tell me that the starter battery voltage was 11.3 this morning going up to just over 13 when running. (Groan)

Sent them out for a new one.

The car is 91k miles and 7.5 years old. Is the HV battery still under warranty?

I have only had this car for a year and the service book is some what sketchy for the first 7 years of it's life. How will Toyota view this lack of stamps?

 

It seems that the car is under warranty according to the local toyota garage it is 8 years or 100k miles. First registration is 7.5 years, if they use manufacture then it is out but I am sure the warranty will start on first registration.

 

Update

Replaced the small battery with a new one, took a week as no one had one.

Much Launch reading and testing later.

Car turned off the small battery voltage is still reading 11.3 with the launch but reads close to 12 with a fluke, it goes up to 14 when the car is running. Seems like a few quid down the pan there

Traction battery cell voltages are all even at around 16 when the battery is off load. On load, both driving hard uphill and stalled in reverse (brakes on, throttle down) all cells drop to 14 volts but remain closely matched.

The 3000 error code is sitll there and comes back as soon as it is cleared.

So, no failed cell but 14 volts seems low to me. Need some input on that.

Input please

I wil get an email with the actual voltage later today I hope.

 

OK so, no voltages.

The extremely specific diagnosis has the results:-

"The voltages are OK"
and
"It's 16 volts ish"

The paper with the numbers on is nowhere that anyone will own up to, sister / friend both say the other has it.

I do wonder why they thought I asked for it to be printed out if I didn't actually need it but hey, who am I to question people's reasoning.

 

Nope, not at Toyota yet. It will not go there till I go back to the UK on the 9th Dec and find out exactly what is wrong with it.

Concern now is whether it's OK for my dad to drive and do you think 14 volts, all even is OK for the traction battery under load.

When I go back on the 9th I will get actual voltages but can my dad use it from now to then?

Do you think that the ECU reporting 11.3 while the Fluke reads 12 is a point worth noting? To me it says a bad connection between the small battery and it's measuring device (Traction ECU?) but I do not know how accurate these things are expected to be. Certainly I would expect that 11.3 volts being supplied to something electronic that should be 12 to14 would normally leave it not working correctly. Does anyone have an actual ECU reported voltage for this reading from their own car?