2002 Prius HV Battery Status

After purchasing our Prius in 2004 we've enjoyed 10 years of comfortable and efficient transport and I'd have to say its been the most valued car I've ever owned however I'm now wondering if the end of this great run is coming. A few days ago an exclamation light appeared on the dash together with a car icon with exclamation through it. Hadn't ever had a problem with the car except for a steering motor issue which was repaired under warranty many years ago.

The car seemed to be driving just as well as it always had, with the battery charge indicator fluctuating between half and three quarters. I drove it to our Toyota dealer and it wasn't long before I got a call telling me a new HV battery was required. The cost here in Australia has been quoted at $4765 and since this amount is considerably more than the car's value it may not be a viable option to repair.

Toyota advised me not to drive the car under any circumstances however I insisted I drive it home from the yard and after paying $150 for the diagnosis allowed me to take the car. At least I can now organise a salvage yard to pick it up and pay me $50 for the scrap metal value.

The workshop provided me with some codes and I'm interested in others feedback about the severity of the problem.

Anyway the codes were:
P3000 - Battery Control System
B2799 - Immobiliser Malfunction
P3009 - Leak Detected

The car drives well and I can see the battery charge fluctuate as the ICE kicks in as it always has. I'm not intending to rely on the vehicle and am looking to make a quick purchase of a Gen 2 & 3 model. But I'm tempted to pull down the battery and replace damaged cells, the car may have a little more life in it which my son could make use of.

Thanks for any feedback,

David

 

Thanks LEVE, an interesting comment about the possibility of corrosion. Here in Perth, we've just had our first substantial rains of the season with very high humidity over the past week. I'm thinking that maybe moisture in the air is helping corrosion on terminals to flag a fault. Given the HV charge as displayed on the console appears to be ok and the car drives normally, the condition Toyota have suggested may not be as critical. Then again I won't really know until I open up the battery. I'd heard the Gen 1 cells have been known to leak but then I'd assume if this was the case there would be issues with the overall state of charge.

With all the resources available at PriusChat (and PriusKings) as well as the grid charger you've suggested, managing battery issues is looking a lot more viable than I'd earlier thought. There are very few 02 vehicles in this state and no market to inspect and repair battery issues so I'm very grateful for help on this forum.

 

Thanks for this information, it suggests Toyota service personnel might have been jumping to conclusions advising that the vehicle is not roadworthy. They asked me to sign a waiver before I drove out of the yard!

Also the thread Chap has referred to about diagnosing P3009 is very interesting, it would seem Toyota's efforts so far have been half baked. If more details about the source of the P3009 leak are available without pulling out the battery, why wasn't this done? I paid $150 for a diagnosis so think I'll ask Toyota if they can provide further analysis as described in the thread.

Regarding scrapping the car, the more I learn from this forum, the less inclined I am to take this course. The car has done 237,000 km / 147k miles has been regularly serviced by Toyota and is in good condition. Yesterday I made arrangements to check out a potential Gen 2 replacement (before learning about driveability of the Gen 1) and will head out later today to take a test drive. Good to know I'll have time for a considered decision about purchase.

 

Chap - thanks for your insights about the P3009 code and working with the HV battery. I'm a bit slow to reply as I've been traveling and have only just got back.

Before going away I made a quick decision to buy a 2006 Gen 2, knowing my wife who does most of the driving wouldn't be happy with the Gen 1 and a permanently displayed warning message. The Gen 2 is in excellent condition, has just had its HV battery replaced under warranty and with only 90k km on the clock should have plenty of life left. I picked up the new car before heading away and also made a call to Toyota to book in a test of the Gen 1. The service liaison guy I've been dealing with was very interested to hear more detail about the possible causes of the HV error codes (thanks to information here) and the means to diagnose the source. We agreed it would be worth pursuing with the workshop in the interest of expanding knowledge and providing appropriate recommendations to customers.

So today I decided to take the Gen 1 for a drive and found to my surprise the warning light disappeared on start up! Perhaps dry weather for more than a week has contributed to this, I'm thinking reduced humidity points to a terminal corrosion issue (or the new Prius parked nearby). Anyway, there's more wet weather to come and I suspect another opportunity to diagnose the issue.

 

Errors and warnings from this car appear to be completely arbitrary. After the 12v battery went flat when the interior light was left on, the car became undriveable when a freshly charged battery was fitted. The warning triangle appeared with the check engine (malfunction indicator) light together with shuddering before the ICE cut out. Got the car towed to a non Toyota workshop and P3101 and P3191 codes were noted. The codes were cleared and the car started and drove without issue. Its been fine ever since, no faults or warnings despite all attempts to reproduce.