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Another Gen 3 bites the dust...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Sammy B, Aug 17, 2017.

  1. m.wynn

    m.wynn Senior Member

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    JC, what's leading you in this direction? Transaxle failure seems almost a non-issue with turd gen and that disintegrated exhaust donut would have been letting ~800 -1000 or more degrees exhaust right in line with the HV harness melt zone. Just curious what's got you thinking in terms of MG failure. I'd bet if you traced out the cooked wires you might verify your MG code.
     
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  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The failure code leads to "transaxle replacement", per Mendel and his assistance with the repair manual. The car errors right from start up with a temperature sensor reading of 419 degrees and everything is disabled (can't shift into a gear). Surely a faulty reading. But I tried looking for this sensor and replacing, but it's MG2 spitting that out. Cannot be replaced on it's own.

    Yes I know the melted harness can give out this error, but as I've had time to study this car a bit, I think there are more demons that will come up.
     
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  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    What's interesting is I notice all the shaking that other people are complaining about when the car's SOC drops to 2 bars. The car has a much more noticeable shake, like it needs more air. During this time, the temperature sensor with the error doesn't cool down and the car remains inoperable and the engine never stops..

    However if I force charge the battery back up to 7 bars, the engine would idle for a few minutes and the temperature sensor would come down a bit and the car's hybrid system would suddenly work, the hybrid overheat error goes away. You'll be able to drive like nothing is wrong with it. But once you shut down, it errors out with a 419 degree temperature reading again.

    If I were to drive it to CarMax I would have to insist they never shut down my car.........
     
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  4. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    Bad 12V battery?

    Pixel XL ?
     
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You made my day........
     
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  6. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    :ROFLMAO:
     
  7. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Wonder if @JC91006 would be game for such ? (since a punt has been penciled in this g3's playbook)

    There is no doubt that a "mod" of this proportion is possible for Masta Sean ( @sfv41901 ) and the rest of the 'Masta Crew' to tackle at the upcoming (and long-awaited) Mod Party being hosted at the @Burna J Palace on September 2nd, though such an endeavor might require a full weekend to get everything dialed in.

    Of course many (who are these people?) won't understand the desire for quaffing a proper Guinness in the morning (or at any other time), and there could be some lingering bias in thinking that an 8am start is a little early for just beer.. which means if everything lines up for this mod to take place I would be willing to bring Mimosas down (and 'Death in the Afternoon' for those doing the heavy lifting) if that helps keep the wenches turning.
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Man I'm struggling with getting this car is my name, I can't throw money at it until I get it in my name
     
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  9. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    The battery pack will be dead by that point too:(.
     
  10. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    didnt the last owner have clear title to the car?
     
  11. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    The answer is a technicality mentioned in post 26.
     
  12. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The battery won't die, I would sell it or recondition it in a month. I will run the Car at least once a week to keep it balanced.

    Once the battery gets sold, there's no turning back. I'm going to have to figure out how to jam a v8 in there lol
     
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  13. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    Any headway on the hubcap I need?
     
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  14. Lightning Racer

    Lightning Racer Active Member

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  15. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    So I finally had a chance to put this car on a lift to get a really good look underneath. The "harness" that was suppose to be melted really isn't that bad. That's actually the HV cable going from the inverter to the hv battery, it's just a couple big shielded copper wires. That's not the cause of the hybrid overheat error in the transaxle. That's actually the bad news.
     
  16. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    so the V8 swap it is.. maybe something in a 2003 north star caddy motor ... for some reason they are super cheap here, must be the orange coolant eating the gaskets ;)
     
  17. NutzAboutBolts

    NutzAboutBolts Senior Member

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    Hopefully the Prius is fixable so you can drive it :)
     
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  18. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    There's still the problem the car is not in my name yet
     
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  19. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I wondered about that but was too chicken to speak up. I thought I'd read that, if it's orange, it's the high voltage cable. That does appear to complicate things a bit.
     
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  20. m.wynn

    m.wynn Senior Member

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    Bummer, JC, but good to know it's "just" the high voltage cables and not a bundle of low voltage wiring waiting to be cooked by the blown out donut. Assuming no damage to the shielding setting up a short?..

    I might be inclined to try a quick email to Carolyn at Luscious. With the 3 shift taxi fleet thing she's got going on, she might see P0A2E like the Gen 2 forum sees P0420. Maybe she'd throw you a quick bone. Worst that could happen is she ignores you. It would be great to find out something other than transaxle swap... I hold out hope simply because transaxle failure simply doesn't seem to be much of a turd gen thing.