POA92 = new generator says Toyota dealer

Inverter is the correct term for the box on top of the transmission that says "Hybrid Synergy Drive." This system rarely fails on its own and is responsible for managing all the various high voltage currents. So if it points to a problem with inverter you need to check everything that works with the inverter.

The main issue with the inverter is a cheap cooling pump that is the weak link that commonly fails which is one number higher or a P0A93 error code. If you had that code and drove a long time with it the inverter would overheat and you'd destroy it and get a P0A94 code...

But putting all that aside for the moment, your POA92 is the motor generator, but best to consider that whole system as one part or transaxle, aka: transmission. The Toyota Stealerships do warranty work and their main source of profit is jacking up the price of brand new replacement parts. For example, a used inverter from a wrecked Gen2 Prius I got for $75 from a wrecker 2 weeks ago... The stealership quoted me $4085 for that part, which is so unbelievably offensive for a car that's barely even worth that much!

Anyways, your fix could be done for under $1500 if you can find a good price on a used transaxle/transmission and a mechanic who doesn't work at a dealership but is experienced enough to do the job. Or you can DIY for much lower cost.

But in the bigger picture, you also might consider finding a low mileage engine-transaxle-inverter combinedin the $1200 range and swap everything out once? There's also the remote chance you have a weak 12v battery or some kind of other inexpensive to fix anamoly, but that'd be super rare.

As for PO466, that's a different issue and you can read more here: P0446 and Techstream "TBP" Fail | PriusChat and here: Recurring P0446 code | PriusChat

 

Welcome to PriusChat!!

Make sure they give you the subcodes for that P0A92, they may also call them INFs or Detail Codes. This will help with further diagnostics:

Here is the workup for the DTC P0A92, this one has an INF 261 : https://share.qclt.com/%E4%B8%B0%E7%94%B0%E6%99%AE%E7%91%9E%E6%96%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%8E%82%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8Cpdf%E6%A0%BC%E5%BC%8F/Repair%20Manual/04pruisr/05/21bpm/0a92261.pdf

And the workup for DTC P0A92, with INF 521 : https://share.qclt.com/%E4%B8%B0%E7%94%B0%E6%99%AE%E7%91%9E%E6%96%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%8E%82%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8Cpdf%E6%A0%BC%E5%BC%8F/Repair%20Manual/04pruisr/05/21bpm/0a92521.pdf

And the workup for DTC P0A92, with INF 606 : https://share.qclt.com/%E4%B8%B0%E7%94%B0%E6%99%AE%E7%91%9E%E6%96%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%8E%82%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8Cpdf%E6%A0%BC%E5%BC%8F/Repair%20Manual/04pruisr/05/21bpm/0a92606.pdf

 

Posted the wrong workup above, here is the workup for P0A92 with INF 606 : https://share.qclt.com/%E4%B8%B0%E7%94%B0%E6%99%AE%E7%91%9E%E6%96%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%8E%82%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8Cpdf%E6%A0%BC%E5%BC%8F/Repair%20Manual/04pruisr/05/21bpm/0a92606.pdf

Though it would take about an hour, you might try going through the above workup and see if its a "battery current sensor" issue.

 

You don’t see it all that often here. Every now and again but it’s not a frequent theme. As the second owner you really don’t know how the car was driven by the first driver.

 

Gen1 transaxles had some problems, but they were all addressed and Gen2 transaxle failures are very, very rare.

 

You most likely need a new hybrid battery hence the limp mode.

If not now very soon so your staring at some very high repair bills if the car actually needs an inverter because it will soon need a hybrid battery too anyway. And I must tell if the inverter has failed you will not be driving anywhere much less driving and you hear a whine. Inverter failure is pretty rare on here we have seen a few and like you asked probably from a dead inverter coolant pump that was never addressed and it cooked the inverter.

Be careful about spending any big bucks on this car.

 

Welcome to Priuschat Tim, might I ask which dealership in NJ you went to? I am in NW NJ and there are some places to avoid.

Regards,

Tom

 

Functioning Transaxles, Inverters and Engines for Gen 2 are available at a very low price from salvage yards. When it comes to battery it is a different story. The price is low only because there is very little demand since these typically last for ever on Gen 2.

I am at 360K Miles on Gen 2. Engine, inverter and battery still original, though the battery ( No codes) is on it's last leg now.

I had to replace Transaxle when the housing cracked in an accident when I hit a rock on the highway. I found one at 700 back in 2012 from salvage yard. Now I have additional 195K miles on the tranaxle from salvage. This transaxle initially had 75K miles if I have to trust mileage provided by salvage yard.

 

I am referring to the hybrid battery in general based on your cars age and mileage. I see the car icon in the upper left corner of the mfd we call it the turtle usually means the hybrid battery is bad. Bad could be many things rotten buss bars, cracked modules leaking electrolyte or just soft modules.

My point was no matter what else your car is unhappy about your looking at that down the road too one way or the other so keep that in mind.

 

At close to 200k miles, it's time to retire the car. It has has very little maintenance done on it so the deferred maintenance will creep up in you in the form of very expensive repairs. The transaxle will cost you at least $1500, then you'll have to worry about the HV battery and brake actuator afterwards, as those are super expensive repairs.

Once you invest the $1500+ for the transaxle, you'll be locked in for any future problems, hard to let go.

Best to save the money now and get another car. You can sell the car for $1000 as is, someone will buy it in about a day

 

I disagree... For more then a half century cars would only be good for 100K miles, but once Toyota pickups hit the market 1/4 million to 1/2 million miles was the norm and Toyota replicated similar success in the Gen2 Prius design. Even most american cars in recent decades have no problem reaching few hundred thousand miles on basic maintenance.

Of course, in a society of hyper consumption, affluent hyper-consumers are looking for any and every excuse they can to throw out what they have for the drug-like effects of getting something new. It's an incredibly wasteful behavior and way more responsible to stay humble and get as many miles out of your Prius as possible!

Remember, Life isn't a contest where you win a brand new planet if you throw the old one away as quickly as possible.

 

I am speaking from experience. Yes replacing parts will help your gen2 stay on the road much longer. But I can give you an example of my 2005 parts replaced.

2005 Prius with 220k miles now. Since 150k miles I've replaced the following with DIY labor

1. shocks/struts $400
2. combination meter $150
3. HV battery $1500
4. transaxle $800 (paid to have this done by friend mechanic)
5. brake actuator (bought donor car to remove part)
6. inverter pump $100
7. water pump/belt/pulley $100
8. 3 way coolant valve $75
9. front speakers $60
10. front brakes $80
11. spark plugs and other maintenance filters


Parts - over $3000. So if you paid someone to do all the labor maybe another $9,000?

Yes this car will keep on going as long as I keep replacing parts. But this car gets uglier and uglier by the day and it's hard to let go because I've invested so much in it

I think for 70,000 miles, it's a lot to replace.

 

Yea, some cars are more problematic, I've more miles on mine and have only had to deal with 2 of the 10 things on your lists.

All of those costs are also relative to the savvy of the person taking care of the car... For example if my hybrid battery fails I could rebuild it in an evening for free with parts on hand, or in less than an hour I could swap packs with one of my spare packs and worry about the rebuild later...

And those who are less fortunate and are victims of being overcharged by desperate near broke mechanics that don't ever get repeat customers because they overcharge are more likely to thank you for your list as proof of the need to trade in their car at the stealership for ridiculous upside down financing, before it's too late. just so everything is under warranty again and they don't have yet another mechanic trying to screw them.

 

At 220k miles, I don't think my list of items to be excessive. The transaxle may be the only thing out of norm, everything else is to be expected.

I rebuild batteries myself but for this specific vehicle I use as a work delivery vehicle. I chose not to use a rebuild battery because I can't have an unreliable delivery vehicle. Sure you can get away cheap and ignore most of the items on my list, you don't really have to replace anything until it's completely broken and you're on the side of the road.

 

When my Gen 1 had its shape abruptly altered at 233,xxx, it had needed none of the major items on your list.

I had indeed replaced the front brakes, but only because I had been lax about inspecting them and allowed a problem to develop that brought them to a premature end.