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Toyota Prius 2007 (2ND Generation) Let's repair it together ABS VCS Brake RED TRIANGLE Engine Issues

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by JC Rodhry, Feb 19, 2020.

  1. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    I will go straight to the main point, don't expect from me to tell you or read the bible because your time and mine is Very Valuable.

    scenario/Place where Prius started giving me issues: I bought the Pruis on January 7, 2020, with 156000 Miles and excellent cosmetic and mechanic conditions in an AUCTION. On February 2, 2020, the temperatures in Las Vegas reached 29F degrees during the night. The next day, I went to work and the car drove as normal as always. Lunch Time, I went to my Prius to take a nap and 3 minutes later the RED TRIANGLE, VCS, ABS, BRAKE, (( ! )), ENGINE LIGHTS CAME OUT. I turned the engine off and on, and the engine did not turn on, at all. People helped me to jump-start the car but did not work. After I watched YouTube for 4 hours, it says that I have to unplug a sensor or cable from the 12V battery located in the trunk, right side. after I waited for 30 seconds I plugged-in back again and BOOM the engine turned on. No Light came out, until 5 minutes of driving my Prius back home. I bought in Amazon Bafx Products Wireless WiFi OBD2 / OBDII Code, I was only able to remove temporary the lights mentioned above, and the Prius was able to drive with no problem. But every time that I was turning the engine on, I have to reset the codes again to drive the car.

    Purpose: I will repair my 2007 Prius by myself + your experience advice, so in the future more Prius drivers can take advantage of this regular mechanic issue with the Prius.

    Car Maintenance:

    1. Changed oil and filter, BRAND: Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30 Synthetic Motor (Bought it in the Amsoil Warehouse)
    2. Optima Batteries 8171-767 (DS46B24R) YellowTop Prius Battery (O'Reilly Store))
    3. Genuine OEM Toyota Dot 3 12oz Brake Fluid 00475-1bf03 (Toyota Dealership)
    4. NGK 5464 BKR5EIX-11 Iridium IX Spark Plug, Pack of 4 (Amazon)
    5. Genuine 00272 SLLC2 Engine Coolant / Antifreeze (Toyota Dealership)
    6. Mini VCI and Bafx Products Wireless WiFi OBD2 / OBDII Code (Amazon)
    7. Toyota TechStream Version 14.30.023 (Amazon)
    I will provide picture samples, updates, repair step by step, videos and more to repair the Prius and avoiding to give away my money to the mechanic shop or dealership. I hope we are going to help each other to fix this car. as soon as possible. we cannot make more billionaires to the millionaires.

    Thank you,

    JC



     
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  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat!!

    Which DTCs (codes) were you able to retrieve with the mini-vci cable and techstream?

    How much did the amsoil cost at the warehouse, and is that local in vegas?
     
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  3. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    Once I get home I will post all the codes that I got from the techstream software, also I found in my car a receipt of parts purchased before the Prius was sold to me..

    Thank you SFO,


    JC
     
  4. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    the Gallon of AMSOIL oil and filter + Membership for $10 buck for 6 months = ~ $67.00 and yes there are a big warehouse who distribute the product to the dealership who will charge you for the regular amsoil oil $97 or $110+, with the membership the oil cost you
    $38.55 and filter 15.60. good price versus Amazon or any other location.
     
  5. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Congratulations on buying a Prius. You most likely have a P0AA6 HV isolation fault....it's the only DTC that allow the car to continue to run normally until it's shut off. Then, it will not allow the car to go to ready mode again. Once you disconnect 12v power to reset the ecus, the fault clears and allows the car to be started again. If the code comes in again, the cycle repeats.

    The code will have subcodes to help identify what area of the car is causing the HV isolation problem.

    Frequently, it's the HV battery having a small electrolyte leak from one of the modules. It can also be the inverter or the transaxle or even the AC compressor.

    If you're going to be doing DIY, the techstream software and an old laptop will save your day with it's ability to communicate with the prius for diagnostics.

    I won't purchase spark plugs from amazon due to the incredibly high level of counterfeits. A good set of Denso SK16R11 plugs (oem) will frequently last 120k miles. If you install the "maybe NGK" plugs, I would inspect them at the 20k mile point to make sure the ground electrode hasn't worn away.
     
    #5 TMR-JWAP, Feb 19, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2020
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  6. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    Hi TMR_JMA, to be honest, I remember I saw that code P0AA6, I am ready to start working with this repair. I only have Windows 10 and 8. my laptop used to be Windows 7 but Windows updated the whole system. every time that I drive the Prius, the battery seems to recharge very quickly, it takes less than five minutes to get recharge (Green Battery). But today I will start doing this. In case I need to replace a battery cell, which website do you recommend to buy parts of the Prius?
     
  7. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    UPDATE: The Codes that I am getting are Hydrid COntrol - P0AA6/ 156 , ABS/VSC/TRAC C1259, C1310, C1345, Air Conditioning B1421
    I already removed the HV Battery and I cleaned up the chain of corrosion BUS BAR (with Vinegar, Salt, and Baking Soda, bus bar looks newer again :) ), I tested each battery Cell and it got between 7.80 to 7.96 and driving got a score of ~7.6 each cell. so I don't believe the batteries' cell is bad. I put it back the HV battery and everything was working ok until the codes came out again and I cleared out the DTC codes and I drive the car with no problem, even the fuel gas consumption improved a lot, I turn the engine on and off and drive a few miles, lights never came out. Today I was coming from home to work and when I turned to the right side to enter tot he parking lot of my work site and less than a minute the RED TRIANGLE, TRAC, and VSC light came out again. That action looks like the same action that I did the first time when the warning lights came on the dashboard. Any advise?
     
  8. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    UPDATE: The Codes that I am getting are Hydrid COntrol - P0AA6/ 156 , ABS/VSC/TRAC C1259, C1310, C1345, Air Conditioning B1421
    I already removed the HV Battery and I cleaned up the chain of corrosion BUS BAR (with Vinegar, Salt, and Baking Soda, bus bar looks newer again :) ), I tested each battery Cell and it got between 7.80 to 7.96 and driving got a score of ~7.6 each cell. so I don't believe the batteries' cell is bad. I put it back the HV battery and everything was working ok until the codes came out again and I cleared out the DTC codes and I drive the car with no problem, even the fuel gas consumption improved a lot, I turn the engine on and off and drive a few miles, lights never came out. Today I was coming from home to work and when I turned to the right side to enter tot he parking lot of my work site and less than a minute the RED TRIANGLE, TRAC, and VSC light came out again. That action looks like the same action that I did the first time when the warning lights came on the dashboard. Any advice?
     
  9. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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  10. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    Im sorry is 526 ONLY
    and C1310/ 156 Only
    I am using Techstream Toyota System 14.023.30., basically, when I click on the Data list, the code shows up on the system with all other Prius mechanism or sensors that you can test as well.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Click on the snowflake icon next to the code. That will provide the freezeframe data, which will include a bunch of info.. Post a photo of the freezeframe data
     
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  12. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    Once I get home I will post pictures and Data Freeze, Also I am got a feeling that the wheel sensors are the problem, based on what I have been reading and the way I drove the Prius and then the lights came out. but I will keep you post it about this issue today.
     
  13. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    The P0AA6 code is unaffected by any wheel speed sensors. It is strictly indicating you have a loss of insulation/isolation between the HV system and the car body. The 526 subcode is pretty generic and essentially says the problem could be anywhere from the battery to the transaxle and everything in between.
     
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  14. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The P0AA6 is your primary issue, reported by the hybrid control ECU. The computers in the car gossip with each other, and C1259 and C1310 are both set in the brake ECU and all they mean is "hey, did you hear the hybrid ECU logged a code?" which is your P0AA6. C1345 could be another issue, but a less important one that can be addressed if it's still there after dealing with the main issue. B1421 only means the sun wasn't shining on the solar sensor at the moment when you read the codes.

    If you plan to hang on to this car and DIY it, you'll want to get fast at solving problems, and part of fast is paying attention to the code you have so you only do the needed work to find the problem. It's a problem with a high-voltage isolation failure that can be anywhere from the battery through the frame wire to the hardware under the hood including the air conditioner. You don't need to be disassembling bus bars or measuring module voltages to find it, but you might need to follow a step-by-step and make some resistance measurements.

    The P0AA6 routine in the ECU uses inf code 526 as a kind of "note to self: noticed there was an isolation fault, on the next start cycle, watch timing more carefully to decide in what area." If you give it another try and read the codes again, you might find the 526 has been joined by a 611, 612, 613, or 614, which will tell you down to a more specific area where you need to look. If that doesn't happen, you'll have to narrow it down with more tests you conduct yourself.
     
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  15. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    I just tested the car this is are the results...

    Capture1.PNG

    Capture2.PNG


    Capture3.PNG
     

    Attached Files:

  16. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    So following on from what ChapmanF said, you now have the 612 sub-code in addition to the 526, which directs your focus to the HV battery. Specifically, insulation resistance of HV battery, battery ECU, system main relay, or the system main resistor is low.
     
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  17. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Further pinning down the cause of your -612 is likely to require a specialized instrument known as a 'megger', or access to a person who has one and knows how to use it. There's a bit of discussion of those instruments here.

    A megger can look deceptively like an ordinary harmless multimeter, but can put out 500 or more volts during testing, and ruin your day. Test voltages that high can also be stored in the item you are testing, and surprise you after you think you are done.

    So, if you haven't been trained on one before, you might try to find someone who has to help out. Or, if you order one of your own, use the time while you're waiting for the shipment to arrive to read the Stitch in time document (found following the link above), paying special attention to the safety parts.

    That's a very helpful document that will tell you a lot more than the brief manual that might come with an instrument (especially if you go with a cheap Chinese one, that might come with one page if you're lucky that shows how the batteries go in).
     
  18. JC Rodhry

    JC Rodhry New Member

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    From the bottom to the top, that's the way I inspected this HV Battery, I did not see anything looked like wet or leaked around the case, battery cell or cables, of course, I cleaned up the bus bars and look like a new bus bar. yesterday I tested the car and I cleared all the codes and then I drove 3 miles around my home. today in the morning, I turned the engine on and the ready mode showed up (weird, because usually, I have to clear out the codes if I want to drive the car) I've driven12 miles away from home and work and the red triangle, VSC, ABS, brake, Track lights haven't come out yet, but I know pretty soon it will come out lol any advise how can I start expecting once again the HV battery? Chapman mentioned used the megger, on Amazon, there are a lot of those, which will be best but cheap lol. Thank you, guys.

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  19. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    At 12 miles, you could be fine. Visually it looks like you did a fine job, and there doesn't appear to be any staining on the pan or rails.

    Did you clean the HV battery squirrel cage fan, while also paying close attention for potential corrosion on that male/female connector.

    Did you look at the HV battery ECU connector, sometimes the cable and pins on the ECU side can grow a bit of corrosion.

    Now that you've driving it around, what does techstream show for DTCs?
     
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  20. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    x2 on the SFO comment that you need to inspect the sensor harness plug and ecu socket for corrosion.

    Also, the next time you have TechStream connected, use the "HV System" tab to see what you have for "ShortWave Highest Value". It will be between 0 and 5 v. The higher the number, the better, as this provides an indication of the insulation/isolation quality of the HV system.
     
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