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Your plug-in system has malfunctioned

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Tiberius, Jun 26, 2023.

  1. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    Hey everyone. New owner of Prius Prime XSE for about 4 weeks. Yesterday I got the message ‘Your plug-in system has malfunctioned’ , ‘See dealer’ and the engine light came on. Everything seems to work just fine as far as I can tell. Took it in this morning and Toyota says they have not seen this before and their scans do not identify the problem. Any thoughts or insights? I have to leave the car for further analysis since they do not recommend driving it.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Does it charge okay?

    did the dealer clear the codes and say to come back if they returned?

    did they give you the codes?

    were they going to contact corporate?
     
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  3. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    The dealer said they would contact corporate since they had not seen this before and recommended I do not drive it.
    Did not tell me the codes.

    Everything seemed fine and it was charging ok as far as I could tell
     
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  4. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    A very common reason for similar types of errors in other plug-in vehicles is with the EVSE (wall charger); usually a non-OEM EVSE. Also, ground faults at the wall receptacle.
     
  5. Louis19

    Louis19 Active Member

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    ...bummer... I sympathize with you....a brand new prime....Hope they will help you find the problem fast ,the dealer has to learn this new generation and find the quirks as soon as possible
     
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  6. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    Ok so it’s a mystery. They cleared the codes and said it’s safe to drive. Was told that there will be an forthcoming update that will fix the error message.
     
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  7. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    Sorry everyone, I respond right away but it seems to take days for moderator to approve my messages.
     
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  8. Mr.Vanvandenburg

    Mr.Vanvandenburg Senior Member

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    What does this mean “plug in system has malfunctioned?” Did the dealer explain? The plug in system seems limited to the onboard car charger, charging cord, or charging connector, or is it more? What was the car doing when this happened, charging? Sorry for so many questions. On my 2020 yesterday it took a few minutes to start charging, with the charge now or later screen displayed, then started, don’t know why. The other one I had randomly did the same thing.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    A bunch of pips had bad chargers
     
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  10. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    So the dealer did not explain, the implication was that it was a software glitch and that an update would fix it.

    The dealer did not offer any kind of timeline and said to just ignore the message if I see it again.

    The only thing that I can think of that I did differently was earlier in the day, I pulled the charger out very quickly from the car. What I mean is that I unlock the car to release the handle, and then a few seconds later I pull the handle out.

    On the day the error appeared I unlocked the car and pulled the handle out almost simultaneously while it was charging. I was using a level 2 charger in a parking lot that I had used several times before.
     
  11. Louis19

    Louis19 Active Member

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    Hummm...interesting but I suspect by reading the description of the day the error message appeared, does not quite explain it. As you probably know plugging your car to an EVSE is governed by the SAE J 1772 standard . In a nutshell , an active and constant. dialog is establish between the EVSE and the car . 5 pins of different length and diametre are linked thru the plug and the receptacle . 2 of them carries AC current , an other is the Pe (protective ground), and one PP pin (proximity pilot) aka plug present mainly preventing the car to moove while being plugged to a EVSE aka charging station . Finally the CP (control pin) where the dialog is generated between the car and the EVSE. .
    This dialog is happening at 1KHZ meaning a time period of 1 millisecond . Mainly this dialog controls the current requested by the onboard charger in the car .As the connector is removed, the shorter control pilot pin disconnects first, causing the EVSE to drop power to the plug. This also ensures that the power pins will not be disconnected under load, causing arcs and shortening their life. The ground pin is longer than the other pins, so it breaks last.
    As you can see , controlling logic is distributed at the source (EVSE) and at the destination (car onboard charger) thru the connector.Also the car ECU monitors other parameters supervising the charge process.
    So I don't think that pulling the handlle out quickly is the problem
     
    #11 Louis19, Jun 29, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2023
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  12. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    That is a great explanation, thanks for that.
     
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  13. Louis19

    Louis19 Active Member

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    The message you got from the MID was generated by a ECU and Toyota must have a flowchart reffering to that message .
    Keep us informed of future actions..meanwhile enjoy your new car;)
     
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  14. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    Ok, so just got another system malfunction error message, different error this time. Dealer did a through diagnostic and it appears that it is a faulty wire which is causing these errors which has been ordered and will be replaced next week. Will let you all know the details after next week.
     
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  15. Louis19

    Louis19 Active Member

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    @ForrestMunden as reported he his waiting Toyota for a cure ,Thanks for the follow up , by the way this new prime owner gen 5 has the same error message .
     
    #15 Louis19, Jul 7, 2023
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2023
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  16. dlford

    dlford New Member

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    Same issue here, 2023 prime 581 miles. Only ever used the factory charge cable.

    Fault code: P1CEA

    I'm going to clear it and cross my fingers
     
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  17. Tiberius

    Tiberius Junior Member

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    Just as a heads up - the service manager mentioned prior to the diagnostic that any after market alterations would make the warranty null and void. He specifically mentioned third party dashcams as an example. Doesn’t affect me but I just wanted to pass that info on.
     
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  18. dlford

    dlford New Member

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    Came back, took it to the dealer, they said it is related to the battery cooling pump, sent me home in a rental. Will update when I hear back.
     
  19. Exerted

    Exerted Member

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    They must be talking about ones that may be hardwired in somehow. They can't possibly be talking about the 3rd party dashcams plug in through the existing 12v/USB outlets.

    But then again, one of the Toyota dealers I bought from a few years ago mentioned putting on any kind of aftermarket wheels would void the entire cars warranty. Guess where I never took the car for service.
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't think dealers have a clue about warranty laws