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Possible inverter fail? 2002 Prius

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by bkadams88, Nov 30, 2012.

  1. bkadams88

    bkadams88 New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2012
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    I
    I need to know what the symptoms of an inverter fail.
    My Son was driving from St. Louis to Kansas City in a torrential downpour when the car suddenly lost power. The engine was still on but would only go 2 miles an hour. I towed back to St. Louis to stealership. Multiple codes later they said it would cost $3800 for a new HV battery, Ecu and to clean out an overfill of oil via my son.

    I decided to do it myself. When picking up vehicle from dealer there was no power at all left in car. Would not even turn on. I bought a rebuilt battery from priusrebuilder.com and installed. By the way a very easy thing to do, swapping out the battery. Although quite heavy.

    However when starting I still got the warning triangle with ! and also check engine light and on the main graphics display a PS, a pic of a battery in grey color and a pic of a car with ! in it colored red.

    And the vehicle started but still has no power and only goes 2 miles an hour and not even enough power to go up my sloped driveway.

    I checked the inverter coolant resevoir and there is no turbulence. The battery may have been due to be replaced but I think the mail problem was the inverter going out. What can I check to validate this. All the codes the deal gave us was on a voice mail he left and unfortunately it was deleted.

    Need some help to decide what to do next. I already spent about $1100 to no avail.
     
  2. NinnJinn

    NinnJinn Member

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2011
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    Location:
    Indiana
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I am no mechanic, but when my inverter failed, The car just stopped running all together. I cleared the code and tried starting it again, it would start shuttering as soon as the ready light came on, then code would pop up and the car would die. I did this like 8 or 9 times then had it towed home and it sat for about a month until I had the funds to get a rebuilt one from re-involt for $1500. If I would have had about an hour more time, My Uncle and I could have had it all done in one day consisting of roughly 6-6.5 hours total work time..

    With only being able to drive 2mph and not much power would lead me to think it may have something to do with your trans axle which is another $3200+ via stealership.
     
  3. 3prongpaul

    3prongpaul Hybrid Shop Owner, worked on 100's of Prius's

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2010
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    Location:
    Boulder Hybids, Boulder, CO
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Rather than speculate, you need to have the car scanned with Toyota Techstream and get the exact error codes (and INF "subcodes" where applicable), then clear the codes and see which ones come back. This will help determine the problem. Generic scanners don't recognize the hybrid specific error codes.
     
  4. NinnJinn

    NinnJinn Member

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    Location:
    Indiana
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Sub codes that is....

    The scanner that I have gave me the main code, I googled the main code and found out what the problem was. However, With my 7yr old scanner it does NOT give the prius sub codes that would be more specific in telling you what the problem actually is.

    There are several "main" codes that the prius can throw but there are a wide spectrum of sub codes that go along with the main code to further pin point the problem in which all but a small handful of scanners can not read.
     
  5. bkadams88

    bkadams88 New Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    I
    I replaced the HV battery with one from priusrebuilders.com. Turned car on and engine started with display showing energy consumption going from engine to battery to fully charge it. Then shifted into N still ok. Then shifted into R and ok until I took foot off brake and car started to move and immediately all the warning lights lite up. I checked codes with an Autel MS509 scanner and got codes P3100 and P3125.
     
  6. bkadams88

    bkadams88 New Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
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    I was incorrect about the coolant reservoir. There is turbulence in the fluid with car on so pump seems to be operating properly.
     
  7. bkadams88

    bkadams88 New Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    I
    thanks to 3prongpaul I was able to get the codes P3100/175 and P3125/287. These are leading me to replacing the inverter/converter and pump.
     
  8. bkadams88

    bkadams88 New Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    I
    Here is an update to this escalating headache I have been dealing with.
    I installed a good used inverter in the Prius and still had the same problems. Still was getting P3100 and P3125 codes flash every time I put the car into reverse and as soon as the car moved backward.
    After discussing this with a couple people the only thing left was the transmission.
    It took awhile but I found one close to the house at a salvage yard for $500.
    I installed (after a lot of work) and the previous problem was no longer there.
    It started up fine and began to drive but then after a few minutes a code was thrown again.

    This time I was getting P3006 and P3021. Battery codes. I can drive around the block a few times but doesn't have any power to climb hills or really pick up fast. This was about 6 months after first installing the rebuilt Gen1 battery with Gen1 cells that only had a 90 day warranty. However this battery didn't sit for that long. During this process periodically I would start the car just to get some charge to the battery while trying to figure out what was wrong. However it did sit for about 4 weeks while removing the transmission.

    At this point I am trying to rectify the situation with Prius re-builders in Fairlawn, NJ. I was never sure if the battery was good when I first received it because the transmission problem would let me test drive the battery power.

    Hopefully everything comes out OK.