Battery replacement on recently purchased Prius

welcome to priuschat! hopefully, it will turn out to be nothing at all. members with more knowledge than me will chime in soon. in the meantime, all the best!

 

Just so you feel you have more choices
prius battery | eBay

 

DTC P3004 "High Voltage Power Resource Malfunction" is unusual.

I think the battery case should be opened up for inspection as it is possible that the corrosion is on a part such as a system main relay or a cable. That would be a lot less expensive to repair.

 

If you want to do this yourself, you should download repair manual info at techinfo.toyota.com to improve your chances of opening up the battery case without suffering injury to yourself or the components. The traction battery contains high voltage and current and is potentially quite deadly.

Corrosion should be obvious via visual inspection. If you don't see any problems then you may need a digital multimeter to measure voltages and resistances.

 

DTC P3004 on the 2005 Prius indicates a power cable malfunction.
There are 3 subsets of INF codes 131, 132, 133 associated with the DTC P3004.
INF 131, it is impossible to drive, with 132 it is normal driving, with 133 there is limited driving.
You probably have 132 if you're driving normally.
For that 132 the Trouble area lists many things: HV battery system, System Main Resistor, No. 1 system main relay, No. 3 system relay, Main battery cable, No. 2 main battery cable, frame wire, inverter with converter assembly, HV control ECU. Unless you have at least intermediate mechanic and electrician skills and are comfortable working with the high voltage system, I'd take it to a hybrid qualified mechanic. You may just need to replace a cable or frame wire, much less expensive than the whole battery. With their diagnostic tools they can actually assess the strength of each individual battery module too. Luscious Garage website has good blogs about Prius battery repair/replacement options. They are hybrid repair pros and I have emailed them before about an issue and gotten very helpful advice.

 

by downloading the repair manual as patrick said.

 

And being aware that the Hybrid system uses over 300 volts at very high amperage. It will kill you if you are not careful.

 

I would get a Prius friendly code reader, and just watch the situation for a while. Try reseting the code to see how quickly it comes back, and under what circumstances. Here is some info to show what sort of job it is to get into the battery:
Prius battery exploration
How to remove Hybrid battery quickly and easily | PriusChat

Being an unusual code, I would have doubts, based on reports given by PC'ers, that the dealer will have much luck troubleshooting that one efficiently unless they have a particularly experienced tech on staff. One of the scenarios that go along with the problem areas listed above is leakage in the HV system to ground. The Prius Gen II hybrid system is floating, so neither polarity is supposed to have significant resistance to ground. A common source of such leakage is via a failing A/C compressor, but as you say this is usually accompanied by other codes. Half way down Hobbit's page he looks at this aspect, as corrosion in the modules is also a potential problem in this regard.

Also, since you are in Texas, it is possible the battery has gotten overheated just by parking in the sun. This can shorten the life of the battery, so use the A/C when driving, and keep it cool back there. The overheating can cause electrolyte to leak, and that can contribute to the above leakage currents.

 

I had a 2005 and opened up the area so I could view the battery a couple of times. Some posters have found a bit of corrosion and cleaned it up with normal methods, ( Baking Soda ) Should you loosen any HV Battery connectors make sure you torque the nuts correctly. First thing tho: There is a battery safety disconnect on the left side, do the disconnect first. The whole plastic can be removed easily . When reinserting make sure it's made. Observe How it disconnects and connects. Do this a few times and look at the car again. Some people have had problems with the conduction at that safety switch. Don't be timid about pulling panels, they will not break. Remove the back seats and all the panels above the HV battery. I know you will not do this but do not span the battery contacts with your hands.Probably impossible anyways. Potential is something greater than 650 Volts, as I remember. There are 2 banks of about 300 each and one is isolated from the other. There are 3 relays carrying voltage to the inverter. One on each bank must be made before the total voltage is made on relay 3. Normal battery safety applies. Do not store your tools on top of the HV batteries. Disconnect the 12 Volt first. Have fun, I get the idea you want to do this. It is really not dangerous. Since you have a multi-meter you are way ahead of most. Some of my details may not be totally accurate, but someone will straighten me out. PS. There are many posts on this subject under Gen 2, perhaps you can research them.

 

Excellent advice, to include Pat and Bisco as well.

 

Correction: Just one string of modules, approx. 230V DC nominal. Not ground referenced.

 

Looking at this more: the battery ECU, when the car is first turned on, uses three relays to connect the HV to the inverter. One connects the -HV lead. One connects the +HV lead through a resistor of 20 ohm for a brief moment, then the third relay connects the +HV directly. The resistor is to limit the inrush current to the inverter's filter capacitors, to protect the relay contacts, and to test the circuit for shorts before connecting the battery for use. If the battery were connected to a shorted circuit, the hybrid control ECU would detect that the voltage didn't rise quickly enough, and would not turn on the final relay. You can hear those three relays clicking behind the passenger seat when the car is turned on.

So P3004 seems to be about this aspect of the self check, rather than leakage current to ground as I mentioned above. The first things to check are the resistor in the battery case, the relays, and the various interconnects, although checking for corrosion is still a good idea.

 

. The advice doesn't hurt, but this is way overplayed. There are some very good safeguards to prevent electrocution. One would have to really go out of ones way and be knowledgable. Read Hobbits very inclusive posts on the subject.