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Prius wouldn't start

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by avoice217, Sep 29, 2022.

  1. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey guys, so small update; so I received a used one from another guy on eBay & apparently its something else in the battery pack. So come tomorrow I'm gonna take the battery pack out and do a more intensive look. I honestly have no idea why it has to be this complicated, but unfortunately it's become this way. Thankfully tomorrow is a holiday, so I'll have plenty of time to figure things out.
     
  2. maleko

    maleko Member

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    If you've got TechStream, you can verify your battery's wire harness deficiencies the "easy" way as @mr_guy_mann already suggested.

    Otherwise you need to spend some time manually probing your battery pack and harness with a multimeter.
     
  3. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey guys, so I believe I found the root of my problem (and its probably a very rookie mistake). So I was working on taking the battery pack apart and hiding right in front of me was one of the battery contacts that's supposed to be screwed down by an 8mm nut, but it was just handing out. I'll admit that sometimes I rush through things and this just happens to be one of those times. Now my problem is that I have a package of nickel plated bus bars with the nuts, but that's what I'm currently trying to find. If I can't find it today, then I'll have to contact the dealership and see if my original crate is still on their premises or not (hopefully it is based on how long it took them to ship it to the dealership to begin with).
     
  4. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey all so heres a little update on my end; so I don't have anymore problem codes, but still my car just won't start. None of the data on my obd2 scanner is giving me any kind of information. For those of you talking about doing Techstream, I can't do that because I don't have any laptop that runs Win XP and can bypass any kind of setup stuff. My laptop runs Win 10 & even then it wants to see if I'm a registered mechanic. Therefore, I'm considering taking it to a local mechanic that does work on hybrid vehicles because I can't think of any other ideas, but like always I'm open to suggestions.

    Hey all, so a quick search from these forums said that it could be possible low oil. My oil is currently at the bottom dot, but since it hasn't been run in over 6 months, I don't understand how that could have any bearing on the situation since my situation has been the hybrid battery this whole time. Also I wouldn't even know how to jump up the front of the car properly to even perform the necessary oil change (I do have proper stands to keep the car up though).
     
    #64 avoice217, Jul 4, 2024
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2024
  5. maleko

    maleko Member

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    You can install Tech-Stream on your win10 directly or even run it in a virtual machine but you still need the proper cable / dongle to do so.
     
  6. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    So I found my mini vci cable and found a great video on how to install a virtual box with Win XP in it. The only issue is that the video didn't really explain how to update the firmware so that Techstream recognizes it all.
     
    #66 avoice217, Jul 5, 2024
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2024
  7. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    What firmware are you talking about? You shouldn't need to update anything. Did you create a VM from scratch?

    If you search the PriusChat Gen 2 forums, you should find more than one post that links to a VM already loaded with Techstream. You just install the VM and go.
     
  8. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey all, great news. So I was able to get Techstream running on my laptop and I was able to take a photo of the health check results that my laptop gave me. I did a quick search and apparently the currently code has to deal with the safety plug (P0A0D). However, my understanding is that the orange plug can only go in ONE way (which I made sure I did correctly and safely). Anyways, heres the photo I got from the results
     

    Attached Files:

  9. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Active Member

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  10. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Oh, so that's what I didn't do. Thanks for showing me this.
     
  11. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    P0A0D is the code specifically about doing that.

    The service plug has two very obvious fat copper contacts, which are for completing the battery circuit.

    It also has two very small contacts in the end of that movable handle. The handle has to be clicked all the way home for those small contacts to complete the safety interlock circuit that confirms the plug is in place. When that safety circuit is not completed, the code is P0A0D.
     
  12. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    So I was able to get the car to drive about a couple of miles before I started noticing a faint odor. Apparently its coming from the hybrid battery pack because I got the red triangle again & was safely able to park the car in my local Walmart. Thankfully no one was injured during the experiment, but now I have to get into my truck & turn on the car to find out what the error code is.
     
  13. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    So I was able to get some DTC from the car while its sitting in Walmart. Heres an image of the new codes
     

    Attached Files:

  14. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    So based on some of the research I've done, it looks like I gotta do (hopefully) some repair on my inverter as some of the codes are in reference to the inverter. So far I found a really good Youtube video on the P0A94 code, but that's gonna take some work as well as a different kind of multimeter (have to get one that measures Ohms), so gonna have to look for one of those. Hopefully I can figure this issue out here soon.
     
  15. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If those are the new codes, you still have a P0A0D showing as current. That one at least ought to be easy to put properly to bed.

    The multimeter you've got should have a setting already for measuring ohms. If you are looking to obtain a megger, that's just a meter that uses a (much) higher voltage so it can measure millions of ohms.

    But there might still be troubleshooting steps to glean from the repair manual for the codes you have before a megger has to be brought in.
     
  16. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey guys, so just curious, since I'm probably gonna be replacing the inverter, should I go ahead & replace the inverter water pump as well?
     
  17. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Hey all, so I just noticed that the inverter coolant level is extremely low, but I honestly don't know if that would cause the inverter itself to fail or not. I'm wondering if I should just buy more of the SLLC coolant from the dealership and put it in the coolant tank and maybe that will help me to save on not having to replace the inverter.
     
  18. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Absolutely.
     
  19. avoice217

    avoice217 Member

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    Now I need to figure out how to get the step by step instructions for the p0a0d error code. Apparently there's a few sub codes on that from what I've been reading. Unfortunately when it comes to a possible pdf file on that, its very hard to find or just come by in general.
     
  20. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I think the only two subcodes of P0A0D are to tell you when the interlock circuit was first seen open.

    If the car is stopped at the time the open is first seen, you get P0A0D-350 and the car is immediately locked out from going READY.

    If the car is being driven when the open is first seen, you get P0A0D-351 and the car lets you keep driving so you can get somewhere and turn it off. (After that, if the circuit remains open, you're locked out.)

    At least those are the two INF codes for gen 3 (easy for me to look up just now).

    The interlock circuit itself is too simple to spend many words on. It is a basic series circuit connecting a pin of the HV control ECU to ground through a few safety contact pairs under the inverter covers and in the orange service plug. If it has continuity to ground, you're good. If it doesn't, you get P0A0D. Nothing more than a multimeter is needed to troubleshoot it.
     
    Brian1954 likes this.