Hello all, new to the forum and was recommended to ask here by several other prius owners: Just picked up a 2005 Prius that had been sitting for a few months for a good deal, clean title and 195k miles with a brand new hybrid battery with dealer verified install paperwork. Only issue is it has the red triangle of death (exclamation light and VCS light) and was showing P0A08 and P0A09 codes. Drove it home 50 miles, car ran flawlessly with no issues. Figured the codes were related to the 12v battery after it had been sitting for a few months. Swapped the battery when I got it back to my house, codes did not clear and two new codes (P3190 and P3191) came on along with the CEL. Car has not failed to start up once, no idea what could be causing these. Again, car drove flawlessly on the way to my house. Any advice or possible next steps are greatly appreciated. All I've done so far is make sure it had gas in it and replace the 12v battery.
The first two mean the DC-DC converter isn't working, and in particular, that it probably isn't charging the 12V battery. Measure the voltage on that (at the jump point under the hood will be fine) and tell us what it is when the car is off and when it is on. The second two codes often mean the ICE isn't starting at all. That can happen if the HV battery is nearly fully discharged. Hard to see how that could be right if you are able to drive it around though. If you have a decent OBD2 dongle then you could read the pack voltages using an app like Dr. Prius or Torque Pro. Do that soon and report them back here. Guessing, because there is not all that much info to work with yet, I would suspect the "new hybrid battery" isn't working right. If it is a name brand aftermarket (Green Bean or something like that) they should be willing to check it out under warranty. What was the source of this vehicle? Dealer, used car dealer, private sale?
Gotcha, any recommendations for an OBD2 dongle? I have an Innova but it won't scan the hybrid codes, got a friend with a good one and the Dr Prius app to help out but he's now out of town. And yes, battery is Green Bean. Private sale car, figured it was cheap enough that I could break even just parting it out even if it turned out to be a total basket case (looking likely!). For more clarification: I went to pick the vehicle up initially and it only read those first two codes for the DC-DC converter (P0A08/P0A09). I then drove it about 50 miles (highway, stop and go, etc) and it ran just fine. Engine came on correctly, power screen showed battery charging, no issues I could detect whatsoever. Upon getting home, i swapped the 12v with a new one to see if I could get that to clear. After doing that, the CEL came on with the P3190 and P3191 codes and the engine did not turn on during driving *edit: this happened at the bottom of my block and I immediately did a u-turn and took it back to my driveway, I was probably driving for less than 45 seconds once I saw the CEL. If it clarifies anything at all, the engine WILL turn on during startup and run for about 10 seconds, but then it dies after that. Unsure if that is unusual with these codes or adds any information. Thank you for the help!
I am sure it starts initially, as I said it cuts off after about 10 seconds. I did not want to risk driving it again in case it damaged the hybrid battery, felt it wasn't worth it. Would you recommend attempting it?
no, I wouldn't. cutting off after 10 seconds usually means the battery is spinning the engine, but it isn't starting, they sound about the same. and continually trying to start it will drain the hybrid battery, causing the need for a special starter and possibly harming the battery. look up the codes online, and follow the troubleshooting and repair advice
it could be that the battery is already too low, but there are a myriad of reasons the engine might not start, like any gas engine. are you sure there's fuel in the tank? you might need to add 4 or 5 gallons, gen 2 prius has a tank bladder, and the gauge isn't always correct.
Here are links to the service manual for the P0A08 and P0A09 codes: P0A08 — 2005 Toyota Prius L4-1.5L (1NZ-FXE) Hybrid Service Manual | Operation CHARM DTC 265 — 2005 Toyota Prius L4-1.5L (1NZ-FXE) Hybrid Service Manual | Operation CHARM DTC 591 — 2005 Toyota Prius L4-1.5L (1NZ-FXE) Hybrid Service Manual | Operation CHARM The problem is either the wiring harness between the hybrid vehicle control ECU and the inverter, OR, the inverter itself. Like already stated in post #6, the car is not starting. It sounds like it started, but what is happening is the motor that is trying to start the car times out and stops trying which sounds like the car stalls. This is your main issue to solve before worrying about the P0A08 and P0A09 codes. The first thing to try is clean the throttle body.
For the OBD2 dongle refer to this page for ones which work with Dr. Prius: Dr. Prius App - OBD2 to buy (I have a Veepeak which also works nicely with Torque Pro, once the Prius specific PIDs are loaded.) Or get an Autel AP200, which with its own software, provides capabilities similar to Techstream. I would hope that either one of those would provide more error codes which might suggest why the gas motor isn't starting. If they don't it is back to air, spark, fuel, like any other gas fueled vehicle. Since you hear the motor spinning you can probably rule out the equivalent of a starter failure. That said, you need to read the HV voltages soon - running that battery down will make things even more difficult. If you don't have a digital multimeter you will need to get one of those too. Not to measure the voltages in the HV pack (you would be dealing with Green Bean if that is the problem) but to make sure 12V (when running, actually somewhere between 13.1V and 14.5V) is going where it should, and to check for continuity and shorts. Was the vehicle from a rural location? Rodent damage to car wiring is pretty common in those locales.