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2002 Prius - Error P3120

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by MyUsernameIs, Aug 6, 2009.

  1. MyUsernameIs

    MyUsernameIs Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2009
    7
    1
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    Location:
    san diego
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Help!

    I am getting the nasty warnings on my dash. PS/Battery/CAR! (the car is the highlighted of the three icons). After starting up/shutting down a few times the error went away. It came back the next day (both times it popped up was on the freeway if that matters). I acquired one of those cheapish OBDII scanners they sell at Kragen/Autozone/etc... that shows you the code and allows you to clear it. It told me I have a P3120. I cleared it and its gone at the moment, I am assuming its going to come back later. The car is appearing to run fine with or without the error currently.

    Doing some searching on the magical internet thing it looks like I need a fancier scanner to tell me the subcode that would help to narrow down the problem. Since I don't have one of those and I don't want to pay my friendly toyota dealer tons of money to spend 3 minutes with their diagnostic tool......... Is there anything I can do prior to taking it in? Clean the windows... Jump on the bumper...

    I checked under the hood yesterday and all the fluids looked fluidy. To the normal lows/highs of where they should be. Beyond that I haven't done anything. Any suggestions?

    Thanks for any help (and hopefully saving me money and my car from imploding!)
     
  2. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,060
    3,529
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Hi new user. Unfortunately 3120 is not a good code. it has subcodes, but those would only be readable at Toyota.

    Since you cleared it, you probably have to wait for a re appearance to do further diagnosis. In the meantime, the history of the vehicle please odomoeter, yours since new? what major work has been done on it? All the details.