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2002 Prius Voltage Leak and shut down

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by davsim, Apr 20, 2011.

  1. davsim

    davsim New Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2008
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    Location:
    Kansas
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hi
    I have a problem with my 2002 Prius when I was driving down the highway the master warning light came on with a warning display screen appearing saying that there is an problem in the Hybrid System and then car went into shut down mode. I had it towed to the dealer for diagnosis and a estimate. The codes read were P3000, P3004, P3125, and P3009 they did not tell me the sub-codes read. There diagnosis was the inverter needed be replaced. The Main battery on this car had been replaces at 140,000 and there has not been a problem since, the car has been well taken care of throughout its life. Being new to working on hybrids but not cars and electronics I figured I could replace it cheaper than the dealer price of $4200. With the age of the car and high miles 175,000 I figured it would not be worth the new part price so I got a guaranteed used inverter. After replacing the inverter I still got the same problem with no change So I decided I would have to diagnose it myself. The car starts and runs fine and starts charging the battery right away as normal but if try to but it in reverse or drive it fails so that means the short would have to be in the transaxle. I decided to test MG1 and MG2 for shorts and I figured I would need to use a megger to do this but I did not all three winding on MG2 test shorted to ground on the 200 ohm scale on a regular ohm meter. Then after closer inspection of MG2 cables you can see a coating of corrosion running up all three cables. So the question I have is this corrosion on the cables a common problem for 1st gen and could it be possibly just a cable issue and not MG2 and can the cables be replaced without dropping the engine and transaxle???
     
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2005
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    Location:
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    I unfortunately am not a repair expert but some Google searches for site:lusciousgarage.com followed by your codes/symptoms might prove helpful. There are some hits for some of the exact codes you mention.
     
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Mar 8, 2008
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    Location:
    Green Valley, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Good for you, finding the ground fault with a regular ohmmeter.

    The problem might be a cable issue. Disconnect the cables where they connect to the transaxle and see what they look like. Also measure the resistance between the MG2 transaxle wiring terminals (after the cables have been disconnected) and ground so that you can determine if the ground fault is coming from the transaxle or elsewhere.
     
  4. Joekingiam

    Joekingiam Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2007
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    Location:
    Akron, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Hello,
    My 2002 Prius had a broken wire inside the MG2 connector at the CVT- A Black wire, I had to push and pull a little until it finally fell out of the connector.
    Definately check those out first.
    Joe