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2006 CEL question

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by zytra, May 12, 2016.

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  1. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    Hi Guys,

    first post here. My wife and I bought a 2006 prius almost a year ago and after going away for several weeks we came back with the battery completely drained. I was able to charge it back up. But after that, on the very first drive, most if not all CEL lights (Check engine, the triangular sign, ((!)), VSC) were on. I figured it was probably related to the battery that got drained since we had no problems before, and after all these warnings came the vehicle does not drive any different.

    Have you ever experienced anything like this? Do you think it could be due a fully discharged battery? if so, is there a way to reset those without going to a shop?

    Thanks
    Steve
     
    #1 zytra, May 12, 2016
  2. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Disconnect large white plug from 12V. Wait 60 seconds. Insert.

    A bad 12v can cause a lot of false codes. Code reading options in my sig.
     
    #2 S Keith, May 12, 2016
  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I'm afraid you most likely have a HV battery failure. Having the battery sit for extended periods is not good.

    The possibly good news is CA has a 10 year - 150k miles warranty. So head to the dealer ASAP if you're under warranty
     
    #3 JC91006, May 12, 2016
  4. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    thank you for the quick replies!

    I will try the white plug trick and see if they come back.

    is there any way to see if the HV battery is OK? the vehicle is 160K miles sadly.
     
    #4 zytra, May 12, 2016
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You would need to get the codes read, but I'm pretty certain it would be a HV battery failure (but I've been wrong before). Toyota still might give you a goodwill warranty (just gotta ask), maybe pay for 50% of your repair.
     
    #5 JC91006, May 12, 2016
  6. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    Thanks.
    I bought an ODB reader, I'll have it tomorrow then I'll know.
    Should I try the white plug trick before I read the code, or just read the codes first?

    thanks again
     
    #6 zytra, May 12, 2016
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome to priuschat! all the best.(y)
     
    #7 bisco, May 12, 2016
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    A regular OBDII reader might not read Prius specific codes. The white plug trick is simply disconnecting 12v battery power to reset the car. You can try that and the error will go away. Drive for a day and see if it'll return. A bad HV battery code will return soon after it's reset.
     
    #8 JC91006, May 12, 2016
  9. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    #9 zytra, May 12, 2016
  10. kenoarto

    kenoarto Senior Member

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    I'm pretty sure it's a 12v failure. Shall we make a bet?
     
    #10 kenoarto, May 12, 2016
  11. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Ok it's a bet. I don't think it's 12v because he charged it up and on the very first drive, the lights came on. We all know once the car is in ready mode, the 12v doesn't really do anything anymore, in fact, it can be dead and car would run without it

    SM-N900P ?
     
    #11 JC91006, May 12, 2016
  12. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    "going away for several weeks" = dead 12V for sure. Likely needs to be replaced.

    Also may mean a 10 year, 160K mile hybrid pack that is already likely heavily deteriorated had some marginal cells self discharge below acceptable thresholds.

    I think JC may have this one.
     
    #12 S Keith, May 12, 2016
  13. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    I've reset the trouble codes, let's see what happen during/after my daily 200 miles to work =]

    I think the HV is probably in a bad shape if not dead already, but the reasons why I didn't even suspect it as the reason for these codes were:
    1. the 12V was at 2V or something when I came back.
    2. that VSC (vehicle stability control I presumed) was on which I wouldn't think would be related to battery
    3. all these lights all came on at the same time along a reset of the fuel gauge (it was a 1 bar and realized it reset when I stopped by the pump and topped it off after 2.1 gallons haha)

    so the 12V really did something to these lights and figured it would be a nice coincidence for something else going bad at the exact same time. but again, I really didn't think about the HV battery.
     
    #13 zytra, May 13, 2016
  14. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Dude, know that I am by far not the brightest bulb on this forum.

    But, I really think that S. Keith and Kenoart could be right, they could be wrong, but it is so easy to check the 12v. And, a bad 12v will cause all those lights to come on -- the Prius is a little strange in that matter.

    Pull the 12v and take it to AutoZone or somewhere like that for a free load test. I would not write off the Hybrid battery yet. Again, I am not by any means an expert, but jump to the Hybrid before investigating the 12v throughly.
     
    #14 Stevewoods, May 13, 2016
  15. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    #2 is always indicated with an HV Battery failure. The HV battery failure has a cascade effect because other interactive systems sense the fault and trigger a fault themselves.

    What were the codes before you reset them?

    Let's review:
    10 year old car.
    160K miles (near end of design life)
    left sit for "several weeks"

    The above is a fantastic recipe for HV battery failure. I can guarantee you your HV battery was already substantially degraded before you let it sit for "several weeks". The dash behavior (VSC, etc.) are 100% typical for an HV battery failure... and a 12V failure. The fact that the lights came on after the 12V was reset (you depleted your 12V duplicating a reset) indicates the car sensed a fault during normal operation.

    If you got Torque Pro, you can log the same data in the discharge test listed below in my sig.

    Run the discharge test and get some data rather than speculation.

    Steve
     
    #15 S Keith, May 13, 2016
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you bought a 9 year old car, with over 100,000 miles on her, to commute 200 miles per day?
     
    #16 bisco, May 13, 2016
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  17. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    no it's my wife's car, she doesn't do more than 5K per year - highway no city whatsoever other than when I get to drive to LA like today cause my daily driver is at the shop... I drive a Volt and it's at the shop due to a bad repair after an accident in november.

    update: the same trouble codes came back after less than 100 yards this morning. Here are the 4 codes:
    - big red triangle with a ! in the middle
    - ((!))
    - Check engine
    - VSC

    looking at the Energy screen on the dash it looks like the battery is really tired but again I've never had a prius before - it kinda feels like we're never running off the battery only even when driving 10-15 mph on my street/driveway.

    Just got the wifi ODBII reader, let's see what it says...
     
    #17 zytra, May 13, 2016
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  18. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    What you listed are not codes.Those are dashboard illuminations.

    Buy Torque Pro. Unzip and add the following to the extendedpids folder. It is identical to SeaWolf's except I have added "G2" as a prefix to them all to identify them as part of the package and sort together in the software.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/69762261/Prius/Gen2/Gen2.zip

    Flag everything I list in the discharge test for logging.

    Steve
     
    #18 S Keith, May 13, 2016
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  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    a bad hv battery is usually reflected on the icon by rapid fluctuation from top to bottom and back.

    testing your 12v is cheap and easy.
     
    #19 bisco, May 13, 2016
  20. zytra

    zytra Junior Member

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    Here's what I get from reader. all 3 are "power train" related and that's pretty much the only details it's giving me.





    IMG_2428.PNG

    IMG_2429.PNG
     
    #20 zytra, May 13, 2016
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