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2012 won’t start, P3190 + P0A0F, Hybrid battery depleted??

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by viciousthinker, Jun 15, 2022.

  1. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    hi all… well today has sucked so far.

    went out to my 2012 Prius this morning to run to the store, car has been parked in my driveway since it was last driven 20 hours previously (seemed fine then!), pushed in brake, pressed start, it started… I thought. It immediately sounded off, like it was hunting for idle and not finding it, after about 10-15 seconds it stopped the engine (or stopped trying to start the engine?) and flashed the Check Hybrid System error code, put car in park on flat pavement etc… I noticed the CEL was up, along with one I hadn’t seen before, a little red steering wheel. It was then that I noticed the SOL shown on dash… 1 bar. Wasn’t sure if ever seen that before.

    I put it into accessory mode with 2 pushes to button and no brake, checked for codes using my Elm27 Bluetooth adapter, and got P3190 along with P0A0F… damn. was literally driving fine and without issue less than a day before… Wth.jpg

    lately on one or two occasions I have found both P0172 set, and less frequently also P0101… both of those are also showing now. I looked at the battery block voltages via my OBD2 app and saw they are all showing as 15v+, but I guess that isn’t a measurement of available current…

    so, can any suggest where I should start? I’m going to hook up a techstream in a little while, but honestly am a little overwhelmed, not really sure where to start. It is not obvious to me where my problem is originating from… here’s the lowdown on the cars state… 2012 with 212k on it, EGR circuit cleaned end to end about 20k mile ago, wasn’t too bad, burns little to no oil, replaced ICE water pump preemptively about 10k miles back, traction battery is original, 12v was showing 10.3v on my Android radio so went and got another 12v earlier, about to put it in…

    any attack plan would be mighty welcome over here right about now… tia all.
     
  2. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    forgot to mention, after the engine would die after trying to start each time I got the distinct smell of fuel coming from somewhere, not used to that at all… maybe it wasn’t getting ignited?? If that’s possible…
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    make sure the 12v is charged before installing. should be close to 13 volts. then put tech stream on it, i think you'll have a much clearer path forward.
     
  4. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    Ok, put in a new 12v battery, it’s sitting at 12.4v after being idle all night, according to Techstream I’ve got the following:

    Hybrid System
    P0A0F

    Engine
    P3190 (current, permanent)
    P0172 (permanent)

    …and that’s it. I don’t seem to have any sub-codes, when I click on the snowflake I’m just looking at historic freeze-frame data… after replacing the 12 V battery I did try to start it again, but got the same result… Check hybrid system, engine winding but not actually starting… I hit the button and cut it off before it could drain the traction battery any further. Again I noticed a slight fuel smell, I looked under the hood at the injectors and back at the fuel line quick connect, but no leaking fuel evident there… Plugs all look good coils relatively recent DENSOs, appear normal.

    My first thought was that this was related to the traction Battery, but my reading here on the forum is leading me to suppose is simply because the motor isn’t starting when commanded… Is that correct? What do I check next… the P0172 code I have seen it once or twice during this last year, but never been able to determine what was causing it and it always just went away… Was on two occasions accompanied by P0101, But they never stuck around. I did read somewhere that math sensor can cause this, but I don’t understand how… In the past any problem I had with MAF sensor just gave a code, it never became a showstopper bug like this, effectively crippling the car. I did clean the sensor though, and no MAF sensor related codes are present so…

    …any tips? I won’t go on about how desperately I need the car to run, nor the sick pets needing passage to the vet or anything… and ESPECIALLY not that B*TCH who took the IS300 and her tennis lessons, and… oh wait, er, nm. As I said, any suggestions as to how to attack and solve this issue would be greatly appreciated friends, thx.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  6. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    Thanks for your reply Bisco, I had found these in my research attempts, there is definitely no debris in my MAF, and I have tried using a different one too, no change… one thing I neglected to mention in my initial post that could be relevant though… when this incident first occurred, the no-start condition, I had checked on my ELM27 Bluetooth setup w/ the Carbit app and noticed my Fuel Trim readings seemed a little weird… maybe indicative of what’s going on here? They read as follows:

    Fuel Trim short term: 0
    Fuel Trim Long term: -37

    should I be looking at my fuel pump here? Is it possible fuel isn’t making it up to the injectors? Any fairly unintrusive methodology for finding out?
     
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if it were a problem, tech stream should be showing it. idk anything about fuel trim, you'd have to look at the service manual.
    how many miles on her?
     
  8. 2010moneypit?

    2010moneypit? Active Member

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    My 2010 had the p3190 and the POAOF code I did the following and it started and has been fine for the last 15,000 miles.
    I cleaned the throttle plate added fuel because only 2 bars showing on.
    I added 4 gallons.
    Also banged on the fuel tank. ( I had several Chevys where the electric fuel pump gets stuck. Banging on the tank is usually temporary.)
    I am not sure what fixed it. I suspect it may have been out of fuel. Because of a gage not working correctly. Banging on the tank may have got the float working correctly. I wish I could have done the items separately but my hybrid battery was only at one cell.
     
  9. viciousthinker

    viciousthinker Junior Member

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    212k, I’m second owner I got it @ 145k…

    this morning I did get it running finally, I had Techstream up and running and used the utility in the Engine & ECT section to turn on the fuel pump, let it run a few times to confirm it was indeed working and (hopefully) pressurized, and then the vacuum pump (which I never heard even the slightest sound from?), ignition off, then normal startup again… still displaying the CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM warning… quickly cleared DTCs in hybrid section w/ Techstream and… fixed. verified w/ a few off/on cycles, main HV battery is charging, it lives.

    I must admit, in this instance, it might have actually, FINALLY turned out to just be a bad 12v battery… like hitting a unicorn in broad daylight while texting on hwy 59!
     
    bisco likes this.
  10. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Your Prius problems will be over after you crash while texting on 59