Hello Folks, My family has 2002 (G1) Japanese Domestic NHW11 Prius in another Asian country that was recently submerged in flood water. The only Toyota dealer in their country is a little far away from my family home and Prius is not popular there. I think it is very possible it may be the only G1 Prius in the whole country since the dealer has no knowledge about this model and can't do much to help. Without the dealer help, my brother and his friend who is equipped with OBDII scanner has pulled a bunch of codes. The flooded HV ECU was cleaned and let completely dried and reconnected. The car starts but the transmission won't shift or do nothing. It's not driveable. They checked a bunch of other things which I don't know. But they told me they needed the new HV ECU so I bought one of auction site and send it to them. The replacement HV ECU won't even start the Engine at all because I think the immobilizer is tripped and the HV ECU needs to be flashed. The dealer is again not able to offer much help with the reprogramming. So, I talked to the guy whom I bought the ECU from and suggested me that it is most likely the battery ECU needs replacing when the car is flooded. It's at least 99% of his experience with the flooded Prius according to him. So, I am looking to buy the battery ECU / ECM? but it seems the model they need is 89890-47040 which is made by Panasonic. I can't find that model at all on the web. I found a lot of the U.S model 47030 or 47060. Would the 47060 works for the Japanese G1 NHW11 prius or what model battery ECU do I need? Also, do I need to buy another ECU (Engine ECU)? I am totally confused about Prius and the different versions Toyota offers. Can someone please help or suggest what is supposed to be done to get this car rolling again? And I would much appreciate if someone knows how to reprogram or flash the ECU without the dealer equipment? Thanks in advance. Everyone! James
Ok! A lot of readers lurking in this thread but not a single reply so far. So, I would like to invite if anyone would like to chime in his take on where to start with the flooded prius? Thanks!
clarify please, you are where and the car is where? It's a domestic (Japan) model, right? You need to get a Japan battery ecm.BATTERY & BATTERY CABLE / toyota | part list｜JP-CarParts.com Unless you can find one in an Asian junkyard, it will cost more than the car is worth. Probably tho, the other computer packs are also dead from immersion. A North America component may work, The one you sent may have been dead, or may have died in transit. I have a suspicion that the car is not repairable. I suspect you need tech support from Toyota of Japan, you need someone with the background, you probably need engineering notes, and you need someone who's interested in helping you. If you are in North America, get on your cell phone and give Luscious Garage in San Francisco (415) 875-9030) Or Atomic Auto, in Portland OR. (503 969 3134 and see if they need to make an appointment for a phone consultation. Both shops have good reputations.
They do know about the 30 minute 'mating ritual' between a new HV ECU and old immobilizer, or vice versa, right? If not, probably that is not the only information in the repair manual that they will need to have, and getting access to that manual will save a lot of guesswork in a project as challenging as a flood restoration. -Chap
Hi Brian, Thanks for the reply! You got me thinking a lot. I am in Cali but the car is in SE-ASIAN country. In the U.S, I think the car may be totaled. But for them, I think they have to try to get it rolling again. The reason is that the duty, tax, and import laws over there do not favor totaling the car as quick or easy as in the U.S. So, I am trying to help them by looking for parts and asking you folks where to start. They have the service manual and a few people with Electronics background to troubleshoot most electrical problems. Anything with ECU and reprogramming would be a major bump. No one there seems to know how to reprogram one or equipped to reprogram the Prius. I think the HV ECU I sent is may be working fine but I can't tell for sure. With the old ECU, the engine would run every now and then. With the new ECU installed, I think the car does not run and immobilizer trips. So, I think it probably is working but needs to be mated with the immo ECU. I am not sure the difference in the battery voltages between NA and Japan models but it uses the same kind of cell. I think the battery ECU coming out of the U.S car would work. I think there is a good chance the old battery ECU quits when the water got inside the HV ECU. They are all connected so I suspect some kind of short is sent back to the highly sensitive battery ECU. I will give a call to the folks you suggested and see if they can help. For now, I am planning to buy a battery ECU and a min VCI scanner of ebay to have them look deeper into the ECU. I am also sending all the technical info and articles / threads I found in this forum. Thanks! James
Hi Chap, Thank you for pointing out this mating ritual. I told them the other day so they tried and told me it does not work. So, I think they need something else or something more. Where could I find / buy the repair manual? I think they have the service manual containing 1490 pages. It's quite the longest service manual I come across and I have read a lot of service manual as an Engineer. I think it will be quite a challenge to get this car going again. Thanks, James
If you're in the USA then techinfo.toyota.com is where you find the manual. Yes, it's a lot of pages, but as my Dad used to say when teaching me to swim, it shouldn't matter how deep the lake is, you swim on the top (or, in the case of the manual, just go to the sections that pertain to the work you're doing). -Chap
BTW, a generic OBD2 code reader may not provide enough information. There is a proprietary scanner/reader that uses Techstream.to read the Toyota ECM's. Luckily the Chinese have cloned the software and there's an aftermarket harness that will connect the service port under the dash on the left side to a PC that runs Windows XP. You install the software to the computer and it can read a lot of stuff on the car. Search for it on the forum or google (probably "techstream" ) for lots of discussion and sources (hint: Amazon, Ebay.) Finding old XP computers may be not so hard in 3rd world countries. I don't know how fraught sending an ancient defunct computer is. Or, search mini-vci.
