Hello everyone. I am new to the Prius world and just recently picked up a 2010 Prius that had been involved in a front end accident. The damage includes a bent radiator support, broken right side head light, radiator and surrounding areas. The inverter coolant reservoir is empty as the front end has bent it from the top portion of the radiator towards the engine, air filter box and related. The LCD reads Check Hybrid System and the power / start button is orange. The battery of the car is dead but we were trying to get it going by jumping it through the main connection points in the hood. The car has about 100k miles on it and is fairly well kept other than the collision. Would you guys kindly point me to anything I could be checking so I can verify their functionality and hopefully narrow down as to why the mechanical engine won't start. I did notice that the inverter has shifted a couple of inches towards the firewall but the unit itself appears undamaged but the frame that holds the inverter has shifted from the bottom and can be straightened out. Would the mechanical gas engine not still function independently of any issues the hybrid may be having? I knew buying the car there would be a fair amount of risk but I got it for a low enough price where hopefully it can mitigate the damages. Would appreciate any thoughts, insights you may be able to share with a technically savvy hybrid newcomer . Thank you!
It sounds like this is your first Prius. This is NOT the car I would have purchased to repair, with no previous Prius experience. The ICE is spun and started by the hybrid battery, using the transaxle. The inverter converts the HV battery voltage into a 3 phase AC waveform to supply the transaxle. The transaxle acts similar to a 3 phase motor to spin the engine for starting. The 12v battery merely runs the electronics. You may be in this much deeper than you expect.. narrow down as to why the mechanical engine won't start because the hybrid system is damaged. With the inverter pushed back "inches", you may have quite a bit of repair needed before you'll be able to spin the engine over. And just to cheer you up, you may want to do a search on the forum for 2010 Prius head gasket failures. I think the 2010 model is easily ranked #1 most common for that little surprise. On a personal note, I wouldn't touch a 2010 in that condition unless it was given to me and delivered to me for free. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Then I would just part it out.
Well this just cheered me up! thanks for the input and detailed reply... well noted! I guess I will learn more once I start taking it apart and slowly eliminate or identify potential problematic items. I am not going to put a lot of money into it. At that point I would have to look passing it on to someone else. We will soon see I guess...
congrats and welcome! start by purchasing tech stream diagnostic software. a compatible laptop and a subscription to techinfo.toyota.com for the service manual. all the best!
