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Help diagnosing issue 2007 Prius gen II p0a78

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Dylan Watson, Apr 11, 2019.

  1. Dylan Watson

    Dylan Watson Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2019
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    Location:
    Piqua
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    So I’m pretty new to all this stuff. What initially happened was I let’s my friend borrow my car and as they were defrosting it the battery died. I assume they didn’t actually start the car with the brake down and that’s why it died. I “thought” I knew how to jump the car but being the idiot I am in the dark I accidentally hooked the positive jump cable to the metal plate behind the actual terminal . I then put the negative end on the hood latch. Tried to jump it with someone’s car and nothing. Realized my mistake and connected it to the terminal correctly and as soon as I connected it my car powered up. I then tried starting my car while still connected to the jump cables and got it to come on. It displayed a parking break transmission error and couldn’t do anything. I read online in a forum to try and pull the 7.5amp fuse out for a bit and reinsert it to let it reset the error. And that worked and I was able to drive it fine. Everything was good for a couple weeks then it got really icy out one night and my vsc lights and abs lights came on . They went away after a day or so. About 3 weeks later after that the red triangle exclamation light came on along with the vsc light and the check engine light . It started having acceleration issues. I took it to auto zone and it only put out the code P0A78 motor a inverter . Now the car will frequently rev up after driving it a bit and can’t accelerate very fast. If I turn the car off and back on it will start working again. I noticed when it revs up and makes that sound the hv battery will no longer charge until I restart the car. Had a buddy run another odb II scan on it and it came up with the same code plus 3 others. I’ll upload a screen shot of the codes. I have since stopped driving the car. The car was serviced in 2013 with the inverter pump replacement and have had no issues with the car since other than routine matinence. From what I’ve read , there is a good chance it’s the hv battery and will need replaced but I’d like to try out anything I can do before I go that route. Could I have blown a fuse somewhere from the incorrect initial jump or fried the inverter? Any help at all is greatly appreciated! Ps: the hv battery fan also runs at full blast constantly as well now. If I pull out the 7.5 amp fuse in the fuse box again the errors go away for a bit and the car drives great but about 10 minutes later back to the same result .
     

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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    welcome!
    sounds like you need a new 12 volt battery
     
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  3. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    If you have definitely decided to fix the car even if the HV battery needs to be replaced, I agree the first step would be to buy a new 12V battery, or at least charge up your current one and test its capacity. That being said, I think there is a good chance the HV battery would be next, given the P0A80 your buddy found and the battery fan running constantly. I don't think either of those occurrences can be explained by having a dead 12V or a blown fuse. If you can drive the car at at all, I don't think you have a blown fuse, at least not one that affects your car's drive-train. The symptom you describe of being able to drive the car after letting it rest is more indicative of a failed inverter pump or possibly a ground fault in the HV battery or inverter, if you are also disconnecting 12V power by pulling the fuse. Perhaps your buddy's scanner is still not showing all Prius specific codes.
     
  4. Dylan Watson

    Dylan Watson Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2019
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    Location:
    Piqua
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Ok thank you guys. Update: I replaced the 12v. I had several different places test it they all confirmed it was failing. Car ran great and errors popped back up again right as I got home. I popped the hood and noticed it was pretty damn hot for just driving it a few blocks. I checked all my liquids and noticed the coolant for the engine tank was bone dry. I checked the valve for it and there was some in there but it was super low. Going out here in a bit to get coolant and fill both the valve as well as the reservoir. I’ll have to look up how to bleed the system. I’ve never done that before , new to all this car stuff haha. Is it possible the car keeps overheating and is throwing it into the “safe mode” to prevent damage to itself until I restart the car? The inverter pump was replaced by the manufacturer with the previous owners under the recall, and when I look in the inverter coolant reservoir while it’s running there is definitely agitation and movement . I think I can here it running through the hoses too when I start the car. Don’t see any apparent leaks but my brother did have the car for awhile borrowing it and ignored the change oil and oil filter matinence light , so that got done pretty far off schedule and it had burned up quite a bit of oil by the time I came back home and started using my car again. No other issues at that time though.
     
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Plug-in Base
    best thing to do is have the codes read at a dealer, or if you are going to diy, get tech stream
     
  6. Jfabre

    Jfabre Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I am having a similar driving issue...the car will frequently rev up after driving it a bit and can’t accelerate very fast. If I turn the car off and back on it will start working again. I noticed when it revs up and makes that sound the hv battery will no longer charge until I restart the car. I have verified the inverter cooling pump is working properly, the engine coolant is full. Any one resolved this problem?
     
  7. Neil Stutzman

    Neil Stutzman New Member

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    Aug 10, 2020
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    Location:
    Elgin, IL
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I had the same problem with my ‘07 Prius. Same driving issues and error code. I kept driving it that way cause I don’t have any other option for transportation to work and I couldn’t afford to have dealer try to fix it. Eventually I heard a very loud pop under the hood and when I shut down car the gas engine will not restart. So I recommend not driving with this issue if you can if will cause other failures that I’m sure have made it too expensive for me to get fixed
     
  8. Jfabre

    Jfabre Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Shreveport, LA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    It is terrible that your Prius stopped working, were you able to determine why it will not start and what the loud pop was?
     
  9. Melissareinhardt73

    Melissareinhardt73 New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Postville iowa
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Did you get any good answers my car was doing this with the same code and now the 12v battery won't hold a charge n I had it checked n it holds a charge at oriellys but put it back in my car n dead the next day