Hi folks, Our Prius Plug-in had been running and working perfectly since our 2nd head gasket job -- my fault for not having cleaned out the intake manifold the 1st time -- until today, it abruptly would not even turn on and lit up pretty much every warning light. The info screen says "check hybrid system, stop the vehicle in a safe place". Thankfully we were in my friend's driveway, so no worries there. I plugged in the bidirectional scan tool and got P0AE0 as the only meaningful error (others were just nonsense like an XM antenna fault). Looking on here, that's been recorded on Gen 2 Priuses, but I don't see any mention of it on the regular Gen 3's or the plug-ins. Ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance!
I suggest always posting here all the codes that you have, even ones you think are nonsense. Sometimes (though not always) a picture can develop. Also, 'nonsense' codes can be a matter of context. An XM antenna fault code can be true nonsense (say, if your car doesn't have the XM tuner), or it can just be something you don't have time to be concerned with while there are bigger fish to fry.
That's fair. I just checked my scan tool and it didn't save the codes, and the car is still at my buddy's house. The other codes were the XM tuner and a right rear wheel ABS sensor. Considering that we replaced the left rear wheel ABS sensor 3 months ago and it fixed the ABS/regen issue we were having at the time, I think it's probably just the sensor going bad. I saw evidence of mice having been in the HV battery - insulation looked out of place and mouse dirt near the entrance to the battery. I've looked online for battery repair info for the Plug-in and only find info about the regular Prius, can anyone point me to info about my car? Basically I suspect a mouse got into the HV battery, got somewhere he really didn't belong, and the remains of the mouse are shorting out something -- so I would really like to get the cover of the battery off and look, but I don't see any writeups online of how to get inside the battery. Anyone with stronger google-fu than me who'd like to share a link?
Alright, we have an update! (We actually fixed it last Saturday, but I've been working long hours since and didn't have time to post an update) We uncovered the battery and explored how it's held together. There is a top cover held on by fasteners (bolts or nuts) at the front, back, left, and right. Take pictures before you disassemble and at each stage! Undo those fasteners and carefully remove the top cover. Be careful! This battery holds over 300 volts DC at exceedingly high amperage, and is more than enough to kill someone working on it. I don't recommend working on it if you are not already familiar with working around high voltages and know precautions to take, including (but not limited to!) working with one hand in your pocket, using insulated tools, and removing all metal jewelry before you start. You can now start carefully examining the battery for mouse damage -- we were sure we'd found it in a gnawed section of flexible plastic conduit, but when we looked at the wire itself, it was undamaged (and ohming it out confirmed this). Interestingly, when we used the DMM to check voltage between the positve and negative "contactors", there was 0 difference between them. Since we knew the cell voltage was healthy, it meant the remaining choice seemed to be the control circuitry effectively shutting down the battery. I had wanted to examine the relays at the front end of the HV battery, but couldn't figure out how to get them out. While pondering this, I saw another relay, and then saw -- behind it! There's our problem, two wires that mice had just chewed all the way through and entirely disconnected from the wiring harness. They're right around the middle of the picture. "Sighted circuit, soldered same, success" - praise God!
Hmm, the "− contactor control circuit", the exact subject of the P0AE0 trouble code! To those who say it's never much help looking up the trouble codes, I say, behold!
