Does anyone have a link to a decent "How To" on how to safely disconnect the HV system? (We have to replace our transaxle.) How long should one wait after disconnecting before beginning to work. My understanding is that you have to give it a bit of time in order to drain internal capacitors. Thanks!
Take a look a this emergency response guide for some pointers. Good luck with your transaxle replacement! My transaxle was replaced by the previous owner 10k miles before I bought it. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CHsQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechinfo.toyota.com%2FtechInfoPortal%2Fstaticcontent%2Fen%2Ftechinfo%2Fhtml%2Fprelogin%2Fdocs%2F1stprius.pdf&ei=aNrGT7uLE4XZgAfajY2ACw&usg=AFQjCNGeo2xpQY3JHnCGR1xkUsKl10U1Wg&cad=rja Are you putting in a new or used transaxle?
Pull the orange plug from the HV battery, disconnect 12V, wait 5 minutes. Now impossible to get hurt from electricity working under the hood. If using a used Gen1 tranny, make sure it's "known good" from a knowledgeable supplier. Plenty of Gen1's are in the junkyard because of tranny issues. Also, who diagnosed the car? Shops (even dealers) often mis-diagnose Gen1s and you may need more/less than the transaxle. Most common tranny failure is MG2 burnt windings. Once the inverter is exposed remove the MG2 leads and test with a Megger (Meg Ohm Meter) or at least a simple multimeter. If you have close to zero resistance between any of the three orange leads and ground MG2 is toast.
