2004 prius with 176K trouble free miles until....now. Below is a quick recap of the last month of forum reading, troubleshooting and unresolved issues. Approximately 100 miles away from home, the car shuts off in a fast food drive thru- triangle with exclamation point and the car icon on the MFD. Pushed it into a parking spot. The car will not switch into drive or reverse. A friend looks up on the forums that it might just be the battery. Looked up a local mechanic who works on Lexus, only other ones I could find were the dealer, yikes! We remove the battery and take it to the shop. He tests and sells us a 12v prius battery ($255). Installed it and then drive it 5 minutes to the shop. He said there are no stored codes, but clears the trouble light by a handheld scanner. We drive away and the warning triangle is on again. We go back and he clears the non-existent codes again. We drive away and the lights come back again, always within about 5 minutes of driving. We go back again and he clears the codes and tells us that we should drive for a while and let the computer re-calibrate. We have a 100 mile drive home! We decide to risk it and head home. We make it home and for three days the car drives fine. On day three, in a drive thru again, the car throws up the warning light but still drives. Once it gets home it will not switch into drive or reverse. The warning triangle, the exclamation point in parenthesis, vsc & abs lights are all lit up. Forums suggest to replace inverter and inverter fluid- done. Got a mini vci to test with- p3009, c1259 and c1310. forum advice: The first step is to clear the P3009 trouble code and then turn the key or push button to key on/not ready mode, (This is IG ON on a Gen I or the second position on the ignition switch (after ACC)) wait 30 seconds and if the code comes back, the leak is in the battery case. The light comes on within a few seconds. Rip apart car and test HV battery- each cell records; 7.64 7.64 7.65 7.65 7.65 7.63 7.65 7.65 7.63 7.64 7.64 7.65 7.63 7.65 7.64 7.65 7.64 7.64 7.64 7.64 7.64 7.62 7.63 7.65 7.64 7.65 7.64 7.64 Next on the list is to drain and refill transaxle fluid which will occur tonight and double check the connections- another thread suggests double checking connections and making sure there are no corrosion build up. I have some CRC 2-26 multi purpose lubricant I am going to use on any connections that appear corroded. Any other suggestions are urgently welcome.
P3009 is a hi voltage ground fault. You may have a cracked battery case and leaking electrolyte or severe corrosion across terminals. Take the buss bars off and look behind them. You can clear the codes but they will come right back. Looks like new Hybrid battery time.
Thats true good one Bisco. Maybe he's had ac service done to the car and they put the wrong pag in it.
A Lexus service guy that can't read prius codes, must be a fake. Who resets the car 3 times after seeing the same problem come up? You need to pull the codes and stop the guess work or you'll end up spending money on unnecessary repairs
It looks like you need the INF code to further diagnose the P3009. With the MiniVCI, go into the freeze frame data to retrieve the INF code. This should help narrow the search.
Congratulations! You have found the source of the HV leak. It is your battery. Why? You already determined the leak is in your battery. All that makes no difference when tracking down a HV leak. The amount of leaking electrolyte needed to cause a HV leak is so small you most likely can not see it. Or, just fix the battery and save a whole bunch of money. Huh? he's already run the test and determined the leak is in the battery. Guys, read! He already has the codes and ran the isolation test. The leak is in his battery. The INF code would confirm what he has already tested. Click on the blue asterisk (snowflake) to get to the freeze frame data. The C1259 and C1310 are just along for the ride. Fix the P3009 and they will go away. Using a multi meter set to ohms or voltage measure every module terminal to the plastic module case. Measure the case below the terminals where leaks would likely flow to. The leaker will show continuity and voltage. The look at the module mounting screws. Leakers will be corroded. For safety all this should be done with the bus bars removed. The battery ECU has a reference to ground through the most negative sensing wire. Attempting to measure a ground leak with the voltage sensing wires connecting will show leaks to ground everywhere. The leaking module has to be replaced. It has likely leaked on to others. They can simply be washed and dried. Then you have to learn how to rebuild a pack. Brad
Actually, I used a volt meter to get the battery data. I'm still trying to learn the TIS software that came with it. I will look into the battery usage function late tonight or tomorrow evening after work, thank you.
I really appreciate all the feed back, you all are great! My biggest fear besides playing with electricity was that what if I bought a used or rebuilt battery and that still didn't fix the issue, but all the responses lend themselves to seemingly having two choices; 1. Use the software and the advice above to track down the bad cell or cells, replace them, clean the battery pack and then rebuild them. I've read forums on that and I don't feel that's the route I want to go. The balancing of the whole pack seems a bit daunting to me and of courae I'm in a bit of time crunch 2. Replace the pack and move on. Most likely the best option. Any reputable settler recommendations.... that won't break the bank, oh wait, already did that.
You can easily load test the modules with our load tester, or you can build one like it: Prolong™ Battery Module Load Tester - Hybrid Automotive Reconditioning the pack and balancing the modules can be easily done start to finish in a couple days with our products: What are Prolong™ Battery systems? - Hybrid Automotive
I believe those codes are covered by an extended warranty for the transaxle. Correction 613 is covered, not 612
Do you have any more info on that warranty? It will not apply to a leaky battery. The 526 is generic. It does not locate the source. The 612 pinpoints the source to the battery. That confirms what you already tested. A much better explanation can be found here. 2004-2008 Toyota Prius with code P3009 or P0AA6 and info code 526, 613, 614 | TOYO Headquarters You can not do better than Steve Keith. He is in Phoenix, AZ. His PC ID is S Keith. At two hundred miles from Mohave County you'll be at the outer edge of his service area. It would help if you are willing to make the drive. Brad
Thank you Brad. The toyo link is awesome and helps put me at some ease. I am sorry if I belabor the issue as I only have enough money to either buy a battery or try and get a new(er) ride. Is it possible that the leakage reported or the insulation resistance reduction could be from something else? I am hoping that I could feel at least 90% for sure that after the battery replacement there will not be a following problem, like transaxle failure or ?.. I will look up Mr. Keith as a potential option.
Steve an be found here. PHOENIX HYBRID BATTERIES Tell him Brad sent you. You would have had to really screw up your tests for the leak to not be in the battery. A picture is worth a thousand words so look at this. That's how to check a module for leaking. The metal insert on the battery bottom is there to bolt the module to the case. It does NOT connect to anything inside the module. However, it does tend to become "live" on leaky modules. One theory is that the case cracks at the insert. Another theory is that electrolyte leaks out of the terminal seal and flows down to the insert. Check all your modules. Look for corrosion on the battery case at the module mounting bolt holes. Brad
Great picture and great post Brad! There is a small amount of white corrosion under module 10, counting from the connectors towards the ventilating area, when I tried to measure that from the positive post to the case my multimeter reading starting counting up into the hundreds and then shut off with OL. A few others without visible corrosion displayed in the low one hundreds. I'll call Steve today about that battery, thanks again Brad.
Is your battery still assembled? That is are the bus bars still all attached? Is the orange plug of voltage sensing wires still plugged into the ECU? Did you measure hundreds of mili volts or hundreds of volts? The most negative voltage sensing wire has a connection to ground through the battery ECU. With it still connected you'll measure high voltage to ground everywhere. This must be disconnected to track down a leak. If the bus bars are still connected you are needlessly working with high voltage. Brad
The bus bars are still attached, I only pulled off the black covers as S keith instructed and completely disconnected the battery from the ecu. I assumed it was displaying volts, not millivolts, but the unit, gardner bender 3200 does not turn on anymore.
