Hi all This has always been a helpful place, I hope I can find some help now. Today the check engine light, the red triangle all went on. I popped in at a local tire place, they did a scan and found an error referring to the inverter cooler pump. I went to another service station, they found nothing, then they found a Sun Sensor failure, but they also said it could be the main battery. Drove home, check lights still on, parked the car for a few hours, and went to restart it - the battery is down at the bottom showing two pink bars - never saw that before. I’m scared to drive the thing now. I don’t have an OBD app - I’ll get one I think - so I can’t look at voltages on the cells, and my local dealer is frankly an donkey. I’m thinking it’s a bad battery, and I’m thinking $1600 to get Green Bean Battery to just come in and take care of it. The car is a 2009 with 98k on it. What do you all think? Thanks in advance
Welcome to Prius Chat . Once you get the codes read by a proper code reader, post the codes up for review. If it’s a battery code, is it still under warranty? If so and it’s a battery code, it’s new battery time If it’s the inverter pump, that’s easy enough to change. But if it’s the battery, the codes will point in that direction. I would stay away from rebuilt batteries, especially at the price quoted, and go with a new battery as the mileage is low and it’s got plenty of life left. Good luck and keep us posted .
FWIW/FYI I have had experiences on codes with a good local mechanic and much hardship in finding.....if that is not a option I have also used O Reillys auto parts borrowed a OBD2 scantool with state DL recorded codes … done internet search of codes and so on
If the codes are not reporting a battery issue, why would you assume it's the battery? The donkeys at your dealership actually will fix your car for less than the $1600 you are willing to spend to fix a problem that isn't a problem (yet)
So the first place you went said it was an inverter pump failure and the second place you went said it might be the battery. I would tend to believe the first guy. “It might be” does not sound too informative.
This is so easy to check. With the car running remove the cap from the inverter coolant reservoir. That's located next to the inverter about dead center under the hood. You should see the coolant moving. If the coolant is still the pump is not working.
Also the "sun sensor" code is present on most Prii. It's a programming mistake by the firmware engineers that assume you'll never park in a garage.
Really? That’s the one code that comes up in my Prius. “Passenger side sun sensor”. And I park in a basement garage, a Vampire could live down there.
The problem is the sensor tries to adjust the HVAC based on the "solar radiation" which is fancy speak for light. It's just a stupid photodiode. But if it is too dark (or too light) or transitions from dark to light too quickly different codes can be logged as errors. Outside in the sun all day should never be too bright. Shining your flashlight right on the sensor, may be. Parking in a vampire cave, too dark. Parking in a normal garage and driving out quickly into the bright sun, transition too quickly. I've heard numbers of 50% to 80% of Prii have this error. Really it's just every vehicle that has ever parked in a less-than bright garage vs those that always park outside.
Welcome! At least you had enough sense to get it looked at almost immediately. The inverter coolant pump is a common fault, may have been there from a prior repair and not cleared after a repair was made, but who knows. If coolant is circulating thru the inverter cooler circuit, the pump is working, I would drive it after clearing that code. That is suggestive of a bad HV pack, but it may just be a module to two within the pack that are actually the cause. 2K1Toaster sells new cells for about that, IMO a better deal in the longer run.
He might not be able to do it himself, but he might be able to get someone to do it for him if he gives them the old batteries. That would beat a refurbished pack for the same price.
