Won't Go Into Drive After Replacing Combination Meter & HV Battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by BrewBQ, Aug 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM.

  1. BrewBQ

    BrewBQ New Member

    Joined:
    Yesterday
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    Location:
    SC
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Hey all, new member here with a new to me 2008 Prius with 160k miles.

    Backstory:

    Test drove for about 10 mins, everything seemed fine. Scanner showed no codes so purchased. Drive home was about 50 miles and had to stop 3 times. It was driving good for about 15 mins, then it would lose all acceleration while the ICE was running. I pulled over, cut everything off, waited 10-15 mins, started back up and drove fine for another 10-15 mins, then the ICE would rev high and the car would accelerate with my foot off the gas. It was a bit concerning and I’d brake to keep it under control and then it’d lose acceleration again. ICE still running, but basically no acceleration once I slowed down, especially on hills. The top dash had the red triangle & most of the other symbols lit up & the center screen started showing a check battery or bad battery symbol. Managed to get it home and checked the codes again and got the following:
    • P0A78
    • P0A80
    • P3014
    • P3024
    Pulled out the 12v battery and charged it. When I put it back in, the top dash was dark, but the ICE would still start. The previous owner included a combination meter since they said they had problems with it in the past.

    Decided to pull the big battery pack and recondition. Replaced 5 modules and got them all to 6000mAh+ (took over a month with 4 chargers). Hooked them up to balance for 2 days and all looked good. While the battery was reconditioning, I replaced the combination meter with the one the previous owner gave me.

    Put it all back together and the dash works, but every warning light is lit, the ICE doesn’t start and it won’t go into drive. When I try, the center screen says something about pressing P to park. The 12v battery was showing 11.8v while everything was on (12.8 when everything off), so I pulled up my other vehicle and connected jumper cables to eliminate that issue. Got a good 13.5v and the symptoms are still the same. Center screen shows the hybrid battery with more than half the bars.

    Checked for codes and none present. Where do I go from here to figure out the problem?
     
  2. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
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    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    If you have warning lights on the dashboard, you have trouble codes. The scan tool that you are using is not capable of reading all the trouble codes that the car has. What scan tool are you using? Read the first post in this thread, https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3246758

    This happens quite often when someone works on the hybrid battery because the orange safety disconnect plug was not installed correctly. There are three steps to install it correctly. Do a search on this forum, and you will find the illustration for the Gen 2 showing you the three steps.