Help! Dealer over-filled oil, claims battery died.

2002 Prius
190,000 miles

Friday I had an oil change & tire rotation done at the dealer. Afterwards there was a kind of soft "whirl/whistle" sound. At first, I thought it might just be due to the tire rotation & fresher tread (fairly new tires).

But I noticed that it only occurred when I let up the gas (ie: during regenerative breaking). It did not happen if I accelerated or played with the pedal to just use the electric motor. The regerative breaking also felt firmer, it wasn't quite as firm and hard as breaking mode, maybe 20%-25% between normal and breaking mode


I was going to return on Monday and have the dealer take a look. Yesterday all the lights came on, and I dropped the vehicle off at the dealer. I also checked the oil and noticed it was overfilled. I had a tech at the dealer check and they confirmed it was overfilled. (A couple of years ago the same dealership over-filled the oil and had to clean out the valves and such.)

So my initital theory was that they over-filled the oil. This made it more difficult for the regenerative breaking to turn the engine/generator system. And that was why I was hearing that soft "whirr" sound when I was coasting/regerative breaking.

So that was my expectation of the problem. Now the dealer is telling me the battery is bad and it will be $2,900. (I am not sure I really trust the competance of this dealer, they've shown great incompetance in the past, and I am considering getting a second opinion.) I am concerned that they over-filled the oil and have damaged the car and are trying to burden me with the cost by claiming the battery has died (leaked)

We've had no signs of problems or issues with the battery to date. Not sure if there is usually an accompianment of symptoms before failure (ie: poor mileage, etc). But our mileage has been very typical, toward the high end of our normal in fact.

Please advise....

UPDATE: Dealer says it's a P3009 code.

According to this chat, it's common for battery but means it's a High Voltage Ground Fault and could be other issues.

priuschat.com/forums/generation-1-prius-discussion/96825-dreaded-code-p3009.html


I'm just wondering if the over-fill of the oil making the engine harder to turn for the regenerative breaking could have caused the P3009 fault.

Luscious Garage had a post describing inverter/transmission failure also giving P3009 code. However, they also note a "whirrr from regenerative breaking" as a symptom. This is EXACTLY what I was hearing.

Now my stupid dealership wants to charge me a second diagnosis charge. Argh.

 

I had been really hoping, expecting even, that my first Toyota would make it to "200,000+" miles.

:-(

 

UPDATE: So after arguing with the dealer for some time. And then them exclaiming to me that they would have to charge me another $89 for further diagnosis - guess what?

I was right and they were wrong. It is in fact the inverter that has gone bad at a replacement cost of $4,500.

I really really wish I knew if that is due to them over-filling the oil. I highly suspect it to be a contributing cause. :-(

Seriously, they wanted to charge me $89 to correct their mis-diagnosis.

 

Okay, so they originally diagnosed it as bad battery. But that didn't explain the "whirrrr" sound I was hearing during regenerative breaking. Suspecting that the P3009 code was actually from the inverter/transmission, I asked them to re-diagnose - despite the additional $89/fee they wanted to charge me.

Well, I was right, they were wrong. The fault lies in the transmission. They said the actual inverter (stator) looks to be good. That the gears are the issue.

Not sure if it's possible to buy the gears and re-build it....???

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Anyone know how long one can drive this way? At this point it seems like all I can do is try to trade it in as an "car auction" vehicle.

 

I commute a 100 miles a day, I don't think my Prius will live with the "whirrr" sound.

 

Hi Patrick,

I took your advice and looked into used transaxles. Talked to Eric at Adopt-A-Part (after seeing a few of his posts), he was very helpful and insightful. Also gave me another contact who might be able to assist finding someone in the Maryland/Pennsylvania area.

Thanks for all the insights everybody. Much appreciated.