Hi all, I am new to the forum. My 2002 Prius was sold to me as a dealership's demo model in early 2003 (got a good price). It currently has only 154K miles, and has not had any major problems yet. Maintenance has been regular. I have seen some triangle warning indications in the past, but the first occurrence was inconclusive, so I never had any subsequent occurrences (about 5-7 of them) diagnosed - yes, I ignored them, as long as the car's performance/behavior remained the same, which is did. This week, for the first time ever, I got the orange Check Engine indicator (not the triangle). The car is at the dealership, and they told me that two issues are flagged - 1.) a bad catalytic converter (original) and 2.) a hybrid battery leak. The catalytic converter will cost around $2200 to replace. The battery issue will cost $800 to diagnose, and up to $4000 to replace (I am told the chance of a full replacement is about 50/50). Given the two simultaneaous issues, I feel like its probably time to let the Prius go. The sad part is, it still drives just fine. I'm all ears if anyone wants to offer their two cents on the situation. I live in NJ, by the way. Thanks, Francis
Well, certainly those are dealer prices on both. B4 we can help you, we need more info. First of all, have the dealership give you the codes (DTC's) and post them here 2) What is your skill level of working on cars? 3) Do you have a facility to work on your car? There are several options for you to get this done waaaaayyyyy cheaper. 1) aftermarket cat converters are available for your car 2) rebuilt batteries are available for about $2000 There's my $0.02.
Just got them... Catalytic converter related: P0420 - current/history P0300 - pending P0301 - pending P0302 - pending Hybrid battery related: P3009 - current I don't have a lift or a crane to work with, and only very basic car repair skills (I could independently change the oil, otherwise, I'm just a helper to someone who knows what they're doing). Awesome, thanks! PS - I looked up Re-Involt online. I like the idea of using them, but it seems that when all is said and done, it wouldn't save too much money with all the shipping and work to remove and install the units.
Yes , aftermarket can converters can be had for less than that. there was a guy in my area (Reading) that had one for 900, and I know there are two guys parting out a prius in my area and I could probably get the exhaust from them.
ok a little under 2 hrs away which is not bad. that car has life left in it. I have had the hybrid battery apart on mine (my car has 153500) and runs strong. I think it just needs a cleaning.I cleaned my terminals off and found a couple of the sensor wires that broke on mine after removing them which was no big deal, I just soldered them back together and they are fine. Took me about 4 hrs to do. I did everything, cleaned the batteries themselves, the bus bars, wires. and then sprayed them with battery terminal spray. I noticed better charges, better ev time better mpg.
The cat, well that can be had online. and aftermarket ones online but first,I would go to autozone and replace the oxygen senor after the catalytic converter, then have them reset the code. see what that does. Actually before that though. I would jack up the car, get under it and right before the cat you will see a piece sticking up with a spring on it, that is a valve and if not checked every couple months, they tend to get stuck. Try to move that with your hand( it can be tough to move, the spring is strong), if it does not move, than get some PB Blaster on that, let it sit for a minute and tap the valve gently. see if that frees it up. once freed up get some hi temperature anti sieze on it. that or those could be your problem and seems to cause early cat failure.
Oxygen sensors can play heck on a car, I have seen them fail and there are no lights but fuel mileage is horrible.
Yea, there is a ton of stuff you can do. It just comes down to what facilities/tools you have and what you're comfortable doing. All of the problems you mention can be fixed by you. The first and most urgent (neither is really "urgent" though. The car can be driven for an indefinite period of time (not infinite but indefinite) with either/both faults) is P3009 which is a high voltage leak (usually from one cell but could be from the tranny). Run this test and report the results. The first step is to clear the P3009 trouble code (unhook the neg terminal of the 12V battery for 30 sec's to clear the code) and then turn the key or push button to key on/not ready mode, (aka IGON) wait 30 seconds and if the code comes back, the leak is in the battery case. If the code does not set, turn key or push button to "ready mode" and immediately shift to neutral and stay this mode for 30 seconds. If the code returns, the leak is in the power cables or inverter. If the code did not set, shift to drive and if the code resets now, the leak is in the transaxle.
Very nice diagnosis USNAVY. I like. IF your leak is in the trans, get that fluid changed immediately before it shorts your MG2 drive motor windings.
Thanks, folks! I'll try the test and report back. The cat issue I might be able to enlist someone to help with...
If the problem is in the battery you might try doing what was done in the early battery cleaning recall. Driving with the cat issue will not hurt anything, however, you might be forced to fix it when emissions testing comes around.
Holy smokes, that's more money than the whole front pipe brand-new from Toyota, which includes both catalytic converters, the HCAC valve, and the front sub-muffler.... -Chap
OK, maybe I didn't get this right, but here is what I did and the results I observed. I don't know the names of the modes of the ignition key, so I felt like I botched the steps a bit(?): 1. I turned the key clockwise (of course) to the first position where it can rest. At this point, the dash is completely dark, only the LCD display and clock are lit. Anyway, I waited 30+ seconds just in case...nothing happened. 2. I turned the key to the next resting position. Immediately, the dash lights up, including the CHECK, BRAKE, and ABS lights. These three stay on. I can't remember if the CHECK light would normally be on in this sequence or not, but it looked sorta normal to me. Again, I waited 30+ seconds in this mode, just to make sure nothing changed...it didn't change - all these lights stayed lit while in this mode. 3. I turned the key all the way to ignition and let the car idle. I switched into Neutral then Drive, then back and forth. The CHECK light is OFF throughout. So, now, I have no CHECK light on. I wish that meant it was fixed...but does it at least indicate that the problem might be "minor"? Thanks again for everything, folks.
Did you disconnect the negative terminal on your 12 volt battery for 30 seconds before you did all this?
I cant remember if that light stays on in ignition on or not. crap. ill check it before I leave work tonight at 9
It looks like what happened there is, you didn't get any codes (which means your code P3009 is incosistent at this point). With it being inconsistent, it will be nearly impossible to troubleshoot. At this point the only way to move forward on it is to ascertain when the last time the tranny fluid was changed (if ever). I recommend this not b/c I am certain of it causing your problem but b/c its the cheapest/easiest thing to do that's in the loop of causes. If its been more than 30kmiles, I would perform this service immediately. Here is a guide on how to do it. You can either use this for DIY or give it to a mech so he/she knows how to do it. What would be helpful (to us trying to help you) is to let us know how much crap is attached to the magnet in the tranny pan and when the last time the fluid was changed (also if there are any big particles in the pan). Once the tranny fluid has been changed, I would patiently wait for the P3009 code to come back (hopefully it will not). Here are the scenarios (the way I see them) 1) the tranny fluid changeout will fix your P3009 (best case) 2) the P3009 will eventually come back and will not be intermittent but constant. If this happens we will need to run the test again and narrow it down. 3) The P3009 can either be in the tranny, the hv battery, the inverter or the wiring (least likely). Even if it is constant, the car can be driven until driveability problems become evident (an indefinite period). Just FYI, the first stop on the ignition switch is ACC (not used for this test). The second stop is IG ON (used in the first step. This will cause the CEL to come on, this is normal but, we're looking for the TOD and Exclamation (aka P3009 code)). The third position (key turned past IG ON to signal the car to start) or START position (aka Ready) is spring loaded and will only stay in that position momentarily. Once the ICE starts, shift the car to Neutral. I would probably be running this test often to see if I could get the code to come back.
