2010 disabled - P0A94 Code and "Check Hybrid System" message

My guess, maybe inverter water pump. Could you see circulation in the reservoir?
Lets us know what you find out!

 

My -first- guess would be the 12V battery. It's the most likely thing to fail, particularly at the age of your car. When it gets "iffy" it causes all kinds of false codes to come up. But I'm sure the dealer will tell you.

 

+1

Same thing happened with my 2010; 12v battery had a bad cell which prevented the car from being started. Car had to be towed into the dealership. Fortunately, battery was within the warranty period and was replaced for free.

 

There have been a few other inverter failures reported on here but not many. You were just one of the unlucky ones as far as having the failure but mighty lucky to have had it fail close to home and be covered under warranty.

The ICE and the HV electric system were designed to work together for maximum efficiency and mpg. The down side of this is that the Atkinson Cycle engine does not develop enough torque at low speeds to accelerate the car. The car accelerates up to about 15 mph with the electric motor MG2 until the ICE can develop enough torque to start helping. So when the inverter fails the system goes on to Limp mode.

It would be a similar situation if the ICE were to die. You need both systems to work.

 

I have a 2010 prius with 66k and my power inverter went out just last week. under warranty, so no charge to me. Out of curiosity I asked the guy who had called from the service department how much it would have cost me if it had not been under warranty. He said Oh about 10k. However I just did a search for the part number G9200-49025 and found it really the part itself costs more like $2500.

 

From the 2010 Prius Parts Catalog. I am not sure what the difference in part number above. That may be just the inverter module and not the assembly as listed below.

Inverter Assy - G9200-47140 - $2,658.42

 

these increased number of cases with failed inverters is worrying me now. and the reason is that i bought mine at 71k in august this year and by december im at 87k because i have to drive 200miles commute five days a week and at this pace ill cross the warrenty in about 3 to 4 months. is there any specific reason to why it failed which i can do preventive maintenance on?. i change oil every 10k with toyota full synthetic 0w20 myself and also changed transmission fluid with toyota ATF about 12k ago and about to change again in about 1k just to flush it. whatelse needs maintenance or i should keep eye on to prevent this hefty repair situation out of warrenty?

 

If you have not changed the engine and inverter coolant it would be good to do. These are two different coolant loops but they use the same Toyota LLC coolant.

 

Ill defintely get onto that, i hope there will be some DIY for that too.

 

Inverter and engine coolant change

Try this post and attachments.

 

my repair guy said the inverter coolant on a 2010 prius should be fine for at least 5 years, so it's too early for that to have caused the problem. I just had a defective part, I guess.

In terms of the part number, which I said was G9200-49025 , I suspect they gave me the updated model, rather than the one listed in the 2010 manual (G9200-47140). The reason I suspect this is that, with the new one, whenever I issue a command to the display via the steering wheel buttons, the dashboard lights up with the current choices, in a way it didn't before.

 

What do you mean by choices it didnt give before? can you take picture or tell what is different from previous one? is it possible that they put in the 2013 model firmware version which has few more options like cost and drived distance when you turn off the car as it wasnt present in 2010 model.

 

Most on here would disagree with the statement that the coolant is good for 5 years. That is not saying that the coolant caused the failure. If you want to be proactive in maintaining your car the advice would be to change the coolant on a more frequent basis.

I changed mine at 50k miles and will do so again at 100k.

 

It's not really the engine's fault; it's the gearing. The engine is hooked up to the wheels with a single gearing ratio - so running only from the ICE would be a bit like trying to drive a stick shift using only fifth gear. If it had a different fixed gearing ratio, it could probably run on the ICE alone in a limited range of speeds - but then it wouldn't be terribly efficient.

 

I have the code P0A94 as well with all my power assisted warning lights going off while driving (antilock, brake system, master, check engine) Is there significant difference between DC inverter parts GD9200-47140 and G9200-49025 listed above? I need to replace the inverter and there is a big difference in cost between the older and newer (?) parts. Also would I need a computer update after switching parts out?

In addition, I have an the original 12 v lead battery which must be about 7 yrs old. How long should this last? regular car batteries last maybe that long if I am lucky.

 

If you are in the U.S., head for your preferred dealer. P0A94 is warrantied for 15 years/unlimited miles. So long as the vehicle is not salvage title, they will repair your inverter for free. In answer to your question, the part they will replace is the Intelligent Power Module. Not sure of the part number...

 

Thanks for that. I have seen two warranties online but not this letter. I have seen one for 2012 -13 or 14 with same coverage as the letter and another for my year that states replacement only before the ECU update which I should have had. I called the dealer and they were not helpful--which means I take it in and they run the diag and charge me $80 or more if its not covered.