Low transaxle fluid = electrical death to hybrid system?

I had a repair done to my car. 04 prius. They replaces the front left cv joint/system (from wheel to transaxle). During the install something failed.

The other day the car freaked out on the highway. The seal ripped on the repair and the transaxle fluid was two quarts low. Now I'm getting battery high temp error.

As I was taking it to the shop it wouldn't idle. I had huge amp spikes on the battery side which cut regen and overgen... It's as if it seized.

Could the heat and friction and such cause "wrongful" spin on the psd due to lack of lubrication that could send power spikes that may harm the inverter and battery? Inability to change direction when it needs to. I hate to also think of the heat generated that effects the motors and inverters.

The shop replaced the gaskets that were leaking. Cleared the codes. Said come back if it happens. If needed he will take it to toyota.

I feel I'm losing focus here so I call to u guys. What to look for. What to test. Should I take it toyota and bill them? That way they can do the proper checks?

 

12v has been fine. I check its voltage anytime I enter or leave the car. It's pretty steady.

I'm watching it on my scangauge2

I was thinking earlier I'll try a 12v disconnect/reboot. When I wrote this I was at the shop. They told me it was done when it was still on the lift!

HV battery has been very steady too.

The only reason I went in, back in late nov, is because I was about to hit 200k and wanted to treat the car with new shocks. The boot was ripped so they replaced the whole piece.. Then it leaked and they negated it... Now it's too late. I'm going to take it to toyota to see if there is anything they can possibly check to see what's exactly wrong.

I've never seen my scangauge show any bad values until now. (Last couple days) now nothing is normal.

If there was a spike in amps and the system has to cut out to stop the increase... What battery module takes the hit?

As I drive today it kept turning on. Engine would over rev. Battery indicator is going up then down quickly. I've seen "battery hot" error and "module 11" errors. This is why I ask what pack takes the hit. I thought it was 7 and 11...

If I recall correct p0a80 and p3021...

As I read the codes my scangauge starts cycling things like...
U3c8e, u3d8f, u3e90, p0093, p0194, p0396, p0497, p0598, p0699,

Scangauge voltage jumped as low as 198v to 244v

Coasting was a steady 15-20amp gain. A 25-35amp braking season made 60-70 amps spiking at 148 before the system cut out back down to 10 gain (not even 0)... Acting as if the base gear ratio was bound somehow (restriction of the motors ability to spin or assist rate). If it can't turn against it spins with.

That reminds me also of the "never let it spin backwards in drive" warning toyota gave out. If they are forced in the wrong direction it causes spikes that can harm the system (part of the reason they added hill assist)

If psd is running dry, the bigger motors will win as things "bind" (I use that term loosely.) maybe I should say as friction increases. If it doesn't go to the road then the smaller motor takes the force. (Kinda like the way it's naturally set up) but as that friction increases the harder it is to change directions. Since these are electric motors... Something either gives out (electrical) or it breaks the psd. (Assumptions)

The big battery was doing great up till the other day when the seal broke and covered my undercarriage.

I wasn't quite getting the distance I used to in EV mode but the distance was definitely crying "good battery" not weak cells

(Sorry... Had to post it) people see the bad battery code and think... 200k... Dead battery..

If the cell was failing before, it would have shown by killing my usable amps and amp hours from the battery beforehand. I do watch the scangauge pretty close

I remember hearing torque has a lot more feedback than scangauge. Anything interesting like cells or mg1 or... Anything fun?...

 

I remember reading that there still are cells that get more activity (usually the cells closest to the connection)

I'm seeing extremely high regen as if something is spinning wrong... Regen kicking out at 148 isn't "strange". It reaching that extremely fast is strange. I wish there was a way to see isolated voltages in the scangauge.

I've been watching those for a long time. That's why I ask the question regarding low transaxle fluid. Has it been gone through as to what harm it causes? I haven't found anything exactly relevant for the past couple month or so. The leak worried me so I started looking further.


If a cell is going out, in theory, it drags down the system as a whole. Like solar. I should have seen performance loss or less engine-off time than usual... I just feel the transaxle being two quarts low could have caused serious harm. (Specially ran at highway speed)

Did I mention that two tech centers scangauge tools had trouble reading my car? They've never seen that.

 

They did replace inner and outer seals the first time (replaced the entire left axle). Then they had to fill the transaxle. I think it was abuse by the mechanic when they installed. The first time, they held it overnight because the special one of a kind driveline (couldn't just replace the joint itself) didn't fit. I heard a Mini sludge... Maybe it was just a hammer?

The next morning they said it worked. Didn't explain. Said it was the same part.

This time they kept it overnight because they replaced this hard to find piece (so I'm told). I've scooted the damaged piece do its visible. I see all sorts of other damage to this piece.

 

Thanks guys

Between dealing with my grandmothers death and family members freaking out because of it... The new business venture for this year, and my car bleeding out, its hard to keep things in perspective. You guys are very much appreciated.

I'm taking it to Toyota. I need to verify things are ok. I don't want a new battery if the system is going to fry it or shorten its life. I'm not in denial that my pack has 200k miles. I see this incident as a really large coffin nail to the pack (based on a few fail mileages I've seen) I've read a few where it was a fair amount sooner. A few that are a lot higher too.

 

an update: I replaxed the hv battery and everything worked fine till about a week ago when i lost power right before jumping on the highway. 12v line failed. it gave a code foe dc/dc inverter overheat. i suspecy the oump as its not making ripples and its kinda loud. i also supect the 12v but a decent recharge and other test didnt fix anything. ive oulled the inverter apart to see if there os any visible damage to the dc board but there isnt.

once i reset codes i never did see the code again, or any codes... whoch troubles me. there should be something visible or else an ecu died?... i dont have the sub code. p0A49 was the main code.

advice, tips? ive been scrubbing to find details to see what i can test without special equipment. ohm checks, voltage and amperage are my multimeters limits.

 

Recall? No? If I remember it has something to do with the programming of the inverter that could lead to this code? I think I briefly read a toyota paper on it.

At 200k I figured they wouldn't look twice at me. A recall is a recall though.

Btw. As a recap about the battery. My battery failure was cell 11 and 22. 11 showed right away. Cell 22 didn't show problems till it was disconnected for 24 hours. Both over a volt less than the rest.

 

ill look up my vin to see if its appliable. i did read a little about it last night. if that recall was active a few years back, i may have had it done. either way ill check.

its a start.
regarding my error code. im wondering if i can replace the dc/dc inverter to fix my problems. no visible signs its that but the only code i was able to pull was regarding it. the test i did a few days after and didnt get better results. car wouldnt start or give any codes. chrismas lights. ready flashes bit never stays on.