2010 Prius died - P0A94 - Inverter Failure - Replaced

Hi! I'm a longtime reader & today I got a excellent reason to make a post - I was at ~20mph & had just went around a corner & tried to accelerate fairly briskly & the car just dies. Hybrid Failure iirc. I got out of traffic & pulled the codes (BT dongle already installed) Torque shows P0A94 Powertrain. I reset the code & power cycled the car but nothing changed. The traction battery still was showing 5-bars so I moved the vehicle <.1 mile to a safe location. Battery was still at 2-bars when I powered it down.

Got the car towed to the Toyota dealer where I had purchased it used the end of November with ~99K.
The service dept. was open til 7pm & the vehicle got there ~6:30. Just before 7pm the service adviser came out & told me of the ongoing recall (which I knew of, but had not been done) on the Prius & that the problem I was having may be related to the recall. He said that he had not seen the exact same problem as I am having & it will have to wait for a tech to look at it.

Its got ~121K on it now & has been performing great. Mobil1 0W-20 @ 5-10K. Engine & Inverter coolant was changed by the dealer at 100K. The trip odometer (reset at every fillup) shows ~250 miles & 55.3mpg with AC all the time.

I'll keep this updated as I find out more...
also: A BIG THANKS to all the fellow members for posting so much information

Kim

 

The 12V is oem I think! I have never looked at it.
I do monitor the voltage after sitting overnight (Fluke 87) & it had always been ~12.8 at the fusebox terminals.
I had been driving the car all day with AC & the last trip was ~5 miles at 50mph before the failure.

I use eco setting _all_ the time & it was in eco when it failed.

Mod: thanks for moving this to the proper forum.

 

11:40 am - service adviser calls & says my Prius is ready to be picked up!
The failure was indeed related to the recall.
Inverter has been replaced & the recall has been performed - no charge (@ ~121K).
I will try to find out more when I pick up the Prius.
happy-happy-happy

 

Well, just as the service adviser advised, the car was repaired & ready to go.
No charge - invoice has "Warranty" in the amount column.

By 1:00 I was on the road! This almost has to be some sort of record?
Yesterday afternoon at 5:12 the car died - towed to the dealer & dropped off by 6:30.
Dealer was open til 7pm so I got it checked in & I am driving it by 1pm the next day.
My only expense ($95) was the tow of ~12 miles to Earl Stewart Toyota in Lake Park.

The invoice "service & parts" has:
22TOZEOE: Software Update, certain 2010-2014 Prius vehicles
Installed G9200-49025 Inverter Assy, w/con(verter)
Installed 00272-SLLC2 Super Long Life Cool(ant)

Under the hood, the new inverter is bright & shiny.
The tag on the inverter has:
Inverter Assy w/converter
Toyota
G9200-47190
22JTE47190A14C310125

I put ~50 miles on it this afternoon & it drives the same to me.
I keep it in eco mode & fuel mileage appears to be very close to the same.

I sure hope I have some Karma left over for the rest of the year!

Happy Driving
Kim

 

I _really_ hope so - on July 9 I just put a set of Michelin Defender tires on.
Got ~2K on them - I am _VERY_ pleased with them!
I'm going to try & get >100K out of them. Tire Pressures are 44/42.

The car came with well used Toyo Versado eco tires that I got ~20K out of.
They had been run under-inflated & I had them at 44/40 to try & correct the wear.
The higher TP just stopped them from wearing unevenly but that was fine with me.

 

I just checked the 12V battery after the vehicle has been sitting all night...
12.93V at the fuseblock terminal - measured with Fluke 87 III

 

Thanks for the reminder - that was one of the first things I did after I purchased it in November, at 100K (thanks to reading about it on priuschat).
Actually changed Dec 11 @ 101K - the old fluid was black & very thin iirc.

The _only_ document that I have found that talks about scheduled mtce. on the transaxle is the following:
https://autoteacher.net/uploads/Toyota_Hybrid_Presentation.pdf

Page 42 shows:
Fluid Type: WS
Capacity: 3.5 qts
Maintenance Interval (initial): 100,000 miles
Maintenance Interval (subsequent): 50,000 miles

 

Good Question! Even the service adviser said it was a good question...
I stopped at the dealer this afternoon & my service adviser was working.
The first thing I told him was the car was fine!
He knew I was online at priuschat & I told him someone had asked why Toyota had not picked up the tow bill.
After a few phone calls he said Toyota would cover it!
The towing company does lots of this dealers work & the tow driver asked me if I wanted him to bill the tow to the dealer or pay cash - I had elected to pay cash so I had a receipt for the tow. I gave it to the service adviser & he says I will get a check in a while.

I had told the service adviser that I did not want to harass the dealer for the $95, I just wanted to be able to answer the question.
But since Toyota was paying, that was fine with me!

HaroldW - I would also like to thank you for asking that question.
I'm about 4K miles away, but if I ever get close, I'll get the first few rounds

Guess the Karma is still holding out..
Kim

 

I am the OP & you are correct - The recall had not been performed on the Prius.

"the car would crawl to a safer location on electric" - yes, that is exactly what it would do.

I only moved it 200-300 ft. down a small hill (overpass) but I remember maneuvering it so the tow driver could easily pick it up

The motor drive was still functional in both fwd & reverse as I used both - at the very slow crawl speed.

I'm guessing the step-up inverter 200V -> 650V DC-DC converter went & the crawl speed is because the motor driver only has 200V to work with instead of the normal (up-to) 650V.

I wish this failure on no one! Where ever you are is where you stay until help arrives.

Prius continues to perform well - Kim