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Fautly Radiator fan connection, P0420 P0A80 P3020 & HV battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ikefor, Jan 11, 2015.

  1. ikefor

    ikefor Member

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    Hello,
    In my country, there isn't any formal support channel for the pri. A friend on mine has a 2006 prius which ran fine until the Air conditioner started to malfunction. She took it to a local workshop and they could not fix it after trying for two weeks. When she got the car back the radiator fan had been directly connected such that it starts with the car on ready (ig on). This led to the car loosing the capability to run on battery alone with the ICE shut down. She drove like this for the next 3 months until yesterday when the Check Hybrid Battery warning and red triangle exclamation lights came on and some hesitation while driving.

    I used the ELM327 + torque scanner with gen II custom PIDs from this site and got the following codes

    P0420
    P0A80
    P3020

    The Battery Block Maximum Voltage and Minimum voltages were 16.48 and 16.43 respectively. Is the HV battery really gone cos i read here that battery cell voltage difference of over 1V indicate that the cell with the lower voltage is bad which isn't the case here?

    Can the situation be salvaged with getting the radiator fan properly connected to the way it was before?
    I have asked my friend to get the workshop to revert to the original radiator connection, but i'm concerned that without the wire diagram and techstream, they may introduce more issues.

    iIs my assumption that the radiator fan is exerting more pressure on the HV battery right, or is the battery issue based on overcharging based on the ICE not shutting down?

    i checked diagnostic mode and the 12V battery read 11.7V

    Please i need some pointing to the right direction to know how to solve the issue.

    i Read about this Exclamation Mark , problem , no error messages | PriusChat but i highly think that the radiator fan this is wrong and needs to be addressed first.
     
    #1 ikefor, Jan 11, 2015
  2. Kay-Kay

    Kay-Kay Junior Member

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    Ikefor, you can get the wiring diagram from the TIS here: Toyota - New Subscription
    This way, correct wiring path 'll be established for the fan.
    From the error code and symptoms, the hybrid battery seems the most probable cause. However, if the individual HV cell readings are as indicated, I'm tempted to wonder if the fan was inadvertently connected to take power off the hybrid supply line thereby exerting undue load on the HV battery which tends to present the battery fault codes.... I may not be very competent on this, but I guess more experienced guys here can offer one or more tips in the right direction.
    But, firstly, get the correct wiring diagram (techinfo.toyota.com) and connect the fan correctly.
     
    #2 Kay-Kay, Jan 11, 2015
  3. 69shovlhed

    69shovlhed Surly tree hugger

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    if the 12v battery is only at 11.7v, it most likely needs to be replaced, since it is 9 years old. then clear the codes and retest.

    unfortunately for your friend, if the idiots at whatever hack shop she took it to hardwired the fan for some bizarre reason, they most likely damaged the wiring. best thing she can do is find a shop that isn't full of retards to work on her car, and have them correct the wiring butchery.

    rule of thumb: NEVER let anyone modify anything on your car unless they are capable of doing quality work.

    the p0420 code is for cat efficiency; if you don't have emissions testing, don't worry about it.
     
    #3 69shovlhed, Jan 11, 2015
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    The OP has a good plan to restore the wiring to original, and will need the electrical wiring diagram to facilitate that plan. Since the OP is not located in North America, he may not be able to subscribe to techinfo.toyota.com assuming he does not have a credit card with a billing address in the US or Canada.

    Should that be the case, he can try the Toyota Europe site:
    Toyota Service Information


    DTC P0A80 and P3020 point to a failed traction battery. P3020 means that the problem is in battery block 10.

    The maximum allowable voltage difference between module pairs is 0.3V. This amount is tracked dynamically, so just because the difference looks OK on one screen shot, does not mean that the difference is always at a small amount.

    DTC P0420 points to a failed catalytic converter.

    I strongly suggest avoiding repair shops where the staff thinks they can arbitrarily bypass existing wiring, while they have no idea what they are doing. What a terrible service philosophy. That might work for a really simple vehicle from India, but definitely is going to fail with Prius.
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Jan 11, 2015
  5. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Or the OP can send me a PM with his email address if he can accept a 6 Mbyte pdf of the wiring for a 2006-2009 Prius.

    JeffD
     
    #5 jdenenberg, Jan 11, 2015
  6. ikefor

    ikefor Member

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    Thanks everyone for your help on this one. Jeff, i can certainly use the help on the wiring diagram and have PMed you.

    @patrick, I will create a log file with the battery voltages just to monitor things more closely and also get her to order two or three of the HV battery cells in light of changing the damaged cell(s) for her, i have read quite a bit about that and think i can assist with that. I have another friend with an 05 who says that he had the exact codes and had to change his HV battery so that is ok. Do you think this is a good line of action to change affected battery cells rather than the whole battery pack because i don't think she can take the cost and downtime associated with getting a new battery plus she is already talking of selling the car.

    @69shov - yes i agree with you, amazingly, there a couple of folks that own a pri here and many of them don't follow activities here on PC and treat/drive the car like a regular car, this is why i started a whataspp chat for pri owners in my country for knowledge sharing and references on PC; about 11 pri owners now.

    I am really hoping that i can make a difference and help my friend because people here dont seem to understand that the pri is a great piece of engineering worth cherishing, rather they dump it at every whip of issue and try to sell it often at a reduced price. Even the technicians around all vouch against anything hybrid. But i love my 2010 pri.

    My friend had DTC P0420 for a long time, without any emission testing here, she can pass with that.

    I will await the pdf from Jeff and reach out to an experienced technician to address the radiator fan correct path.

    Thank you...





    Thanks
     
    #6 ikefor, Jan 11, 2015
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    It is a reasonable and inexpensive approach to change only specific failed battery modules. However don't be surprised if you need to go into the traction battery case multiple times as additional modules fail, over time. If the value of your time is worth less than the money required to purchase a new traction battery, no problem.

    Good luck with your goal to make Prius ownership a more enjoyable experience in Nigeria.
     
    #7 Patrick Wong, Jan 11, 2015
  8. ikefor

    ikefor Member

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    Just received my mini vci cable so I ran a health check using techstream on my friends car and it pulled the following codes


    P3000 / 123
    P0420
    C1242
    C1253
    C1259
    C1310
    C1311
    B1421

    ..a lot more that the initial reading using Torque


    I also did another recording of the HV Battery Block voltages, and i realized that about three of the blocks differed significantly with the rest nine. In any case, my friend has agreed to replace the entire battery

    so we are in the market for a new battery. Due to the high cost of getting a new battery, we are exploring both options of getting one from low milage prius in a junk yard visavis getting a new one with a guarantee. The plan is to pay for the battery and have it delivered to our shipper who will air freight it down to Africa.

    kindly let me know what you think about the options?
    Does anyone here work in a junk yard and can facilitate this (will get the exact location)?

    Regarding the fan, I haven't been able to successfully trace the line yet, but she reached out to the previous technician that worked on the vehicle, turns out that he connected the radiator fan by placing a short wire in the ac pressure switch which sends current directly to the radiator fan.I have not tested the ac pressure switch but he claims that the radiator fan will not work because the ac pressure switch is bad and that replacing the bad ac pressure switch will get the radiator fan working normally. Anyways, she got him to remove the wire.
    I checked wiring diagram for the radiator fan and don't recall seeing any link between the radiator fan and the ac pressure switch
    Is there something i am missing regarding this?
     

    Attached Files:

    #8 ikefor, Jan 18, 2015
  9. 69shovlhed

    69shovlhed Surly tree hugger

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    a lot of cars will run the fan whenever the ac is on if the r134 pressure is in the correct range. perhaps his jumper wire fooled the car into thinking the pressure was in range to run the fan. its good that he didn't hack up the wiring. I see it all the time.
     
    #9 69shovlhed, Jan 18, 2015
  10. ikefor

    ikefor Member

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    She got the technician to change the r134 pressure switch and she reported that the fan is working well again. I intend to go over to do another scan though, will post an update after the scan. Just wondering what could have caused the switch to go bad?
     
    #10 ikefor, Jan 23, 2015
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