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Mysterious P3000 Code, no lights on dash

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by dylanjcole, Nov 15, 2024 at 3:00 PM.

  1. dylanjcole

    dylanjcole New Member

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    I was showing off the Dr. Prius app to a friend, and happened to check the hybrid battery error codes. To my surprise it came up with P3000. There have been no dash lights or any other indication that something is wrong. I had the car computer read by both NAPA and my local mechanic, and they didn't come up with any codes at all.

    What to make of this? Should I just clear the code and continue packing for my cross-country drive?
     
    #1 dylanjcole, Nov 15, 2024 at 3:00 PM
  2. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Dr Prius has its uses but is not really a reliable (nor comprehensive) code scanner.

    I'd just ignore it.
     
    #2 dolj, Nov 15, 2024 at 10:27 PM
  3. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    In general, P3000 sets in the hybrid ecu when the high voltage battery ecu has codes. Dr Prius is handy for viewing battery voltages, but isn't capable of scanning all systems for codes.

    If there are no warning lights on then there's PROBABLY no serious faults. But I would personally want to know what's going on.

    Here's a thread that reviews several scantool apps and devices, a few are "all system" capable. Post 37 is the summary.

    https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/3246758

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 mr_guy_mann, Nov 16, 2024 at 10:10 AM
    Brian1954 likes this.
  4. dylanjcole

    dylanjcole New Member

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    Thank you. That's a very informative thread. I tried the Car Scanner Pro app, which is listed as being able to show "hybrid" codes (as opposed to "some hybrid" and it showed the same thing – just P3000. If you have any thoughts I'd be happy to hear them. I live in a rural area and still have not been able to track down anybody with a more advanced code reader.


     
    #4 dylanjcole, Nov 18, 2024 at 12:55 AM
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    I seem to have an error in the chart I made. Looking at post 1 in the review thread, I noted that Car Scanner Pro did NOT show the battery fan code that was set. So that should have read "some hybrid" for codes.

    Can't say that I've used that app much since then.

    Still stand by the Autel as a good deal for general diagnostics - esp to get INF sub codes. Not many people NEED bidirectional controls of the fancier tools.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 mr_guy_mann, Nov 18, 2024 at 1:01 PM
  6. dylanjcole

    dylanjcole New Member

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    I had it checked out at the dealership today and they read the code P3000 388. They said that the 388 means that the hybrid transaxle is going bad or gone bad, and they quoted me $8500. I asked if they did any sort of visual inspection or testing (if that's even possible) and they said no, they are just going based on the code.

    I cleared the code and I'll see if it pops back up. I'm obviously not going to do that repair while the car is running fine and there are no lights on the dash, and if something does happen, I'll be looking at a new car anyway.

    I would put it out of mind completely, if I wasn't currently packing for a cross-country trip. So I'm actually not sure what to do now.



     
    #6 dylanjcole, Nov 18, 2024 at 5:55 PM
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2024 at 9:16 PM
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