2002 Toyota Prius Flood

The hybrid vehicle (HV) ECU is located under the carpet on the passenger side of the car, and this would be the most likely to be damaged in a flood. The engine ECU is located behind the glovebox, hence it is higher up and may not have been affected.

Regarding precautions, my suggestion is that you repair all visible powertrain damage, especially the inverter radiator. Then try to start the vehicle. If warning lights come on, then it is likely that DTC will have been logged. If you can retrieve the DTC then you will be able to determine what other faults remain.

Considering that the car has 120K miles, it is possible that the cost of repairs will approach or exceed the car's market value - unless you have access to a good supply of salvage parts.

 

That was a pretty hard smack - hope you and passengers are all OK!

A new inverter coolant heat exchanger means changing that fluid, which means bleeding air from the coolant system afterwards. You chould learn this procedure and the way to confirm that coolant is being pumped effectively.

The electronics are certainly going to require close examination, but I also guess that the frame rails are bent. This may not be a good candidate for repair.

 

When you installed the hybrid vehicle ECU, did you first disconnect the 12V battery? If not, try disconnecting the negative battery terminal for 10 minutes, then reconnect. The point of that is to hopefully reset the various ECUs and erase the stored DTCs.

Then, if you still get warning lights, you need to retrieve the stored DTC to find out what faults the various ECUs have noted. If you have access to a generic OBD-II code reader, try it and see if it picks up any DTC (it may, or may not work).

If the code reader does not work, then you will have to have the car towed to your local Toyota dealer for the Prius tech to retrieve the DTC for you.

 

Which battery are you referring to - the 12V battery or the large traction battery?

What evidence did you see - is this water damage?

Regarding the inverter, the main way to determine its electrical condition is to make the car READY (or IG-ON, if it refuses to become READY) and see what fault codes exist. If you are concerned about water damage, you could remove the top of the inverter to see if water entered it.

 

Have wondered just how much (hight) water a person could drive slow in without damage. Like when a storm sewer doesn't work etc.

I know from past experiences (regular cars) that as long as it doesn't get up to the spark plugs they run fine. Have to check rear end for water, but thats about it other than a greas job.

 

Hi Nick,

The inverter will not be running unless the car is READY. Since you can't retrieve codes, it might be time to tow the car to the dealer to see if they can help.

Good luck.

 

Well, there may be some interaction between the immobilization ECU and the hybrid vehicle ECU that could be the problem. I suggest that you consult the repair manual and see what is required when a new HV ECU is installed. The Toyota proprietary hand held tester or laptop might be necessary to program one or both ECUs. (I sold my 2001 repair manuals when I sold my 2001.)

If that doesn't provide any insight and you don't want to visit the dealer, then you'll probably have to look at the wiring diagrams and the diagnostics portion of the repair manual, figure out how the ECUs communicate with each other, use an oscilloscope on the signal lines to see what you can see, etc.

 

Congratulations on your success!

I suggest that you look at the traction battery state-of-charge gauge on the MFD and see where it is. It normally will be showing half or 3/4 full. If lower than that, it would be a good idea for you to make the car READY for at least 30 minutes or an hour, and allow the traction battery to charge up. This will also charge up the 12V battery.

DTC P3191 is a general "engine does not start" code. If it reappears, I suggest that you do a tune-up: replace the iridium spark plugs, clean the throttle body interior and throttle plate, replace the engine air filter if dirty, and make sure that the engine oil is 5W-30 viscosity and is not overfilled.

 

i had that issue with the 01 prius i bought that was in a severe crash, i believe the engine does not start code comes on in relation to throttle body not being used in a while or something, once i erased it the car started perfectly fine.

Does you SRS airbag computer give a fault on the dash?

i recently purchased a 06 tacoma brand new from a dealer 12,000 less than MSRP that was flooded, it ran fine just the airbag computer is bad

 

as long as the airbags are good, and the sensors, you can buy a new computer from junkyard.

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market is good place to find stuff