Help.. got P3009... and not much money to spare

Good morning...

I have a GEN 1 (2001) with 178000 miles.. I adquired the car almost 2 yeas back and has given me around 40,000 miles.. at 44 MPG (not bad at all)...

About 9 months ago, all I got the RED Triangle and ussing a ELM237 was able to extract the code P3009 (cant find the subcode yet)...

Thinking it was the traction battery... I went to a junker and got a 2002, I installed it (after reading all manuals and postings), reset codes... and after a few minutes same code came up..
Well, I have keep driving the car, (cause it was the only one I got) until about 3 months ago, the small battery (12v)died..
I had a brand new battery from another car, so I replace the connections and it works but INVERTER is not charging it...
Eventually, the 12v battery gets drained and the car will die..

The Main Battery SOC is allways 3/3 to Full, I can hear the MG1 and MG2 working.. The ICE will start and will charge the main battery..

As I drive, I can not hear any HUMM.. like others have descrived as signs of Transmission problems..

I dont have much money to spare, and cant afore to keep guessing to fix this thing...

Is there a procedure to test the INVERTER? if is failing (I think it is), how can I be 100% sure...

I have an spare traction battery if someone is interested...
Regards
j.

 

thanks to both of you....
I was able to fix the DC/DC PC board. It cost me $25+shipping from ebay..
I did not removed the entire inverted/dc unit, I was able to lift it high enogh for me to remove the back cover and replace the electronics and now the car is charging the 12v battery.
Now I am looking for a cheap transaxel.. I will keep driving it until I find it..
looks like the job takes time but is bad at all..
I may atempt to replace the trans-fluid in the mean time...
regards,
j.

 

Replacing electrical parts in the inverter is quite simple. Finding the dc/dc on ebay was just a blessing.. I have not seen it before on ebay, problable because it gets descarted along with the main inverted part...

Yes, I am 90% sure the transaxle is the cause of the P3009. One post pointed out that while in Neutral, the Inverter and G1 and G2 are disconnected. I can reset the DTC with my laptop and it is not reported only after I place the the car is on Park/Drive/reverse..

I have already discarded the main battery, since was the first thing I replaced...

 

Final update.. Yea... finally...
I kept driving the car until the transmission started to fail (slow down and had to leave to rest for a few minutes until it would engage with ICE and move the car)....
Also a bad smell was developed (Burned oil) only noticed at end of any trip (I am sure the trans-fluid was getting hot)...

Any way.. I found a donnor for $400..
It took me 4 days (arround 6 hours x day) to take all stuff of the car and lower the tran-side to alow have it rest over a cart, de-attach from engine, roll it out and roll the new one in, and re-attache....
I now have a Classic with a donnated Trans, and ALL ERRORS and MIL are gone..

I have droved the car for 500 miles now, and getting 42MPG. with my original BIG battery, the other one I have will be kept as spare as soon as the original (2001) fails, I will replace with the spare (2003) and keep driving this nice little car.
As of today it has 184K miles..
Not bad at all..
If some one is interested in a failling Trans for parts.. let me know. It is heave..
regards all..
j.