I have a 2001 Prius with 210,000 miles. The inverter and traction battery were replaced last year. I started getting triangle and check engine lights about a month ago and the scan tool read p3191 p3006 p0300. The car would barely start in the mornings and the dash lights would be dim. I replaced the 12v aux battery today and all the symptoms went away. Driving home the triangle/check engine light popped on again and I stopped at Orielly's to use their scantool. It now only reads P3006. I called a local mechanic who suggested to drive it a bit and clear the codes because the battery needed to equalize. Is this true? does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.
It is a traction battery problem, very unlikely to resolve by itself. Because anything is possible, there is always a slim chance that it is the battery ECU. Tell us about this battery that you got last year. Junkyard? ReInvolt? XVipers?
The gentleman I bought the car from was a Toyota mechanic with 4 prius's. He rebuilt the battery around this time last year. Could me driving it with a bad 12v have caused damage to the traction battery? So far its driving normal. I did notice the battery fan kicking on a couple times. Its never done that before.
You should talk to that mechanic. Hearing the battery fan, especially in winter, is an onerous sign. A weak 12V battery would not do this.
Will it damage anything else if I keep driving it like this or should I park it. I'm not worried about getting stuck somewhere. My 460 Ford can tow it home.
If you are not worried about being stuck somewhere then you can continue to drive the car. At some point the traction battery will refuse to provide power to start the gasoline engine and the car will be dead.
It's always best to scan a prius with Techstream (Toyota's diagnostic software) It will show way more information than an Autozone or O'reily generic OBD2 scanner. And ask the Techstream operator to record INF (subcodes) if present when they scan the car. Some error codes have dozens of subcodes which can help pinpoint the problem. All dealers have Techstream, some good independent Toyota repair shops will have it. If you're a real Toyota enthusiast you can "acquire" the software online if you spend a bit of time searching, but you'll need a $500 Mongoose MFC cable to use it...or a Chinese "Mangoose" clone cable for under $100, but YMMV with the clone cable.
I have the techstream with cheap mongoose cable and it helps me a lot. Got it off eBay. It's pretty amazing
