2001 Prius polarity got reversed on dead battery. Main fuses OK so did I toast all the CPUs?? or not... Now properly hooked up, but no dash lights/screen...all DEAD, if inverter is gone, would it still "light up the dash?" thanks.. I had the dead drive battery cause the CPU on the battery rach failed. recharged the cells and replaced the cpu.. last year. ran just fine till now... Don in PDX
This is consistent with our experience. Usually to reverse polarity jump start will fry the dc-dc converter section of the inverter. I've not personally seen it prevent the dash from lighting up, but it is certainly possible. For whatever reason we are seeing a rash of gen 1 inverter failures lately. Eric Adopt A Part Milehybrid Automotive
Before you conclude that the DC-DC converter is fried, check the fuses. There should be a 100 Amp fuse or fusible link that is blown. Plus a few other smaller fuses.
So how would a few fuses be $4K? I'll dig in and see what I find.The 100A and 5 in the batt comp are OK, now for fuses in the front! Thanks friends, will advise success..
UPDATE: REPLACED 100 FUSIBLE LINK. using the "100Amp fuse" directions found on that subject .no fun in that job and three 15A fuses ,now ICE runs for 6 seconds and stops, turtle mode. Car moves both ways. My guess the inverter is toast/drive batt not getting charged. AUX batt is being charged. may swap inverter as have access to spare one... code reader guy to show up soon. comments?? thanks so much for your input.
When the Prius is READY, use a digital multimeter to read voltage across the 12V battery. You should measure ~13.8VDC or so. If you measure this voltage then the DC/DC converter within the inverter is good. If you measure a much lower voltage then the DC/DC converter is bad and the inverter must be replaced.
Final solution: found thread on "starts then dies" Mine 2001 would start run 6 secs and die. going to neautral position instantly after ICE start.. then the drive batt got recharged. It went fom one bar to full in 5 minutes. [Thats the next headache down the road [202,000 miles now] Still had the triangle of death and turtle showing for the next test drive. After starting again all warnings gone!! Back on the road again!! Thanks for all the pointers along the prius learning highway!! Don in Portland.
Slightly confusing, let me see if I can recap it properly 1. reverse polarity on jumper cables fried stuff (fuses and such) 2. replaced fried stuff (fuses and such) 3. vehicle wouldn't run properly (battery was low) 4. all you did was use the shift lever to get the engine to run long enough to charge the battery and fix #3? The extra off and on to clear the dash warnings is a given with Prius issues so I'm leaving it off but you could add that into #4 if you like.
