2001 P3191 Troubles, 12V Battery related?

Try to start it and immediately shift to N and see if that changes anything.

The car is doing charge test on startup. If it fails it throws multiple codes after couple seconds and kills the gasoline engine.

 

Excess engine oil will pool in the throttle body (I think that's the correct ID); if you look down below the MAF sensor, you can see it where the pipe bends toward the engine. By holding the butterfly valve open you can get a rag down in there (tied to a stick) and soak it up. Long cotton swabs (drug store) will also work.

Get a new 12 volt battery, but don't pay dealer prices! I'm using a lawn tractor battery (this one: https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/battery/lawn-tractor-and-mower/sliu1rxhd) with conversion terminal posts (https://www.batterymart.com/p-dek-02033-flag-to-post-terminal-adapter.html). I had previously converted the battery clamps to SAE size. Some have reported success by bolting the existing clamps directly to the battery terminal lugs.

 

1. Get a service manual or subscribe to the online version, then follow the diagnostic procedures rather than scatter shooting the way you're doing.
2. What are you reading codes with? Most readers can't be trusted to capture all the codes with these cars.
3. The 12v fires up the hybrid and the hybrid fires up the inverter first, then about 8 seconds later, the inverter tries to start the ICE. If it doesn't start, you get the 3191. That's kinda all the 3191 tells you - that the ICE didn't start. It doesn't tell you why, and like all ICEs, a non-start can be caused by several different things related to air, spark, fuel or compression. If you're not getting any other codes from a good reader, it is likely not anything to do with spark - that's all pretty well monitored by sensors.
4. Except, if you have a bad sensor. If your code reader can monitor live data, you can confirm the sensor functionality. I've never had to do that on my Prii, but on my truck, I check the temp-based sensors - EOT, ECT, and MAF - after the truck sits overnight and with key on/engine off (KOEO).. In a stone cold car, they should all be the same and approximately equal to the outside temp. My trucks also have pressure-based sensors - MAP, EBP, and BARO. Again, on a cold engine, they should all be approximately the same and equal to BARO. At sea level, BARO is around 14.7. You can also check sensors by back probing the sensor connectors to confirm they have the right voltage readings.
5. The usual culprits on a non-start ICE are injectors, plugs/coils, throttle body and MAF. If you're not getting misfire codes, I would wonder whether it's something worse. The ICE on these cars is the legendary Toyota 1.5. They're almost indestructible. I drove one of my Prii for several years before deciding to change the oil before a long trip. Including filter, I only drained 3/4 of a quart. Amazing that it even runs, but that was many miles ago and still no problem.

Yet, you say it has a blown head gasket, which likely means it ran hot for a long time. Not quite sure how to do a compression check on these cars. You might need the Toyota software to do a relative compression test. However, one sign of a blown head gasket is too much oil - the gasket blows and allows either fuel or coolant into the cylinder. It blows out the exhaust if the car is running, but just sitting there, it can seep past the piston rings into the crank case. Did you smell fuel in the oil when you changed it? I've never trusted miracle-in-a-bottle products, at best they delay worse problems for a little while, IMHO. Gasket can't be that hard to replace, or used ICEs are cheap - I've thrown away several that had no problem at all.

6. A bad 12v battery can cause several odd issues. Rather than the pocket jump starter, get any good 12v and hook up the positive terminals to your battery with cables. You can connect the negative terminals as well, but IIRC, it's best to ground the jump battery separately. The lawn tractor batteries I buy are $30 at Walmart - look for the U1R so the terminals are in the right position. However, that doesn't have the round terminal, it has flat terminals with a hole. Just pull the plastic insert out of your car's terminals, spread the terminal clamp slight to squeeze the flat terminal inside it, and use the original bolt and nut through the same holes on the clamp and through the flat terminal's hole. Works perfect, nothing else to buy, and Walmart is good about honoring the warranty. Versus the Toyota battery, you can buy13 of the WM battery. If your car has had the clamps replaced with the newer ones to match the newer Toyota batteries, it still works, but no plastic inserts to remove.

7. As Trombone tooted, you can shift into N once the inverter starts but before the 8 seconds to remove all stress on the ICE. That will often get the ICE to start and idle, but usually the original issue is still there, so it probably runs rough.

8. Honestly, with a blown head gasket, $1200 isn't a steal, but you can still get your money back, at least state-side, by selling the HV battery and recycling the cat. Not sure what the market is for HV batteries in but no one probably wants to pay shipping to get it back to the mainland.

Disclaimer: I'm not a tech and can't explain why a lot of things work/don't work. But, I've had almost 20 of these cars since my first '01 and have encountered a lot of different issues. I may be misstating some of this info.

 

Thanks, but it was Pablo.nyc, not I, who posted about the N shift!

BTW, it takes my '02 about one second or less from key "Start" to engine fire-up, in above freezing temp. Early in the history of the Classic, there was a recall on the ECU because it was programmed to set a code if the ICE didn't start within about 1-2 seconds; below freezing, it sometimes took longer to start, which the original ECU didn't like (Mmm, don't they have cold weather in Japan?), then you'd get the CEL and the code and I can't remember now what-all, but it was a minor PITA. The replacement ECU fixed that problem.

Ron, it appears that you got the better deal on the lawn tractor battery. It seems that both the Walmart and the Duracell LT batteries are made "right in my backyard," so to speak, by East Penn Manufacturing in Berks County, PA, the next county west of Lehigh County, where I live (Allentown). They have a sprawling facility along the Topton-Fleetwood Road, amidst the fertile Mennonite farm country. Yours is rated at 230 CCA and the Duracell @ 350 CCA, which may account for the price difference. Either one is a better buy than Dealers!

 

Yeah, the WM batteries are cheap, but they've worked for me. I get at least the 6 months of warranty, but you can actually take them in at 5 months and get another one, lol. And my cars start the ICE within a few seconds too. Wasn't sure if he was timing that or how long it took to stall when it wouldn't start and wanted him to know that there was a delay.

I still would be worried about the OP's blown head gasket. That just doesn't happen to these ICEs without major abuse.

 

Yeah, these little 1.5 L mills are amazing! Mine is just chugging along with 159K + miles on it; it's on only its second set of spark plugs. Since almost new, it's been fed only "synthetic" oil (Castrol Syntec 5W30) with new Denso filter at every oil change (7.5K mile intervals, by the book); I do my own oil changes. That, plus a clean air intake filter once in a while, and it's happy. I have cleaned the MAF sensor once, using the proper stuff. And that's about it.

 

Oil change...reminds me that I wanted to tell Scott how to get the stuck filter off. I've had that problem on these cars before. The quickest way, after you've drained the oil and tried to remove the filter with the different types of wrenches made for that, is to just take a longish screwdriver and with a hammer drive it through the filter like a nail, making sure it's through the lower half to not contact the threads on the engine. That provides a "handle" to turn the filter. The screwdriver will probably widen the original hole a little bit, but it'll finally create enough resistance to turn the threads. This works on most filters, btw. Have a pan underneath to catch the oil out of the hole you created.

 

I’ve been using one of those filter cap gizmos, the kind that fits on the top of the filter, and has a 3/8” hole to accommodate a socket wrench. Works like a charm, and less messy than the screwdriver method.

 

Of course, that's why I said to try those first. But I've had one of these that wouldn't come all that way. The screwdriver hack is easy, quick, but just a little messy.

 

The filter cap-type removers are very filter-specific. There is only one size, and I mean "only," that fits the Denso filter I use. Specifically, for the Denso/Toyota 90915-YZZN1 filter, the OEMTOOLS 25404 is a perfect fit (whereas the 25405 is not---duh!). I bought the filter cap at AutoZone, IIRC, but it's not listed on their site now.

 

Everyone owns a screwdriver, lol. Gen1 owners have to be frugal to keep these cars on the road. Of course, you can drive your screwdriver through the bottom first to create a drain hole and not make a mess at all. But I'm usually gonna wash my hands anyway, so I go for it.

Of course, the best advice to folks is to quit tightening your filters on so hard. It's the rubber gasket that seals, not the pressure. A good hand-tighten is sufficient. You shouldn't need a tool at all.