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Can't start my 2011 Lexus ct200h, 'check hybrid system'

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jaholmes, Jul 9, 2024.

  1. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    Hello,
    I have read hundreds of threads in this forum, and others including the ct200h forum, and tried every suggestion I have seen and everything I can of, multiple times over 3 days, but nothing changes.
    Problem:
    When trying to start the car, green light is on on the start button, hit the start button and the ready light flickers for about half a second, and then all instrument panel lights are on similar to if you turned it to 'Ignition On' mode by not pressing the brake pedal. When I reset everything by disconnecting 12 volt battery, disconnecting white wire, unplugging Orange safety plug, and waiting 15 minutes, and then try starting, the ready light comes on and stays on for 20 seconds or so and then it goes back to the same state. The gas engine never runs. I have taken the cover off the hybrid pack and checked voltage, which is 201.1V. I checked all groups of 2 cells, and the lowest measure 14.1V.
    It occurs to me that it might be dying and ready light going off right when it tries to turn over the gas engine. Could it be that the hybrid battery doesn't have enough juice to turn the engine over, or is something else wrong? Also, there is some corrosion on bolts of each bus connection (as seen in attached picture), but maybe that is normal for a 14 year old car.
    Background:
    Car was running rough last fall, so it sat for the last 8 months. I removed the intake to clean egr passages and changed the plugs. Now car won't start. I double checked and triple checked all connections. I replaced 12v battery with new. Trickle charged both batteries to 100%. Tried jump box and jumping with other vehicle. All lights come on instrument panel. Light on start button is green. But car won't start. Get message to check hybrid system. Hybrid battery graphic shows only one bar.
    There are no codes related to the hybrid battery. Current codes are B126a, U0100, B2312. The hybrid battery worked great when it last ran.
    Thank You
     

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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  3. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    Screenshot_20240803-193659.png Screenshot_20240803-210812.png
    I had to go out of town for a couple weeks, and then I waited for a new obdii scanner to show up, so I finally just got back to the car today.
    Thank you for the response, bisco. I can't find any damaged wires, but I haven't dug into everywhere.
    I tried a third new 12V battery, and a fourth large deep cycle battery. Nothing changes with either. It seems the ready light might stay on a bit longer with the large battery, but it might just be my imagination. Regardless, the gas engine never turns over.
    I used the DrPrius app and the Hybrid Assistant app, but I'm not sure I know anymore than I did before. It definitely looks like a couple cells are worse than the others (matches what I saw with the multimeter). As you can see in the images, after an hour and a half of messing with it, the pack voltage dropped 7 volts. I did get code p0a0d occaisionally, but not always, and no other codes.
    If there were a damaged wire, would you see any of these results? If the inverter was bad, would you see any of these results?
    Any ideas?
     

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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    autel maxi 200 is supposed to be a good scanner. did you clean up the battery corrosion?

    if it's the hybrid battery, you should get the P0A80
     
  5. Eddie25

    Eddie25 Active Member

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    Do things work in ON mode? Do the windows work? Have you reset codes to see what comes back?

    The U0100 being a CAN communication code, from what I can tell, I'd be most interested in that. I'd do CAN resistance checks and CAN to ground checks (making sure the car is asleep for those). If you had a scope you could just look at the CAN signal. My professional Youtube video watching knowledge is making me think you could have a bad module that is compromising the CAN network, assuming no rodent damage.

    The B2312 being a power window malfunction would have me disconnecting the power window ECU, which I think is the "Multiplex network master switch assembly" which I think is just the main unit on the driver side door (so it might be pretty easy to unplug and be a quick hail mary). I could be wrong about all that though.

    Does the B126a have a description?
     
  6. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    I got a Carista EVO which my research showed was a good scanner for these cars. I was previously using a Bluedriver, which I believe is great overall, but doesn't work with Dr. Prius and such apps.
    I did not clean the corrosion.
    I believe everything works in On mode, but I will confirm again. When I clear the code, it comes back in about 1 second.
    The B2312 and B126a were set when I very first scanned the car about 6 weeks ago, with the Bluedriver and before changing the 12V battery. They have never returned since clearing the codes back then. However, at this point I will try just about anything, so I think I will disconnecting the harness to the door just to see what happens.
     
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Those dr prius voltages per block don't look good.
     
  8. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    After reading much about obd scanners causing U0100 errors and cars not running, I tried disconnecting the scanner and clearing everything by pulling orange plug, white wire in fuse block, and disconnecting 12V for 20 minutes. When I tried starting the car, it was definitely different. Exclamation point and 'check hybrid...' message was still there entire time, ready light came on about 10 seconds after Start button was pushed. After a few seconds, I tried to get the engine to turn over by hold break in and pushing throttle. The instant I touched the gas pedal, ready went off, all other warning lights came on, and car seemed to jerk a bit. I then plugged scanner back in thinking there should be new codes set, but there was again, only the U0100 code. All the block voltages and such seemed about the same after this experiment.
    Do I need to find a third scanner in hopes of finding one that does not cause CAN issues?
    Asked before, but is it possible the hybrid battery is just not producing enough amperage to kick the IC engine in? With 200+V? But wouldn't that post some other code?
    As far as the poor voltages on some of the blocks, I feel that it is mostly only because the car has sat so long, and if I could get it running, it would charge them up. I would be happy to buy a grid charger, if I knew the car would eventually run, but If I can't figure this out soon, I will probably just part the car out, so I don't want to waste the money without knowing.
     
  9. Eddie25

    Eddie25 Active Member

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    I don't really know, but I struggle to imagine it's the HV battery based on just getting the one code.

    Do you have a multimeter and the ability to measure resistance between PIN 6 and PIN 14 of the OBD connector? You could probably carefully use paper clips.
     
  10. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    One problem is obvious from looking at your screen captures. Your HV battery is depleted.

    If you disconnect the 12v battery, it makes the ecus go to default values, which for the HV battery is 60% soc. This will allow the car to actually try to start the engine, but then reality sets in when the battery doesn't have enough juice to actually do anything.

    You need to find a way to charge up the HV battery. Every one of those block voltages should be above 15v (7.5v per module) before trying to start the car again. Preferably around 15.6-15.8
     
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  11. Eddie25

    Eddie25 Active Member

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    Ah yeah, I totally missed your second post.

    The power supply that people use to build the DIY grid chargers (HLG-80H-C350A) has gone down in price pretty significantly since I got mine. If you're industrious you could hobble one together pretty cheap, you don't need most the stuff people use for balance charging (like fan control, fancy metering or even switches) just to get the battery up to a starting charge. Although, ultimately you'll probably want to do a balance charge anyways.

    Build Hybrid Battery Maintenance Gear For Under $100 | PriusChat
     
  12. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    Thank you for the link. I do easily have the ability to make a charger, probably even most of the materials. I had looked into it some in the past, but could only find stuff for different model vehicles and have been apprehensive about the differences for CT200h. I see that link has the changes required for different prius models, so I could probably do it.
    Q: Has anyone ever tried a 16V trickle charger on one block at a time?
     
  13. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Each module is wired in series, no way of trickle charging a block without ripping apart the traction pack. If your gonna do that, you might as well test and replace all your bad modules.

    Hope this helps...
     
  14. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    I apologize for not being clear. I meant charging 2 cells at a time with a 16V trickle charger. Shouldn't be too hard to remove a couple bar connectors on one side and then charging the two cells between them.
     
  15. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Anything is possible but is it a prudent use of your time and effort?
     
  16. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    Absolutely, it would be worth my time and effort, especially if I can do the two or three of the weakest blocks (4 or 6 cells), and that would get the pack up to a point to start the car. Then the cars own systems could charge the whole pack.
    I have a charger that is selectable between 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, and 24 volts.
    Q: The biq question is will I ruin the cells by charging two in series at 16V.
    Thank You all for all your input.
     
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  18. jaholmes

    jaholmes New Member

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    Thank you much. I hadn't watched that video, but I have watched a few others that were very similar. All of them charge one cell at a time. I am considering trying two cells at a time. The charger in that video is probably better than mine for this type of task. I have this battery charger. It has a setting for 16 volts, not auto sensing. But it will pulse charge, trickle charge, and taper down amperage.
    I'll probably purchase a better charger, but still try the two cells at a time.
     
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  19. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    or even 3 using the 24v setting. Just be careful about polarities when connecting. Most of the hobby chargers have polarity protection and will provide a warning if connected backwards.
     
  20. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Why don't you just grid charge the entire pack, rather than going through the trouble of ripping everything apart? There are YouTube videos on how to do that too. If the goal is to simply start the car and let the car's ECU take-over - that would seem to require less input.