01 Prius wont start

Well, I hope none of the big Toyota bosses are reading this..... I may get a butt chewing... but here it comes. The SSC 40G is worthless. I know this because I have performed over 20 of them. I have also had two occasions where first gen Prii came in with codes that led to condemning the HV battery. (Toyota replaced both batteries under warranty by the way) When disassembling the old HV batteries, (The bus bars were to be reused) I discovered that the little "maxipads" (pardon the term, it is the best description) which had been glued under the positive terminals and the "Elmer's white glue" we had used to seal the positive terminals was working just fine. Now all the negative terminals were leaking. I contacted the Tech Assist Engineers (No, I will not reveal identities) and was told, "Yes, we know. Just close your eyes and install the new battery." In my opinion, the 40G was merely to extend the life of the battery long enough to get the vehicle through it's normal useful life span. Not many were actually sold of the first gens and the 03 had a slightly different design, I believe, which did not have the same issues.

By the way, the real issue that caused the 40G was that the leaking electrolyte would allow a trace voltage leak to the metal battery case, triggering a Trouble Code. Some of the Prii we did 40G on had the same Trouble Code pop up immediatly since the "glue" had trickled down the case and made the same voltage leak! Time to dry solved that one because once the glue dried, it was longer conductive.

One other thought..........

IF YOU ARE NOT TRAINED TO WORK ON PRIUS, AND YOU ATTEMPT TO DISASSEMBLE ANY OF THE HV COMPONENTS, YOU ARE TAKING YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS!!! THE VOLTAGE PRESENT IN AN HV SYSTEM CAN KILL YOU!!!