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2008 Prius - 100k Miles - Trying to troubleshoot

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by hamza9924, Oct 1, 2024.

  1. hamza9924

    hamza9924 New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
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    I bought a Prius.

    The red triangle with an exclamation point, the check engine light, and the VSC light were on.
    The check engine codes are: C1241, C1310, P0A80, and P3017.

    So far, I have done the following:
    Replaced the car battery since it wouldn't start. Now it starts.
    Performed a full tune-up: oil change, oil filter, new spark plugs, coolant topped off (need to check if it needs more), and a new air filter.

    Before the tune-up, the car would stutter a lot when trying to accelerate. That issue has stopped, but it still has heavy acceleration problems sometimes. I can even floor the gas, and it will stay at the same speed.
    Interestingly, before the tune-up, the car was only getting about 20 MPG, but now it’s around 42 MPG. I’m confused because those codes indicate the hybrid battery isn’t functioning properly, yet the MPG has improved. Still, I'm experiencing those acceleration issues.

    The previous owner parked the car on a donut tire for a while, and it was just collecting dust.
    What do you recommend I do from here? I’ve never worked on a hybrid vehicle before and have mainly just worked on mopeds and scooters, so my mechanical knowledge is quite limited.

    That being said, could you recommend troubleshooting steps from least difficult to most difficult? I appreciate any tips and recommendations!

    Thank you!
     
    #1 hamza9924, Oct 1, 2024
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    If you pull the mess out of the trunk and the tray up off the top of the hybrid battery remove the service plug and remove the cover of the hybrid battery it's silver with Toyota stickers on it and look under the black plastic caps at the orange bus bar holders you'll see a lot of your problem everything is ugly green the nuts that hold the bus bars and everything together are all frosted with battery like corrosion
     
    #2 Tombukt2, Oct 2, 2024
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    All that will cause high resistance electric flow problems and generally your battery ECU and other ECUs in the car see this as a problem things aren't like they once were hence the codes when you take this apart and see it you'll know immediately this is not good.
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Oct 2, 2024
  4. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I presume you installed some kind of secondhand battery (might be marketed as a reconditioned, remanufactured, etc battery) because the codes show a failed battery. I hope you got a good warranty because you need to use it to get that battery replaced.
     
    #4 dolj, Oct 2, 2024
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    You mention replacing the "car battery". Is that the 12V battery or the high voltage hybrid battery pack?

    P0A80 and P3017 point to a faulty hybrid battery pack.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 mr_guy_mann, Oct 2, 2024
    Brian1954 likes this.
  6. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    #6 PriusCamper, Oct 2, 2024
  7. hamza9924

    hamza9924 New Member

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    i replaced the 12v battery not the hybrid battery apologies for the confusion

    i replaced the 12v car battery not the hybrid battery apologies for the confusion

    I dont think im confident enough in my self to do the whole recharge and rebalance process myself. A local shop refurbishes/ rebalances batterys for 900$ - i might look into that but im still iffy on if i want to spend that much.
     
    #7 hamza9924, Oct 2, 2024
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 3, 2024
    Tombukt2 likes this.
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    2008 is barely broken in. if it does need a battery, i would install an oem. you should be good for a couple hundred thousand more mile.
     
    #8 bisco, Oct 3, 2024
  9. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Here local I pay 400 450 ish he comes to my shop usually Saturdays . Builds a good battery what
     
    #9 Tombukt2, Oct 3, 2024
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