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Code P3011 while traveling

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by NBH, Feb 19, 2024.

  1. NBH

    NBH New Member

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    Location:
    Toronto
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
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    N/A
    I have a very old Prius (2005) with 175k miles. The hybrid battery died last April, and I replaced it with a refurbished one.

    I live in Toronto, but drove to Ohio for work. As soon as I got here the exclamation point/triangle light and battery fan came on. I bought a cheap OBD2 scanner, and it says the error code is P3011. Apart from the warning light, it seems to be running fine, no lags or weird noises.

    The battery is still under warranty in Toronto. I called the battery mechanic there, and he said that it's not an immediate/major issue; I should finish my trip and bring it in for inspection/possible replacement once I get back home. I talked to another mechanic here in Ohio, and he said that while he's not a hybrid expert it probably IS a major issue, and I will need to replace the battery again which would cost like $5000 (way more than the value of the car at this point.)

    I'm not knowledgeable at all. If Mechanic #1 is right, I'm inclined to finish my trip (which would involve another 500 - 1,000 miles of driving) and deal with it once I get back home. If Mechanic #2 is right, maybe I should sell the car for scrap here in Ohio and catch a greyhound back home. Still trying to get another opinion/inspection in Ohio.

    Anybody know?
     
  2. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Nobody can KNOW what will happen. Anybody can guess.

    I do not know enough to guess.

    It really comes down to your risk tolerance.

    Some people drive for months with faults by clearing codes all the time. Others can't drive anywhere because it won't go ready.

    What would be your plan if it fails 300 or 700 miles from now?

    Refurbs are a crapshoot. It is not encouraging that your battery has trouble so soon, and that it has a single block code (vs the generic P0A80 "replace battery" code).

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I guess the question is how long are you going to be sitting in Ohio before you're heading back to Toronto? You'll probably make it now if you're going to be dicking around for 5 or 6 months and the car is going to be parked off and on a lot and all that and so forth while you're at work then maybe not If you're ready to head back and get to your guy to do whatever then get to it If not it may really start to get crappy later but then still it should run on the gas engine all the way back to Canada not at any kind of break next speeds but it'll get you there so there's always that I would think well you have a warranty in Toronto that's wonderful and I guess maybe in Canada that means differently than in the US but there are a lot of guys in Ohio and all around that like to play with these batteries that's how I found the guy that does my work on the batteries mostly He has a shop behind his house and everything so there's always that I drove around in my car for about a month with a more or less dead hybrid battery voltage would go to it but it didn't do anything with the voltage and was getting 39 miles to the gallon and the car ice engine was running just like a Yaris all the time.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it's the nature of rebuilt batteries, hit or miss. the odds are probably with you, but we can't promise anything.
    keep your cell phone charged. do you have triple a or equivalent?
     
  5. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Seems to me as long as the voltage is making a circle getting depleted out of the battery whether it's bad bus bars or poor connections or frosted nuts or whatever as long as power is going trying to come out and go back in even if it's doing it poorly everything is in the red and the engine's running all the time it should run like that all the way to wherever you're going now you'll get no gas mileage and all of that sort of thing but you're still going That's what we've experienced twice so far with like nearly completely dead HV batteries in an '09 Prius and now I've got one in an '07 that's not quite as bad as the '09 was yet we're waiting they're not quite as bad is still getting 45.6 mi to the gallon generally speaking so it must not be so bad.