DASH Error Lights Exclamation w/Triangle, VSC, and small Exclamation - Car runs great?

Patrick,

Ok, so the online manual at TIS is wrong apparently. Your way the relay checks as good and I hear it click. Re-installed it back into the car tried to run the blower through TechStream and it didn't work and generated the codes.

I'm pretty SOL at this point since the Toyota Repair Manual is WRONG it really doesn't do me any good to try and troubleshoot it any further. I guess I will run it over to my Toyota Dealership and have them start swapping out parts ... if they will because of the grid charger they might not.

Thanks for the help.

Regards,
Chris Barr

 

I recommend you disconnect any third party wiring before you visit the dealer service department. Either they will refuse to work on your car or they will charge you for the time spent in getting rid of that wiring, before they start their troubleshooting process.

 

Patrick,

Thanks, I forgot to disconnect it before I went. Was ticked off over the manual so just drove there. I did talk to the Tech who will be working on Ema and told him about the Grid Charger. I also left the terminal strip in the car that I was using to disconnect the Grid Charger Controller so he can unwire it if he wishes. He probably won't get to it until tomorrow he said so I will let you know what they find.

Thanks for the help.
Chris

 

Ed,

No software module, no battery issue. All the modules are within .1 V and all internal resistances are the same at 0.019. Battery is in good shape. I don't have numbers from before but I think the grid charger did what it was supposed to do and has helped.

Chris

 

Update on Ema,

Ok, after I was frustrated with the online manual and tired of troubleshooting myself I took Ema to my dealer here in NC. Left the car with them late Thursday and they troubleshot and repaired on Friday/Saturday. I picked her up Saturday and have been driving her since without issues.

Problem was some bad corrosion and shorting in the BM1 Connector for the cooling fan motor and battery control ECU. This connector has like 12 or 14 pins but only 4 are used I think or something like that. They first tried just moving the pins and that didn't work because they found the brown wire ground for the relay was loose and needed to be have a new pin soldered on and re-installed in the connector. After they did this along with moving them to new positions in the connector the PA084 went away and stayed away for good. They were able to operate the cooling fan so everything appears good. I have been driving her for about 200 miles since and the code hasn't returned.

They put everything back together but I plan on taking it back apart today or tomorrow to check out the connector and make sure the grid charger is still wired up. They said it was but I want to make sure. Since there was 2" of water in my aux battery compartment .... yeah corrosion on connectors could be an issue after almost 400,000 miles, LOL. Next step is to figure our were the water is coming from. That will be another post.

I will post a picture of the connector once I get one. Thanks again for all the help. Patrick you were definitely on the correct path I just got tired of troubleshooting it myself. THANKS!!!!

Ohh, $500 for Toyota to fix, pretty much all labor. Probably could have done it myself but was tired and frustrated with it.

Happy Driving,
Chris

 

Here are the photos I promised. The top photo is simply an overview of the BM1 connector point. It is to the right of the cooling fan motor.

The lower photo is a close-up of the connector itself. The corrosion can be seen on the lower right hand side of the connector. Originally all 4 pins were on the right but I don't remember exactly what locations and I didn't take a picture. The Toyota Tech relocated them to the far left to get away from the corrosion.

Back to putting the miles on Ema!!!!

The 400K Miles, One Prius - One Owner thread will be coming soon. She rolled that this afternoon. I need to update my avatar and write the thread, LOL.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

Ok, Ema threw a code on a trip to Florida and checking it is was the P0A82 code for the "Cooling Fan Stuck Off" or something like that. The weird thing is the cooling fan was actually running?

Anyone have any idea what actually generates this code. It obviously isn't the cooling fan running since mine was and testing it out with the mini-vci it seems to be running fine. My best guess is that it is temperature related. Like the program gives it a certain amount of time for the HV battery temp to drop below 130 F after the cooling fan is on and then if it isn't generates the code?

I am going to open her up today and take a look. It might be something as simple has the plastic not put back together quite right and not getting any airflow to the HV battery. All that plastic is just slip fit stuff. I think I will order a new cooling fan just for piece of mind as well, if I can find where I put the stupid part# for it, LOL.

Any thoughts from experts here would be appreciated. Ema's at 402,000 now, still haven't written the 400K write up yet.

Chris

 

You are correct, the traction battery ECU measures the temperature of the battery and compares that to its estimate of what the temperature should be, given its assumption about fan speed. If the difference is sufficiently large then that DTC will be logged.

 

Patrick,

I tore into Ema last night and checked out the cooling fan area. The plastic slip pieces are fairly tight but I did add some duct tape around the joints to make sure I wasn't loosing any airflow. I tested the cooling fan by running it with TechStream and at Full (6) the airflow out of the fan is pretty significant but at the lower numbers like 1-3 it didn't seem like very much. I don't know what a baseline resistance for a new motor is supposed to be so am not sure if the resistance is high or not? It kind of acts like it is which leads me to believe at lower speeds the CFM isn't what it is supposed to be?

Expanding on that "theory" my assumption is the fan first comes on at lower speeds and then ramps up if the battery pack temp doesn't start to fall. By the time it gets to full speed (6) and actually starts cooling the battery the alarm condition has already been met and triggered. I forgot to look at battery temps the last time I cleared the DTC but if it happens again I will take a look at them. My guess is with the fan running full speed they are back under the trigger temp (130 F?) but am not sure. It makes sense though because the last time I got the code I was in stop and go traffic in Orlando for about 20 minutes and after I started moving again I stopped to clear the code and haven't gotten it since. That's probably about 700 miles BUT all those miles are highway so the battery isn't used as much at highway speeds.

Anyway, I am going to order a new cooling fan from somewhere and put it in after it comes. I will check the resistance before I install it and compare the CFM to what is in there now. With all the corrosion on the connector next to the cooling fan motor I don't feel confident it isn't rusted/corroded/slightly seized, etc... Maybe it runs at lower settings but not like it is supposed to? For the $200 or so cost of a new cooling fan its worth it to take it out of the equation, IMO.

That's my theory anyway. Thanks for all of your help Patrick. I will post back when I put the new fan in.

Chris

 

was it clean?

 

Bisco,

I assume you mean the fan squirrel cage itself? Yes it was clean as were the various plastic ducts.

You wouldn't happen to know what the resistance of a new fan motor is per chance would you? I ordered a replacement so can check when it comes in to compare with Ema's existing motor but am curious none the less, lol.

Chris

 

sorry, no.

 

I found this discussion very useful because my car has the same symptoms and error codes. I removed the trim today and found the connector with evidence of slight corrosion and water present. Even though my Prius is a 2006 model the connector is different, more pins and a full set of wires so moving the pins is not an option (it is a Japanese specification model as I imported it from Japan to Ireland). I will try and reconnect tomorrow having cleaned the pins as best I can (I presume there is not much I can do about the socket side of the connector except perhaps connect/disconnect it a number of times and hope for the best). I presume the error message in the MFD will not go automatically even if I succeed in removing the corrosion but might I be able to clear it by briefly disconnecting the negative lead on the 12v battery? Also, like the case above, water has lodged at the bottom of the 12V battery well and I am wondering is there a case for drilling a small hole in the well floor to facilitate drainage. Any suggestions on how to stop the water ingress which caused the corrosion would also be welcome.

 

i would mop up the water. the leak is usually in the rain gutter seam, or the hatch hinges.

 

These two threads are good. Read completely to understand how to find the cause of the leak(s) and how to fix.
Water filling driver side floor pan. | PriusChat
Water leak...into spare tire area etc | PriusChat

hope this helps

 

Thanks Bisco & Dolj for suggestions, especially for the link to 'Water Filling etc..' thread

I cleaned the pins on the plug (male) part of the connector using a small file and a small flat screwdriver and then connected/disconnected/reconnected the two parts a few times. As expected this did not clear the errors from the display but they did clear when I briefly disconnected the negative terminal on the 12V battery.

I found two rubber grommets at the bottom of the 12V battery well (and also three in the well on the other side where a smaller volume of water had also accumulated) and removed these to let the water drain out.

Based on the 'water filling...' thread I found hairline cracks under the roof gutter side moldings, cleaned them thoroughly and put on a thin layer of silicon sealant. The cracks are about 5" (125mm) long and extend towards the hatch door hinges (on both sides). See attached pics. I will see how this works before putting it all back together again.

 

How much corrosion remains, after your cleaning effort?
Have you tried electrical contact cleaner spray?

 

I think I got most of what was visible on the pins, just hoping for the best with regard to the socket. I do not have any contact cleaner but I do have degreaser spray which might be just as good but I did not think of using it. I can still try it if the error comes back as I have not replaced the trim.

 

I have been working on a customer car (2007 Prius Touring 171K) with similar issues as Chris/CBarr31. Has set code of P0A82 a couple of times in. This car also has the same grid charger. Two of the crimped on connectors were a little loose so I soldered them to eliminate that as the issue. I also swapped out the fan with one from another car with no issues. I let the car run for a couple hours in the sun in the afternoon with AC on but windows open to warm up the battery. It didn't set any codes. I drove the car home (about 7 miles) with scan tool connected. As I drove, the battery temperature rose from about 110 deg F to 131 deg F (middle sensor- outside sensors went up to 120 deg F) as the temp increase the fan rose from setting 3 to 4 to 5. When I arrived home it was on 5 but didn't seem like it was running as fast as it should. I will do some comparisons to another car tomorrow. My guess is that there is a failed component in the patented box that is limiting power to the fan or an error in the wiring. Here is a link to the box that I am referring to
http://hybridautomotive.com/install/p2/280a.jpg

Will update.

Curious if Chris figured his out with the new fan.

 

Thanks Todd for alerting us to this. The circuit across the fan control board when in vehicle operation mode is: terminal block->diode->relay->terminal block. These are not active components, but the diode does cause a slight voltage drop. These are the first reports of this problem that I have encountered. I am going to do some testing on our car to try to replicate this. Please do share the results of your testing as well. We are getting ready to rev the PCBA design and want to make sure that if there is a chance our product is causing unexpected fan behavior, we address it immediately and build it into the new design.