HI I bought a 2003 prius with a dead HV battery. i rebuilt the battery pack my self using gen II battery cells. The rebuild seened to be a success. How ever, the initial start up, the car started then violently died.(shutter very bad like it is being bogged) after looking for any thing obvious and still doing the same thing I was getting code p3125. (inverter) also want to add after starting it about 3-4 times it will stay running but NOT charge the battery and the car will move but i'm afraid to drive in fear of killing the HV battery. and the master warning light will stay on. After doing research on the internet for several days I decided to buy a new/used inverter off ebay. and after spending $1200 on car $1500 on main batt. $600 on inverter the car is STILL doing the same thing.... I am maxed out on what i want to spend on it and out of ideas. So any one have any ideas or advice before I spend another dime??
My advice is that you should tow the car to your local Toyota dealer so that the DTC can be read and a diagnosis provided to you. It sounds like the engine cannot idle normally, which may be because MG1 within the transaxle is not allowing the engine to spin. That could be due to a transaxle or a hybrid ECU problem.
I have read the DTC's my self. only get p3125. taking it to the dealer is bad advice around here. the only thing any of our local toyota dealers can do right is change oil, and only some times
If you don't have access to the Toyota Techstream laptop or the equivalent (such as Techstream Lite), there may be other DTC that your code reader is not picking up. Prius has many ECUs. A typical generic code reader can typically read DTC generated by the engine ECU and if you are lucky, the hybrid vehicle ECU. A generic code reader will usually ignore DTC produced by the other ECUs such as traction battery and skid control.
You really need a Prius aware scanner to access not only the codes but sub-codes as well as read out what the car is seeing. The least expensive is a ScanGauge II and adding the XGAUGE codes at about $150. The next is AutoEnginuity at $500 with your laptop. Everything else that Patrick mentioned costs more or have other issues (aka., pirated Techstream.) But over the counter scanners just don't cover enough. Bob Wilson ps. Where are you located? There are known, trusted Prius mechanics . . . and I've been known to drive up to two hours away from Huntsville AL to help swap a traction battery.
$55 at techinfo.toyota.com gives you two days of legitimate use of Techstream, no piracy involved. You can provide your own laptop and J2534 dongle (maybe $400 one time) and legitimately use Techstream in two-day sessions when you need it. (It might be a "lite" version, but I'm not sure what the "lite" version omits.) -Chap
If you get a chance, could you post photos and a step-by-step description of how this works? Have you looked at the SourrceForge efforts? Thanks, Bob Wilson
