Hello, I bought a 2001 Prius from a private seller after they had just replaced the Hybrid battery with a Gen II battery and it has been running great until the last few days. First the Malfunction Indicator Lamp and Master Warning Light came on and my husband and I took it to a dealer. The dealer said the error code was P3000 but didn't know more than that. He said he didn't know if the v12 battery currently in the car is the correct battery and he said it looked like it wasn't secured correctly. He said I would have to take it somewhere else to have it worked on. When we picked up the car everything was normal again and none of the warning indicators came on. After driving it for about 80 miles both warning indicators came on again. I continued driving the car 15 miles, turned it off for about 5 hours and when I turned it on again only the Malfunction Indicator Lamp came on. At first my gas mileage was unaffected but now it has decreased slightly. I usually get about 41 mpg and I'm getting about 37-38 mpg since we picked up the car. I desperately need help and advice! With all the different indicators changing we don't know what to do. I'm in college still so I want to make sure the problem requires a professional before we take it in again.
DTC P3000 is logged by the hybrid vehicle ECU and points to a problem with the traction battery ECU, or traction battery. Often some other DTC will be logged to provide a further clue about the problem. I think that you should look at the 12V battery (located in the left side of the trunk trim) to see if you can determine why your dealer's service writer expressed concern. I've seen some owners exercise considerable creativity in installing 12V batteries of the incorrect size. Some jobs may be done more professionally than others, and it would not be helpful if the battery connections were intermittent.
Thank you so much for the advice! I'm new to the Prius life so, just to make sure I understand you correctly, the traction battery ECU is the giant hybrid battery correct? We are hoping to avoid replacing the hybrid battery. Does DTC P3000 relate at all to the 12v battery or soley to the traction battery?
Yes, DTC P3000 relates to the large high voltage (aka traction) battery. Sometimes, a bad 12V battery may cause spurious electrical problems as low voltage and electrical noise may confuse the ECUs, so it would be good to make sure there are no issues there.
Thank you so much for your help! I will take my Prius into AutoZone tomorrow and have them check out both batteries.
I'd be a bit surprised if AutoZone has any effective way to check out the traction (high-voltage) battery - it will be interesting to know what they say when you ask. There are some ways to get some traction battery stats yourself, just covered in this other recent thread. -Chap
Yeah, AutoZone couldn't help me but another small battery store checked my 12v battery & the voltage was fine but the battery itself is too large and is the incorrect battery. I ended up taking it to a dealer and they got 2 codes after analyzing it: P3006 & P3013. They are also getting varying voltages when they check the large Hybrid battery. The technitian believes that the battery needs to be replaced but will not know for sure until he runs more in-depth testing which will cost us $170 on top of the $68 we already spent. I was also told it would cost around $4000 to buy and instal a new battery. The technitian also mentioned that there could be a problem with the electrical components (not interpreting info correctly) or the grounding. They told me there is no way to know unless they do the in-depth testing but on my bill they wrote,"suspect hybrid battery on its way to failure." We just bought the car 2 months ago for $6200 and we don't have $4000 laying around to replace this battery. Any advice? Should we go through with the in-depth testing?
Personally paying for more diagnostics woul dnot be my first step. I would consult the Priuschat archives; they contain quite complete descriptins of the alternatives to the $4k new battery. Then you will be in a better position to plan action. Good Luck.
It sounds likely that the traction battery needs to be replaced given the two DTC that were logged. The quote of $4K is high because the price of the battery itself is supposed to be $2,300 and I would think that 4-6 labor hours would be a sufficient billing. Therefore if you decide to replace the battery with a new one you might call around to other local dealers to see if you can get a more favorable quote. If in fact the battery had been replaced by the prior owner, perhaps it is still covered under warranty? You might investigate that with the seller. It is also possible to buy a battery made of salvage 2G battery modules from Re-Involt for around $1,500 plus shipping, but this will require you to find an independent shop in your area willing to do the installation. That company offers a 1-year warranty. You've found that older Prius are quite cheap, and now you have discovered one reason why that is the case - the very high cost of dealer service post-warranty. Good luck.
Thank you so much for all your help! The people we bought the car from had put Gen2 cells in the traction battery but they didn't tighten everything up right so one of the batteries overheated. My father-in-law is/was a helicopter specialist for the military and he troubleshoots electircal problems. He was able to fix the problem for $250 and we did not have to go back for more testing or spend $4000 on a new battery! He also used this website for help Thanks so much for everything!
