yikes.. possible traction battery failure??

hmm.. we kinda need more info.

can you try running it again? since you have turbulance, our number 1 worry of causing harm to the inverter isn't much of an issue now.

so... see if you can get it to charge up a bit. you can always force charge too (just as a test)... to force charge, put the car in D and hold both brake and gas.. the engine will rev up... in about 20 seconds or so you'll hear a load on the engine, and everything should start charging. if you fill up the battery this way, it will be warm and will not shut off, as the car will want to cycle off power...

if the car seems like it's NOT charging (no arrows or something.. or extremely rough ICE/no power, then don't test it like this) take it to toyota to get codes.


all in all, you should probably take it to toyota to get codes pulled, or find a local mechanic to knows what he's doing on hybrids to check codes for you.

if the engine fans are on, you're warm somewhere... they should just kinda cycle anyway.. but that really depends on how warm it is there...

btw.. if you're on the original 12v, change it... it's basically shorting the system by now...

 

btw.. about the 12v.. if it's dead enough and ever accidentally somehow shorts inside, the car will turn off... if the 12v line is shorted out while the car is running, the car turns off... it may not apply here at all... but just as a heads up to how sensitive the 12v line is (although it's extremely tough too.. it's complicated)...

 

and just to top it off.. i really really wouldn't leave your battery at 1 bar... if it drains down any more, you're car will kinda freak out and go into this really high ICE spin to charge up. (i'm convinced it over revs something... i've had this happen once when my spark plugs were flooded... SOC dropped fast (ice stall) and then the ICE ran mad to re charge it)

 

You don't carry a dog in the back seat do you? If you do then you may want to check out this thread:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-fur-dirt-causing-major-battery-problems.html

About the DTCs not all scanners are the same, most of them don't read Toyota specific codes.

 

What really sucks is that Pennsylvania adopted CARB warranty for model year 2008 and beyond. So the CARB hybrid battery warranty to 150,000 miles doesn't apply to your '05. It is possible that you might be able to leverage your low mileage and the later CARB adoption into getting a discount on a replacement, but you will have to work for it via Toyota Customer Care, if your dealer won't go to bat for you.

Anyway, the surest sign of hybrid battery or transaxle failure is that the car won't go in reverse.

Be careful about spending money on a scanner. The AutoEnginuity at $400 is about the bare minimum for full diagnostic work. If you can get the codes read at an auto parts store, that would be a good place to start.

 

After reading so many posts about car malfunctioning upon going up a hill I think this is a scenario Japanese Engineers could not fix.

That scenario is combining a flat hybrid battery and maximum load on the MG's.
This is how you can kill this car. I think the only thing the design eng could do was limit the current output of the Inverter so it didn't kill itself with low input B+ and max load.

If you try to go up a hill, with max cabin electric load (lights, radio & ac on max), maximum mechanical load (hill & power demand-floored pedal)) and the battery is very low one purple bar and you feel the car is not powering up the hill the first thing you would do is push the gas pedal down more. In fact a few posts said "floor it".

Which is the worst thing to do. The Inverter cannot come up with enough power to drive the MG. What your feeling with the power loss is the Inverter pulling back current because it cannot supply enough power. It has to or it would self destruct quickly.
I hope there's some software involved in this current limit and not just a fixed over current crowbar. Because the Inverter cannot take to many of those. It should throw either an overcurrent or MG Overheat nag.

The ICE will be screaming to assist and charge the battery and you can't hear it over the motor but I garantee you the Inverter is screaming just as loud but there will never be enough power in this instance. Not with full load, a flat battery, and a hot day.
And maybe lets throw in a poorly maintained Inverter coolant system to boot.

I will bet money that the latest posters with hill failure if they opened the hood the Inverter coolant was probably close to boiling. And the CVT was probably cooking too. This is how you kill this car.

Easiest way to kill an electric motor is to low volt it under load.

Lesson here I guess is when approaching a big hill make sure the battery is charged, lighten up the cabin electric, get max speed up as you approach the hill.
Take it easy. If you do feel loss of power pull over and see how hot its getting. Cause it's getting hot. Let it cool down and let the ICE run to charge the battery up.

 

You initially mentioned that the tow truck driver would not let you turn the headlights off, so for all you know the 12V could still be low. Check the 12v in the load position ie: NOT in the charging mode, it should read something over 12V, with no accessories on. If it reads low you have to charge it at least 8 hours at about 4 amps or less. IF you have no charger you can leave the car in ready overnight and the car will charge the 12V. The voltage you are reading is the charging voltage being fed by the HV Battery, that is good, BUT, not relevant to the SOC of the 12v. To let it charge overnight may not be possible in your situation ( street parking ). Everything has returned to normal in your case because thru starting attempts you have rebooted the pertinent computer systems. Don't worry about either the HVBattery fan or the engine fans coming on, they are supposed to! Always keep some AC on for the HV Battery 72 to 78 degrees AND Do not go charging up any hills at 70 Mph on HOT days. Lastly keep your ICE Coolants full. lane:

 

The traction battery fan is an enormous job getting to, it has a filter riveted on the intake and the exhaust, it is probably OK. NO AIR should come out of the duct located at the right rear passenger seat grill, air should be sucked into the grill, pass over the top of the HV pack and then flow under the battery and exit out the exhaust duct to the right rear of the car. The exhaust duct can be removed and can feel that airflow. This is why on hot days it is important to run the AC and drive conservatively. IF you really have air coming out of that grill..............you have a real problem. Stop driving.

 

To Edthefox: I agree on all points. This subject should be a sticky. Although, sad to say I am not sure how many people read the stickys. The OPs keep asking questions covered by the stickys!

 

good plan ! :d:d:d

 

To point out again, air should never travel into the car from that grill, the only explanation would be: 1. Fan is running backwards ( possible, as it is DC powered and the wiring could have been reversed ) it is possible that it has always been wired backwards and you have never noticed because the car was never stressed that much and it has not been that hot 2. Ducting is clogged, and you are getting backed up air. Was the car bought by you or your family new? # 1 is easy to prove and correct. Periodic operation of the car in this condition can ruin the HV battery

 

yeah... your fan may be dusted up. mine was really clocked up. i assumed no real air pressure was being built up.

your fan turned on high because you forced charged then turned the car off.... i forgot to tell you to let it sit for a bit so your battery can cool down.

when you turned it off, the head just settled in.. when you turned it back on, it was probably still warm... so it tried to blast itself with air.

you said it turned on to low (the 2nd time around) then fired up to high... maybe it wasn't getting the air it needed so it bumped demand.


there is a thread on cleaning the fan. i'll pull it up a little later tonight. i did mine recently. it's kinda a pain but well worth it to go and clean everything out. maybe i'll make up a summed up version that will work with "enough manpower".. because i think you can simply go in and unbold the fan and turn it with enough force to pop it out of the two casings (that's what i did to put it back in after re assembling everything)...

the real trick is putting the carpet back the way it belongs... you really have to pull the rear right hand side apart.