Hi folks,

I used to be a proud Prius (model 2001 Europe) owner. Up until two weeks ago. That morning, I drove to work, everything was fine til I had to stop at our company barrier and pull out my badge. During braking, I got an error sign on the TFT monitor signalling something was wrong. Luckily, the way went downhill and I could roll to a parking space.
Later on, I took my Prius Mini-Scanner to check the problem code: Hybrid Vehicle ECU, code P3125 - "Converter and Inverter Assembly Unit Failure".
That sounded uneasy - probably close to the engine core. I had the Prius get towed-away to my home Toyota service center - where it stays for the entire two weeks now, without a clue on what's the problem.
The center's tech guys got a whole lot more error codes, and couldn't make anything of it. The issue was escalated to Toyota Intl, which suggested to replace the control unit - a one-way operation, since the unit gets "branded" in the process: a sure 1600 EUR (2000$) spare part I could not return if it wasn't the source. At least, Toyota Intl assured that in the very few cases they had this had a 90% chance of success.
Of course, that wasn't it. All service personnel is now totally clueless. Service Center guys started to check all cabling in the car, hoping to find something. In the process, it turned out that while they could start the motor, the new control unit rejected loading the battery pack - while the tests they conducted drained energy from the batteries.
Now the batteries are almost discharged, and once they go below a certain threshold, they can not be charged again because the (gas) motor can't even be started any more. Replacing them would come at another 8000 EUR (9000$) expense, effectively enough to declare the car completely broken. Toyota Intl is supposed to report back with a trick on how to force re-loading the batteries, but haven't answered yet.
I'm totally frustrated by failure management of this incident - neither the local guys nor Toyota themselves could come up with ANYTHING sensible to do.

I'll never suggest a Prius for anyone again if this doesn't somehow get a happy end.

Anyone else had such problems? Or am I really the first person ever to experience this, as one of the techs told me?

Greetings,

Stefan

 

How many kilometers on the car? How long have you had the 12 V. auxillary battery?

Reasonable assumption but often there are sub-codes that a Graham miniscanner does not report. These can help narrow the problem.
OWCH! This is called debugging by using a 'golden spare.' Somehow, this does not make a lot of sense. Was it the engine controller? If I remember correctly, that is the only controller that has to be changed if the keys have to be replaced.
Toyota has a hybrid battery rechargered but my understanding is there is only one in North America. There is a hybrid battery recharging plug located on the left side of the trunk behind the lining.

You can see it at the top of this photo. It loops down and behind the strut and into the battery pack. Ask your Toyota dealer to get the traction battery charger sent to them.
I would suggest reposting this note with as much additional information as possible to the "Prius_Technical_Stuff", Yahoogroup. Since you have a scanner (Graham?), do you feel comfortable dealing with technical questions?
You are rare but not alone. One of the things many of us in North America have been looking at is developing an independent network of Prius mechanics and experts. Hybrid electric technology is rare and without failed vehicles to work on, it is difficult for them to deal with what is a new experience. But many of us believe mastery of the technology and self-maintenance is very desirable.

Bob Wilson

 

Approx 95000km, bought it used (no warranties any more!). 12 V replaced last year, there was a scanner error about gas pedal sensor not working correctly; service center said replacing 12V would help and it did.
Last full inspecition done this January at 90000.

Yes, service center used those sub-codes. The "funny" thing is: the error count reported and the codes themselves vary from engine start to engine start, even with the new control unit. That's the main reason they can't pinpoint the problem.

English is not my native, and I'm not that great a car tech myself... it's a controller unit placed at the co-driver side, front, in the foot area.

That might be VERY helpful! I'll keep that in my mind.

Somewhat, yes. But the car is currently at the service center, I have no access to it. I'll re-post a consolidated notice on that forum. It's not Graham, but EcrosTech. The service center guy even asked some inquisitive questions about that third-party device and at one point tried to suggest that this device sending malicious instricutions might be the cause of it all - just that it was off at the time, so that sounds very far-fetched.

Yes, that's pretty much what the service center techs said as well - it's so rare that they can't do much more than following the repair manual, and if that fails they are lost.
Oh, and I'm not even remotely aiming at self-maint. I'd be happy to get it repaired and pay the price. But that the servicemen don't even know what to do and how to do it makes me mad.

Greetings,

Stefan