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Toyota Prius Hybrid System Questions

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Comments

  • wonker1wonker1 Member Posts: 1
    When battery gets to 2 bars and car is shut off for 1 to 2 minutes the car makes a loud mechanical sound like it is having trouble switching from battery to gas engine. Has only done a couple of times mostly noted in colder weather.
  • eastreastr Member Posts: 2
    Hello,
    I own a 2006 Prius. I love the engine braking feature ("B" on the shifter) and use it frequently instead of the regular brakes to slow down for red lights and on the highway. A week ago, the car started to act like it is in medium "B" mode when the car is in "D" drive. Instead of coasting after taking off the gas, the car slows down at a faster than normal rate. It also requires pushing the pedal farther down/more gas to keep the car moving at a consistent speed. I took it to my local Toyota dealership and they told me the car "operates as designed," did a fuel induction/coolant flush and the problem is still there. Any ideas from the prius experts?

    Thanks in advance.
  • bobw3bobw3 Member Posts: 2,989
    Maybe you're confusing the computer with your use of "B" that's designed for going down long inclines, not for increased engine braking. Because you're using "B" so often, the computer may think you're driving in very hilly terrain, so now the computer is managing the "D" almost like a "B"
  • mickeyrommickeyrom Member Posts: 936
    Bingo! I think you hit the nail on the head.I have never used B in the year we have owned our Prius.
  • bobw3bobw3 Member Posts: 2,989
    I said in my post, "for going down long inclines, not for increased engine braking..." Actually the "B" is for increased engine braking when you're going down long inclines. But it's not designed for routine engine braking on flat surfaces during normal driving.
  • eastreastr Member Posts: 2
    Thanks, this may be the problem. I've stopped using B except for long hills. Hopefully, the transmission can fix itself.
  • nanagyeenanagyee Member Posts: 1
    My 2004 toyota prius does not start. The light comes on the sreen, you can play the radio,blow the horn and do everything but the car cannot start. What happened was that, I was driving in traffic and I saw smoke coming out through the front (bonnet). We parked and checked and realized the coolant pump under one of the front headlights was burnt. We replaced the coolant pump and put in some coolant oil and the vehicle cannot still start. Does anyone have an idea what is preventing the car from starting and how much roughly it will cost me to get the car running.
  • louigilouigi Member Posts: 3
    2010 V recently became hard to start. When I depress the brake and press the power button the dash lights up and a yellow skid icon comes on. The starter doesn't work. After maybe two or three or more tries of turning it off and on the skid icon doesn't come on and 'ready' lights up and all is fine. The first time it happened I thought maybe there wasn't enough juice in the starter battery and called out a AAA truck to jump start it. The guy said that the battery showed a good charge so that wasn't the problem. I've had it into the agency, and they couldn't replicate my situation. Anybody know what's going on? Both my wife and I have the same problem with it.
  • bimmer4mebimmer4me Member Posts: 266
    I had the same thing happen to me once in my 2011 prius. A friend was with me and said take your remote fob out of your pant pocket...car start immediately. He said sometimes with the remote key fob in your pant pocket a certain way/position will on rare ocasions prevent the car from recognizing the key. I recall this happening with my 328i once or twice. Not sure this is your situation, but it may help repositioning the key on your person if this happens again.
  • subjectivesubjective Member Posts: 62
    Has this been tested in court? Perhaps this is old stuff, but it isn't right and should not be legal! Surely this has come up many times before, or should have. This political crap has kept me from seriously considering the prius and now that I'm taking another look, Toyota, in the name of safety, has placed an engine cutoff feature on all models if the brake and accelerator are depressed at the same time. What a thrill it would be to be driving on a multilane highway in a storm with big trucks bearing down on you and the engine suddenly and unexpectedly turns off!
  • mm517amm517a Member Posts: 3
    I have a 2002 prius and have 73500 miles without any big problems. Had regular maintenance, replaced tires twice and last year had fuel injection service. Have asked the dealer in 2010 & 2011 to check the battery (big) as the engine runs 5 to 6 minutes before stopping. They said the battery was fine but it still continues to run which it never did before. At the end of last year I was out of town for 6 weeks and as the car had only been driven once a week the small battery had to be replaced in January 2012. This mechanic also did the fuel injection service and told me again that the problem of the car running might be due to the big battery as it takes longer to charge as the battery runs down. If the battery has a 10 year warranty, it will run out in March. What can I do to insure that I don't have replace the battery soon after the warranty runs out? I love my car and as I don't drive many miles, I would love to keep it but I don't want to keep a 10 year old car if I have to spend 3K and worry about a lot of repairs.
  • louigilouigi Member Posts: 3
    No, it turns out it was the battery being defective. But now, if we forget and leave the dome light on in back by the morning the battery is flat. I mean, how many amps does a little light have anyway? This is silly. If I had a flashlight with a couple of D cells those dinky batteries wouldn't run down overnight unless it was a very bright beam. This whole thing with not being able to start this car has turned me very much negative about Prius. I also have a 2003 Tundra, and if I don't drive it for a week or so it will have a flat battery. Seems the computer in the engine is running and sucking juice out of the battery. Ridiculous, especially in the Prius where you have a godawful mess of batteries, and leaving a dome light on overnight kills the car??
  • tdactortdactor Member Posts: 2

    I am having the same problem now on my 2005 Prius with 110,000 miles, did you ever find out how to fix this problem with engine spinning and very little acceleration?

    @blburke said:
    My 2007 Prius has now done 30000 Km. Fuel consumption is poor at around 5.5 litres per 100 km. Sometimes when I accellerate the petrol engine simply spins (as if the clutch was slipping in a convention car) and there is no accelleration. The dealer says there is nothing wrong. Has anyone else experienced this?. Any ideas as to what the problem may be?

  • tdactortdactor Member Posts: 2

    I have a 2005 Prius with 110,000 mi. Sometimes when I accelerate the gas engine simply spins (as if the clutch was slipping in a convention car) and there is little acceleration and the gas engine doesn't shut off when coasting or braking as it always has in past. The battery screen shows it is not charging when this happens and is at 1 bar. then sometimes the hybrid battery guage will go from 1 bar to fully charged in under a minute or 2 and then show discharging just as fast which isn't possible. It goes away after a restart sometimes but then happpens again soon. Is it the TP sensor, Hybrid battery computer or ? I have gotten all kinds of codes including P0a93, P0a80, P1400, P040a. Does anyone know what is the problem and how to fix it?

  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372

    Doing a quick search for those codes... P0a93 is for the inverter cooling system, P0a80 seems to be a code to replace hybrid battery pack, P1400 is about a voltage in the DPFE sensor (an emissions item, but still an electrical issue), and P040a is also an emission item. (EGR)

    Throw in your description of little acceleration and you might have something going on in the emissions system, but I'm no auto tech so definitely get another opinion. All the codes seem related to electrical issues as well, so it might even be one issue somewhere throwing a gremlin in the works. But I'd bet it's a bit more complicated than that.

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