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Toyota Camry Hybrid Engine Problems

2

Comments

  • clfrunclfrun Member Posts: 11
    Thank you...this week I drove 450 miles to a city and back; the computer average was 39.6...I have not completed the math yet. I do know I am getting about 35 - 70 miles less on a tank that in the past. This would indicate that I am about 3 - 4 MPG less now than other tanks of gas.

    It does seem odd that it would just happen suddenly, although to your point the weather has been colder for sure and the car was out at the motel for a couple of nights as well.
  • clfrunclfrun Member Posts: 11
    Thank you...I obviously do not have the knowledge that you have, but I will utilize your suggestion. Based on your TCH's performance, it would seem this one is somewhat in line. I guess I was spoiled to the 40+ averages I have been obtaining to this point. The last two tanks for sure have been lower on the computer...3 - 4 MPG, as the computer average was 42.5 or so on the two tanks prior to the most recent two fill-ups. This last tank was 39.6 on the computer.
  • terry92270terry92270 Member Posts: 1,247
    Exactly. Just start the car three or four minutes before you leave, and let it warm when it is very cold. You should see immediate improvement. :)
  • lungdoc63lungdoc63 Member Posts: 55
    Anyone know how to turn off the Engine Maintence light? I had oil change at 2500 miles and now the damn light is on at 5000. I'll get around to the service. In the meantime, I don't need to slapped with a reminder every time I look at dashboard.
  • terry92270terry92270 Member Posts: 1,247
    Maybe it is in the Owners Manual :confuse:

    I Googled the info below....

    Many Honda Civics, Accords and Acuras have a "Maintenance Required" warning light on the dash that comes on at 7,000 mile intervals to remind the owner of recommended factory maintenance.

    To turn this light off:

    1. Push in and hold the odometer reset button.
    2. While holding in the odometer reset button, insert the key into the ignition and hold for 20 seconds.
    3. Turn key to "on" while still holding in the odometer reset button.
    4. Hold in the odometer reset button until all of the warning lights have lit - after about 10 seconds the "Maintenance Required" light will go off.
  • indy13indy13 Member Posts: 2
    Check engine light went on at 15000 miles . Dealer has had the car for 3 days can;t figure out the problem Anyone else have this problem.
  • jswhaljswhal Member Posts: 2
    I took a long trip this week, averaging over 38 MPG. There were several stretches of long downhills (Mass Pike east bound) where I got 60 mpg bars for several minutes, but the "car" icons never appeared unless I was braking during that time. It seems that if power is going back into the battery, braking is irrelevant. Just curious as to what the green car really means.
  • talmy1talmy1 Member Posts: 55
    Each "car" means that 50 Wh (watt-hours) of energy was regenerated by the brakes. The energy recovered during braking does go back into the battery.
  • acco20acco20 Member Posts: 211
    what "green cars"? Where do I look for them. Thanx.
  • wvgasguywvgasguy Member Posts: 1,405
    On the Nav cars the green cars appear on the individual one minute FE bars on the energy screen
  • acco20acco20 Member Posts: 211
    I use the energy screen and the green bars have shown the 60 reading many many times, but I have never noticed any green cars. I will have to look closer. Where do they appear?
  • jswhaljswhal Member Posts: 2
    They appear in the bar itself, near the bottom. I've seen a couple in a bar at a time. My question was why they only show up if you were braking during that time. If I'm coasting the whole time, I'm regenerating.
  • wvgasguywvgasguy Member Posts: 1,405
    Sometimes only "half" a car shows up. The "ledgend" for the cars is on the top left of the screen
  • talmy1talmy1 Member Posts: 55
    I don't think it is possible to regenerate 50 Wh per minute coasting. Only braking generates sufficient energy.
  • thaipthaip Member Posts: 32
    Hi Everyone,

    If anyone know about regular services such as 15k, 20k, 25k, 30k, and every 5k miles services after that must be perforned so the manufacture and extended warranty stay intact? I didn't realize that the 15k service mostly just checking the engine and oil change ,and toyota dealer wanted like $350. I am afraid that if I don't let them do the service, my warranties will be voided! Is this possible? Is there any way that I can get around this problem?

    Should I say, is it neccessary to have the car service as its schedule?

    thanks

    PT
  • lzclzc Member Posts: 483
    Maintaining the warranty does not require that you use the dealer for service work, only that you maintain a record of having the work performed. Nor does it require that you agree to the (likely) extra list of services the dealer wants to perform at 15K, which accounts for the $350 price.

    You need only have serviced the items called for in your owners' manual at 15K. Read it. An informed customer will be able to know when to say no. Simply get a price for the items required . . . and nothing more.
  • thaipthaip Member Posts: 32
    Thanks,

    Based on the manual service schedule, at 15k miles, basically there are a lot of checking services beside the oil change and the cabin air filter change. I was thinking of bring it to my friend who also has an auto shop to have the services done. What about this idea?

    PT
  • lzclzc Member Posts: 483
    That works fine. Just keep a receipt for the service in the unlikely event you need to prove the work was done.

    There's nothing about a 15k service that can't be done by auto service center. All those inspections are visual, just checks for leaks or obvious problems. Anyone could do them in a few minutes.

    Btw, I'd probably change, rather than clean, the cabin air filter. Good luck.
  • kent16kent16 Member Posts: 2
    Okay...nightmare time. I brought my 2007 Camry Hybrid to the dealer for the 20k oil change. When I got out of the car the techs asked me, "What is that 'ticking' noise?" Never having heard it before I said, "I dont know". The tech checked the oil shook his head and said..we need to have a look. 15 minutes later they tell me I need a rental car. The tech calls me later that afternoon and says - "we don't know why - but there is metal in the bearings and you need a new engine." I bought the car five months ago. I changed the oil every 5,000 miles. A NEW ENGINE? They told me Toyota would take care of it. Anyone else having this "PROBLEM"?
  • larsblarsb Member Posts: 8,204
    Hey, look at the bright side:

    You got a new engine when your car already had 20,000 miles on it !!

    I say have a Par-TAY !!!! You get 36K more miles of warranty coverage on the new engine, I'm sure.

    P.S. Never have heard of this issue happening to a 2007 TCH before.
  • kent16kent16 Member Posts: 2
    You are right about that - I hope. I certainly will push for a 36k warranty on the new engine.
  • gschmoelgschmoel Member Posts: 2
    Does anybody know how to change out the filter. I cannot seem to find it in the manuel. I look under engine, air, filter and all I can find is AC filter.
  • saragsarag Member Posts: 1
    I bought my 2009 TCH 6 months ago. It has been a great car so far, until last Saturday. After another refueling in the morning I parked the car in my garage and went out for the day. I came home around 7 at night, went into the garage and could not breathe. The garage smelled like a gas chamber. I found out that the smell of raw gasoline was coming from the Toyota’s gas cap. I turned the cap on and off several times thinking that the problem will go away. But, no, the smell did not go away. I took the car to a dealer, they found nothing wrong either with the car or the gas cap. However, the smell is still there. I did not have any difficulties to add gas to the car that morning and I have never overfilled the tank. I do not know what to do. Please HELP!
  • canucktchcanucktch Member Posts: 3
    This forum really is helpful.

    Have my 08TCH for a little over 2 months and I have always wondered why, after using the EV mode for a long stretch, it kept trying to force the ICE on. What you say makes perfect sense.

    Was getting frustrated because I thought everytime I let off the gas below 40mph it should go to EV, but sometimes it did not. Now, when I think how long it has been between the ICE running, it makes more sense. The catalytic converter would cool down after a while. Wish the car would tell you when it was the culprit for turning on the ICE rather than your lead foot.

    BTW I am averaging 43mpg (5.5 l/100km for canadians) with my car doing 80% city / 20% highway. Very satisfied with the efficency for such a large car.
  • canucktchcanucktch Member Posts: 3
    When I am on EV mode, sometimes when I hit a bump in the road or a sewer, the car tries to startup the ICE. I suspect that I am varying the throttle when being jostled around and it's reacting to that input. I also find it hard to feather the throttle to stay in EV mode, especially at low speeds, without the ICE wanting to join the party as well.

    Is there an adjustment to the car to allow more give to the throttle. Would prefer that if I feather the throttle, it stays in EV, if I press harder on the throttle, it brings ICE on. Seems to be hard to figure out how much throttle you have to work with before ICE gets involved. I think different modes give you different sensativities.
  • canucktchcanucktch Member Posts: 3
    BTW The battery was still charged but the engine was coming on. My drive home from work is unique as it is almost all downgrade, so you use ICE to get up to speed and EV after that.
  • lzclzc Member Posts: 483
    I doubt any adjustment is possible. It's a good idea though. Some transmissions offer an adjustment of shift points to allow for driver preferences. Hybrids might gain a little extra mileage if shift points between systems reflected specific driving conditions.
  • diannedandiannedan Member Posts: 2
    I bought my 2009 TCH November 2008. It now has 10,000 miles. I have had the unfortunate incident you are referring to happen to me. In fact, mine was even spewing gas all over the driveway! I have since observed that during times of heavy driving and hot weather, there seems to be a build up of air pressure in the tank. I think (but do not know for a fact) that this causes the gas cap to loosen, which in turn causes the check engine light to turn on. I say this because when the check engine light comes on, I have found the gas cap loosened (I am very careful to tighten the cap after filling up). When I have released the gas cap, a fairly loud release of gas vapor emits from the tank. When the tank is fairly full (I do not top off my gas), the gas seems to expand and cause strong gas odors to emit and, as I said, can leak gasoline as well. The odor dissipated after some time as you have probably already experienced. However, this problem is ongoing. My cap has loosened when the tank was about 3/4 empty! There was no odor at that time, but the engine check light went on again. If I continue to drive it, the light will turn itself off eventually (it takes going through almost another tank of gas for this to happen). I have wondered if the battery is situated near the gas tank so when it is really hot outside and/or one is driving heavily during the day, it is creating a heat build up that is subsequently causing the gasoline to vaporize at a rapid rate. Although I am not an auto design engineer or mechanic, I am convinced that it is this air pressure that is somehow playing a role in the gas cap loosening.
  • larsblarsb Member Posts: 8,204
    It's under warranty.

    Drop it at the dealer on a Saturday morning and say " Fix it."

    Problem solved, no cost to you.
  • lzclzc Member Posts: 483
    Something in your Evaporative Emission System isn't working right. There is a purge valve or various seals that could be bad, any of which would release gasoline vapors. It's covered under warranty. Also, your car is designed to operative most efficiently with this system working properly. When it isn't, I doubt you're getting the gas mileage intended. Any dealer should be able to test for a malfunction.
  • diannedandiannedan Member Posts: 2
    I will bring this response to the attention of the dealership mechanic. I have brought the above described problem to their attention already, but after running tests, they could not find anything wrong with the car. The mileage is about as claimed. I have noticed from other posts, that others are getting frustrated with bringing their cars to the dealership mechanics for the engine check light going on and have been told no problems were found. As I stated, the light appears related to the gas cap loosening. Having it under warranty doesn't provide a lot of solace if your car is spending a great amount of time in the shop only to be told no problems can be detected. I brought my car in again today and gave the mechanic a detailed description of my observation as above. The head mechanic did call Toyota tech and was told that there are many other similar complaints. The end result is that they are ordering a new fuel filler neck and gas cap. It'll take a month to get the parts so I'll have to wait to see if this resolves the problem. But then again the weather may be cooler and it may not show up until it's hot again. It does also seem somehow related to the heat.
  • jrsdriverjrsdriver Member Posts: 2
    I had the same problem on my 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid. The gas cap didn't tighten correctly, and I got that strong gasoline smell and the Check Engine light went on and stayed on.
    I took it to the dealer and they turned off the CE light, tightened the gas cap and promised to order me a new gas cap. It hasn't arrived yet but I have had no more problems with the old one.
  • wombat9wombat9 Member Posts: 1
    I have had the same problems with my 2009 TCH.
    First, I had the strong gas smell (and this was outside in the driveway!) and a small amount of gas on the driveway behind the left rear tire. Brought it in to the dealer, and they could not find anything wrong. The check engine light did not come on this time.
    Then several weeks later the check engine light came on. The gas cap seemed loose, so we were sure that was the problem. We drove the car quite a bit and had several fill-ups before having the light reset during the next regular service. They confirmed it was a loose gas cap that caused the light to come on.
    Yesterday the light came on again, and again the gas cap seemed like it was not tightened properly. We have been hyper vigilant about paying attention to the clicking sound when filling up ever since the first incident with the gas that leaked out, and we never top off the tank. Not to mention we have both been successfully tightening gas caps on various cars for quite a few years now!
    I am annoyed at having to go into the dealer again to have them reset the light and tell me they don't find any problems. I hope Toyota will acknowledge that there is an issue here and figure out how to fix it. I'd be interested in hearing whether a new gas cap fixes this problem for anyone.
  • taxigirltaxigirl Member Posts: 1
    Our 2009 Camry Hybrid with 90,000 miles (it's a taxi) completely froze up while driving on the freeway. We had it towed in and the mechanic at Toyota quickly said it was due to "poor maintenance" despite the fact that we regularly had the oil changed and any other routine repair. There were metal shavings in the engine and we're going to have to replace it at great cost. The timing chain was intact. Does any one have any ideas on what might have caused this? Reading other problems posted for this model, could they have caused the engine failure eventually? It's hard to compare to other posted problems because few 2009's have such high mileage. I'd be grateful for any ideas.
  • cdn_tchcdn_tch Member Posts: 194
    Since the car is a commercial vehicle, it is not covered under warranty, so I don't know why the dealer would be so quick to try and make the failure your fault. Has there been any identification of the failure? What failed? The engine seized (oil pump failure?) ? ECU failed and shut down the system? Battery system failure?

    A lot more info is required before anyone can make a knowledgeable reply.

    Please keep us posted.
  • snaab93se1snaab93se1 Member Posts: 69
    How often was the oil changed and what grade oil was used?
  • valhallacamryvalhallacamry Member Posts: 5
    my 2007 hybrid camry had to hybrid system malfunction light come on. It worked on battery power had to pull off the road and by turning the car off and on car worked normal but engine light and malfunction warning stayed on. 1000 miles prior to this I had taken it to the dealer for an oil change. At that time they recommended, strongly, a fuel injection cleaning , insisting it was recommended by toyota. I did not recall it in the manual and with modern engines and fuel it is a useless recommendation.
    They told my wife the fuel injectors were "gummed up". When I called back they said the fuel injection cleaning would help since they got a throttle body error code. the engine has never had a problem, no acceleration or running issues. ran great after restarting the car.
    what do you think?
    they cleared the codes , car runs fine , no error codes after test drive.
    I asked them to flash the computer but they did not understand how to do this
  • snaab93se1snaab93se1 Member Posts: 69
    Take your car to another Dealer or mechanic!!!!!!!!!!!! The throttle body is the part of the air intake system that controls the amount of air flowing into the engine, in response to driver accelerator pedal input. This does not explain why you had a hybrid malfunction light and there should have been a code recorded on the cars computer for the dealer to diagnose. How many miles are on the car?
  • valhallacamryvalhallacamry Member Posts: 5
    thank you for the info. 56,000 miles now
  • valhallacamryvalhallacamry Member Posts: 5
    56000 miles I had just taken it in at 55000 miles when they tried to sell the fuel injector cleaning! of course I declined. now they want to sell it again to help the throttle body error code they said they got.
  • valhallacamryvalhallacamry Member Posts: 5
    got 2 error codes
    p2103 and p2111
  • snaab93se1snaab93se1 Member Posts: 69
    P2103 throttle activator control motor circuit high
    p2111 throttle activator control system stuck open
    look up"electronic throttle control" on wikipedia for a detailed explaination on how this part works
  • priusrlkpriusrlk Member Posts: 2
    I have a 2005 Prius with 142,000 miles on it. About a week ago I got a check engine light and brought it to my local dealership here in Annapolis. The error code is P0505. The recommended a host of work that did not make sense to me. I then took it to a local mechanic and he pulled the codes again and one came up that the hybrid system was not communicating. He cleaned the throttle body and then the engined started reving as it never has before. He said there is a chance that the car will need a new throttle body. I was also informed that there are some big problems with Toyota's electronic throttle bodies. I appreciate input. Car has been well maintained with oil changed every 5000 miles.
  • valhallacamryvalhallacamry Member Posts: 5
    thanks for the input
    I found out this weekend they did not open the throttle body as they should have to inspect it. they did check the electronics of it and working fine.
    car is running fine, never did have idle issues etc.

    they did say it could have carbon build up in throttle body.

    is that possible?
  • priusrlkpriusrlk Member Posts: 2
    The mechanic this morning open the throttle body and clean it. To me it did not look that dirty and he agreed. He feels that he has to test it a lot more to determine the exact problems now. The engine is now revving when it should be off at at stop. The concern is the electronic throttle body is not communicating to the hybrid synergy drive. Plus now I have read stories of cars accelerating suddenly to speeds of excess of 90mph.

    Thoughts ?
  • pat85pat85 Member Posts: 92
    Toyota is claiming the sudden accelerations are due to floor mats getting stuck under the accelerator. Lots of people who had this happen DID NOT have floor mats under the accelerator. It reminds me of Audi which had a similar problem, claiming "driver error".
    I got a preliminary recall notice telling me to remove my floor mats until further notice. I do not believe floor mats are the problem.
  • eng5hfdeng5hfd Member Posts: 4
    I have a 2009 camry hybrid and it will stop running while driving. I loose all power. All the gauges go dark then turn back on with no warning lights lite. It has happened 7 times in the past 3 months. I have to pull over and restart and everything will be fine. I have had it into the dealer 3 times. They tell me that they can not find anything wrong. There is no codes to be found. This is a very dangerous situation. Please help!!!! :sick:
  • cdn_tchcdn_tch Member Posts: 194
    Go to a different dealer. You are right this is dangerous. It may be something as simple as a bad connection at the 12V battery, but it needs to be fixed. Your warranty is honoured at any Toyota dealer in North America, take advantage of that and don't patronize a dealer that isn't working for you.
  • eng5hfdeng5hfd Member Posts: 4
    They have checked all conections
  • cdn_tchcdn_tch Member Posts: 194
    I suspect you are not going to get an answer of 'this is what is wrong...' in any of the forums. This is an intermittent problem and from my laymans perspective it sounds like you are losing power to the ECU. Could be a connector somewhere that isn't fully plugged in, a broken wire that breaks the connection when jostled, maybe a wire somewhere that has rubbed away the insulation and occasionally shorts out.

    Talk to a dealer and have them bring in an area rep to talk with you.

    And I doubt the dealer has check *all* the connections. They have check the ones that are easy to get to. To really check all, they would have to strip the car down to get at everything.
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