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2005 Prius issue on highway

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by statultra, Dec 5, 2009.

  1. statultra

    statultra uber-Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2005
    798
    31
    1
    Location:
    Edison,NJ
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    My 2005 Prius has a issue when driving above 70 mph, I am not sure whether or not this is normal, but based on my observations having little to no power on the highway isnt normal in my book.

    Driving above 70 mph for more than 10 minutes results in the car having no power to accelerate, upon looking at the MFD the battery has one bar, and continues to have one bar until i slow down below ~68 mph or so. A drive from Ft Myers to Ft Lauderdale across the alligator alley yielded mileage of 36.9 mpg over 250+ miles.

    Normal driving around town is fine, the battery stays above half most of the time.

    I have a check engine light, i forgot the code but it says camshaft actuator over retard.

    Anyone have a clue why my SOC is so low on highway?
     
  2. Hytec

    Hytec New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2004
    236
    9
    0
    Location:
    MS Gulf Coast
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    I suspect you may have a major problem which should be checked by Toyota service. I have an '05 with 50K miles and have never experienced this. Last month I took a 260 mile interstate trip averaging 65 mph. At no time did the battery gauge go lower than one bar from the top.
     
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    18,200
    6,482
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    Location:
    Green Valley, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I assume your car has DTC P0012. If the valve timing is retarded, then the intake valves will open much later than they should under high speed conditions. Hence the engine produces less power than normal and the battery is called upon to supplement that loss. After a while the battery is depleted so your car slows down.

    See pages 7-8 of attached. Although this was written for Classic, 2G is similar.
     

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