ICE not running -- Car stuck on forest road

did you run out of gas?

 

unusual problem i think. check the oil level. might be a computer issue. try disconnecting the negative for a reset and see what happens. does it still make ready? how many miles on her?

 

1. Take a sharp photo of the warning lights and post.
2. Do you have a digital multimeter? If yes, measure the voltage at the 12V battery when the car is IG-OFF and when it is READY.
3. If you don't have a meter, turn on the headlights and see how bright they are compared to normal.
4. Look at the inverter coolant reservoir for fluid turbulence when the Prius is READY. If you don't see this then the inverter coolant pump has failed.
5. It might be time for you to buy Mini VCI so that you can retrieve logged DTC on your Prius as well as other Toyota vehicles.

 

Bring a Phillips screwdriver along on your next trip to the car so that you can remove the large black plastic panel that is over the radiator. You need to remove that panel for access to the radiator cap.

To remove the panel, use one hand to apply upwards force to one corner of the panel while you rotate the plastic fastener with the screwdriver. The plastic fastener looks like, but is not a screw. It will pop out if you lift the panel hard enough while you rotate the fastener. Once you get one fastener out, study it so that you can see how it works and you will find the other five will come out more easily.

If you should find that the fluid level in the radiator is low, look at the engine coolant pump pulley and the air conditioner compressor. Do you see a pinkish deposit on the inside of the pulley and on the compressor housing? Or maybe a pinkish spray on the underhood sound insulating blanket? Those are all signs that the engine coolant pump is leaking and that would be the reason why the radiator fluid is low.

Regardless of whether the inverter pump was replaced or not, you still need to see whether that pump is actually working by looking for fluid turbulence in the reservoir.

 

what is scaring you, large animals in the dark?

 

It sounds like your car has two problems, both of which need to be addressed immediately:

1. The inverter coolant pump is not working based upon your observation that you do not see fluid turbulence in the inverter coolant reservoir when the Prius is READY. That needs to be immediately fixed. I have posted previously on how to replace this pump - since you already had it done once for free via recall, your local dealer will charge you a few hundred $ for that repair - unless you had that recall done less than a year ago in which case you might argue that the part should be covered under the normal Toyota 1-year parts warranty.
How to Replace the Inverter Coolant Pump | PriusChat

2. Look at the engine coolant pump for coolant seepage which is the most likely reason for the low fluid level in the radiator. Other reasons would include a leaking radiator hose or the radiator itself, but those are relatively low probability events.

If the engine coolant pump is the issue, my thread here may be of interest:
How to replace engine coolant pump and thermostat | PriusChat

Next week, I'm planning to replace the engine coolant pump on my daughter's 2007 which has logged 72K miles. She was quoted $600 by her dealer in south Orange County (CA) to replace it and sent photos documenting that the pump actually had a bad leak.

I bought the correct pump for $57 and serpentine drive belt for $14 (plus shipping) from Autonation Toyota Gulf Freeway, Houston, TX via weborder. Add $50 for two gallons of coolant. The total for parts and fluid is pretty low and it is obvious the dealer service department is making a huge profit on these simple repairs.

 

Oregon is partial CARB state right? So HV battery be covered to 150k miles but other stuff may be 100k miles

 

Did you actually look at the engine coolant pump? It is visible when you open the hood and look down at the "front" of the engine which faces the passenger-side fender. Look for the serpentine drive belt and follow it down to the coolant pump pulley.

Also, if you are going to inspect the hoses you need to see them, not feel them. You are looking for a pinkish or whitish stain which is evidence of coolant residue. It is highly unlikely that you will actually have wet coolant on a hose to feel - because that would be evidence of a really bad leak.

Can you translate "bit of a distance" into number of miles?

 

That's good news. At least we now know that the ICE can still run and produce power, and that the hybrid system is still working. Best case scenario now is that it's just something that's overheated and will come good as soon as that is fixed.

First place to start is to make sure that the actual radiator (not just the reservoir) is full! Make sue you remove the cover at the top of the radiator and check under the actual radiator cap (only when the engine is cold of course). If the engine will run then let it idle for a half a minute and then double check the radiator level. Keep doing this until it's definitely full.

That's about 1.5L right, from memory that's about the capacity of the reservoir. So just to double check, was that just the reservoir, or was it the actual radiator? It's vital that the actual radiator is filled! Note that if you have still a lot of air space in the radiator then the coolant in the reservoir will NOT be of any help.

Ok, this is important to get fixed too. At the moment it won't hurt to run it for short periods of time (a few minutes) with this problem. You don't want to run it at all until you know for certain that the engine coolant is full however.

It definitely sounds like the inverter coolant pump has failed. Note that sometimes people don't notice the fluid movement because it can be a little more subtle than what they're expecting. So I just want to ask if you've ever looked at this before? It's a lot easier to recognise a problem here if you've previously looked at it (when it was working). That way you know for sure what it is that you're looking for. If you haven't done this before then my advice is to use a flash light to look straight down through the reservoir lid (removed), and in particular to look carefully at the fluid surface toward the rear of the pump. Look at it over a period of 10 to 20 seconds and you should definitely notice at least some amount of rippling or gurgling on the surface if it's working.

 

Hey Cyber. All are giving you good advice here. The only thing I would have you check that has not been mentioned is the oil. The reason I want you to check the oil is because we need to find out where the coolant that was in the radiator went. Since it is not obviously leaking anywhere outside the engine, it may be leaking inside the engine (thru a blown head gasket). If this is the case, the oil will appear milky white in color.

The chances of this happening with your car are low and I don't believe you will find it to be the case but, its worth checking.

If you don't have a "milky" white colored oil, then we need to look at everything in its totality. Here's what I would do:
1) Start the car and observe the "Energy" display. Is it charging the HV battery? If so, I would force charge it to 6 blue bars by putting it in Drive and holding your foot on the brake while giving it gas.
2) Double check for flow in the inverter coolant reservoir (if no flow, then you need to have the inverter pump replaced as mentioned)
3) Double check that the radiator is full
4) If I had flow and the radiator was full, I would try driving it while observing the Energy display. If all appears normal (other than the TOD and CEL), I'd pull over and cycle the ignition switch four or five times to see if the trouble lights reset. If they do, this may have been some sort of computer glitch.

Just so you know, low radiator fluid would not have caused the TOD or CEL (unless the ICE overheated but it sounds like you just started the car so I'm ruling that out). Also, lack of flow in the inverter coolant loop would not have caused the TOD or CEL unless the inverter overheats which I'm ruling out for the same reason. You obviously have gas and the 12V is good so I'm leaning toward glitch.

If after you do all of this and the TOD and CEL remain, we will go from there but having it towed to the dealer may not be required. Depending on the results of my steps, you may be able to drive it but at this point, we don't know.

 

Might be too far to drive without a working inverter coolant pump unless the weather is cool and you don't drive too fast or have to drive uphill.

 

Kris, you might be surprised to find out that your auto insurance has limited tow coverage. Check with your broker on your policy's contents. Amazingly enough I just discovered this a couple of weeks back on my own auto insurance. Its worth a call to your broker. The worst they can say is you do not have that coverage. Otherwise I believe AAA has a 7 day waiting period for new customers before the tow coverage kicks in.