gen2 Prius "Ready" but gasoline engine won't turn over

Man! I have no idea how it could fail to start the engine without a code unless possibly the previous owner installed an EV button. But you'd have to press that within 7 seconds of pressing "Start." Maybe if those two pins for EV were shorted, it would do the same, but I never tried holding the button when I had mine.

Otherwise, I'm as stumped as you.

 

what year/how many miles on her? maybe the engine is frozen.

 

i don't know if it would move on battery power, if the tranny were bad. weird that it isn't throwing codes.
yes, one of the motor generators in the tranny turns the engine over.

 

+ to @bisco.

MG1 starts the engine, but that's just one of its functions, so it's not what you'd think of as a "starter." If it had a problem, there would be a code. I can't fathom why you don't have a code. Even if the spline stripped between the engine & transaxle, you'd get a code because the computer told the ICE to start and it didn't.

 

try this

if it doesn't start Id start checking fuses if the fuses are good Id guess the motor is locked up

 

pull all the spark plugs out and try to start it normally, the motor should spin over with no compression on it unless its locked up.
if you have a blown head gasket the cylinder might be full of water causing a hydro lock .. if you get water out of the cylinder its done.
keep a battery charger on the 12 volt while you play with it..
the other thing might be the main ECU computer is dead, there would be no start and no codes if the computer is partially fried ..
be sure to check all fuses and relays
you can always drop a used motor into it for around a grand

 

a bad ecu could be why theres no start and no codes....

 

Golden flakes in the trans is a blown bearing assembly in the trans probably due to no fluid probably due to a bad leaking seal on the diff where the cv joints enter. I believe when that fails it jams the trans.
MG1 is basically the starter motor for the engine. No mg1 no engine.
luscousgarage.com talks about this issue on there repair blogs.

In the future since you seem to work on prius , without dtc codes given to us its all just conversation. You car has thrown a bunch of codes that would take the head scratching out of the equation. If your trying to repair Prius's without a mini vci that would just plain suck.

 

Oh its thrown alot of codes which will be hybrid codes.
Your code reader is not capable of reading hybrid codes. We see this alot.
Get a mini vci on amazon.com. Its has the Toyota techstream software.

 

He said he has Techstream. Perhaps not looking in the right place for the codes? I know that when I look at Techstream, I sometimes get a little boggled.

 

Golden flakes should be the end of the conversation.The trans is damaged.

 

As for car feeling like it is still in gear when in neutral, a Prius drivetrain is not like a conventional tyranny. The transmission is a planetary gear system that is always engaged physically. What shifts your power is how the computer operates the motors. The traction motor is permanently connected to the ring gear and wheels. The sun gear is connected to the MG1 or engine (I forget which) and the planetary gear carrier connected to the engine or MG1. There's a Java simulator out there that shows how the Prius operates it's power delivery.
Because the traction motor is connected to the wheels, it can operate on its own, but the engine can never deliver power to the wheels without a combination of MG1 and traction motor.
Indeed it does seem very strange you don't get codes.

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