Fuel system failure epidemic

not that i've noticed. bad gas station maybe? any detail on exactly what is bad?

 

The fact that there are several vehicles in the same shop for the same thing would suggest to me that there may be a fuel contamination problem in your local area. It would be intesting to collect some data from the owners to see if there is some trend that may point a finger at the culprit.

 

Not far from and not so long ago, a gas station here fuel truck inadvertently dumped diesel in the premium reservoir and premium in the diesel reservoir. Cars that fueled up that day w/diesel or premium kaputted. Any publicity is good publicity, but not this one.

 

I always wondered how well the Prius fuel pumps were holding up. I never heard of a failure. If it was bad gas you would think other Toyota's and other brands would suffer a similar fate.

 

Who’s to say there aren’t other dealerships in the same area that are inundated with fuel system problems on their customers vehicles?

 

There have been aging Gen 3 fuel pump failures connected with P3190 documented here, but pretty isolated at this stage. So many at one dealer does seem odd...

 

Interesting mystery.
You'd think if it was contaminated fuel that the dealership or service center would be able to determine that as they replaced the systems. And you'd think they would share that information with the respective owners.

If it's a intrinsic defect or weakness of the fuel system...I guess that will manifest as well.
In either case it's an interesting mystery.

 

As far as blaming fuel, I have never heard of a fuel that works well but kills the fuel system (except maybe ethanol). Diesel will normally kill the engine. So tentatively sounds like we are talking a car problem.

 

What makes this mystery interesting is that a Google search reveals no other complaints of this type anywhere and then apparently many in a geographically small area (to the extent that Los Angeles can be so considered). Even by the OP's original message, Prius's as close as San Fran aren't experiencing this because that is where LA is getting parts from.

Or maybe this has been hidden and kept secret for a long time and LA is at the forefront of the #MeToo-Fuel-Pump movement.

 

My sisters 2011 also had the same issue a few months back around 172k. We’re in Los Angeles area as well. Fuel pump replacement at Hybrid Pit & all good to go.

 

pump and fuel lines? $900.?

 

With 172k, one would wonder if there is any preventative maintenance that could be done at 150k?

 

that leaves us back at square one. maybe the dealers lips were moving.

 

...Luscious Garage could probably shed some light...if someone goes over there ask

 

Unfortunately they don’t sell the pump separately... only as a whole unit which runs over $400.

Sean and Roger at Hybrid Pit recommended to use top tier gas and to not run the car until almost empty. Other than that, not much maintenance you can do to prevent it.

Ours also stopped on the freeway. Good thing speed of traffic was slow (morning) 20-25mph and my sister was safely able to move to the shoulder in limp mode/low power. Imagine you’re in the fast lane going 70-80mph (regular LA speeds) and the car suddenly loses power.

 

I experienced the bad fuel problem causing most of the same damage you are reporting and repairs cost close to $1000.00. The Toyota 4runner drove normally until the failure, nothing was obvious. It took only 2 or 3 tanks to do the deed, hard to believe until you experience it.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to connect fuel with the problem. So no one reports that the fuel is causing problems and the word does not spread to others who may have the same problem. My warning was also a Toyota dealer who happened to be near the gas station and thus experienced the same failures in a bunch of vehicles. And they managed to connect the problem with the spate of repairs that all happened within 2 or 3 days. The common denominator, of course, was the bad fuel from the refinery. The refinery, when faced with the truth, paid all the repair costs encountered. I am not saying that this is your problem, but it well might be.

 

Italian Tune-up

 

John, I am not trying to split hairs here but I think its important to detail exactly what happened for your sake and others who may read this post later. I was a dealership or stealership mechanic whichever you wish to call us, for 16 years, and it was always very important for me to get exact or as close to exact details as to what was happening with a vehicle so I could properly diagnose a problem.

To quote several statements: "She pulled off the street 50' from the entrance to our regular mechanic when it completely died and put itself in park with the brake engaged." I have never seen a 2010 prius put itself in park and apply the brake without the driver pushing the "P" button and the driver using their foot to mechanically apply the parking brake.

"All the dashboard warning lights were illuminated and it wouldn't start since the "ready" message didn't appear. Tried to disengage the brakes and shift out of park but nothing happened. Our trusted mechanic ran codes and got ECM failure, low engine performance and catalytic converter failure before the system stopped communicating with the code analyzer." So if they were unable to get the ready message to appear then the vehicle will not shift out of park, but there should have been nothing prohibiting release of the parking brake.
"The local dealer said that AAA should try jumping the auxiliary battery since that was the cause of the low engine performance code. They tried to jump the auxiliary battery without success and the car had to be dragged onto the flatbed since the brakes were locked." Again I do not get this. My assumption is that the 12V car battery was ran low due to use of the flashers or use of electrical systems while waiting for the tow truck. Once the tow arrived they were unable to get a "ready" light that would allow them to shift out of park, most likely due to a low 12V battery, or possibly even due to a low hybrid system battery.

I can say I have 230K on my 2010 with no issues. In this case if there were truly 7 other 2010 model prius's for the same exact issue then it sounds like there may have been some issue with fuel supply that probably affected more than just the 7 prius's at that dealership.
Again all I am trying to do here is to help you and someone else later. In your case it sounds like your daughter experienced a fuel pump failure. There have been no chronic issues of fuel pump failures on any of the prius generations that I am aware of. In you case with only 174K it seems like an early failure that could have been caused by some sort of fuel contamination. It is unfortunate that Toyota does not allow replacement of the fuel pump only. But they like just about every other manufacturer out there have "modularized" the pump assembly. In your case they used the term "fuel system" I think to describe the fuel pump module. I will say that Toyota was and is very smart in allowing access to the pump from below the rear passenger seat. In my days working for GM most pump replacements required removal of the fuel tank which brought the labor cost up substantially.