Dealership doesn't know whats going on!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by EmekaPrius, Oct 27, 2018.

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  1. EmekaPrius

    EmekaPrius New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Hey, I have a 2010 Toyota Prius with 320k miles on it! (I know its a lot). Owned it now for 4.5 years now. I am also a newbie when it comes to troubleshooting and doing maintenance on my car.

    For the last few months I have been getting the Triangle of death warning, "Check Hybrid System". I went to this this forum and was informed to power it off a few times and it resets. That works but I was finally ready to fix the car (I assumed I would need to replace the Battery). I wanted to take it to my local mechanic to get the codes, take it to to Toyota to verify, then use a Hybrid Mechanic to fix or replace the battery I assume.

    My local Mechanic came back with these codes:
    P0101
    P0401
    P261B

    Showing the codes to my Hybrid Mechanic, he said good thing is, I dont need to replace the battery and I just need a major tune up. Took it to the Toyota Dealership to verify everything. They said it just had a lot of debris block the "hybrid vents" under the seats. They charged me $400, cleaned them and everything looked good, Check engine light went off, etc.

    3 Days later, the check engine light came back on. I took it back to the dealer and they said it was a sensor issue and reset the check engine light. A few days after this, check engine light came back on. A few days after that, the "Check Hybrid System" warning came back. Same codes.

    Is my Hybrid Mechanic right or is there another issue thats possibly missing? Thanks in advanced!
     
    #1 EmekaPrius, Oct 27, 2018
  2. NutzAboutBolts

    NutzAboutBolts Senior Member

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    P0101 maf sensor issue. Maybe do a clean on that to make sure it’s clean.

    P0401 egr sufficient flow, i recommend doing the egr system cleaning, we have videos on that.

    P261B, water pump issue. I would recommend replacing this. I've seen another thread where they had to replace it because the water pump wasn't outputting enough rpm for the engine coolant.

    But it seems like your dealership took you for a ride on that hybrid fan cleaning thing since those codes aren’t the issue... and if it was a dirty fan, it would say that the hybrid battery is overheating and that it needs service, which a simple fan cleaning will resolve that issue.
     
    #2 NutzAboutBolts, Oct 28, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2018
    Mendel Leisk, Raytheeagle, jerrymildred and 1 other person like this.
  3. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    Go to another place that knows what they are doing
     
    #3 tankyuong, Oct 28, 2018
  4. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    You need to get your money back. They told you X was the problem and doing X would fix it. It did NOT. Get your money back because they misdiagnosed the problem. Be nice, but firm.
    Phone Toyota if you have to and ask them is this how Toyota operates???
    I've worked at 3 different dealerships, 95% of the time you will get your money back, without having to go to court.

    Then do what nutzaboutbolts said to do.
    I would also check to see if they actually cleaned the fan. They might have just cleaned the vent.
     
    #4 ASRDogman, Oct 28, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2018
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