Prius C One 2013 not getting Fuel - C1259, P3190, P0A0F

Have you looked up the codes?

 

Toyota Prius P0A0F And P3190 No Throttle Response: SOLVED | Torque News

 

There's really one code there, and two codes from other ECUs that are just gossip about that one. It goes like this:

P3190 means "hey, I can't get this engine to make more than a fifth of the power it should be making". This code is set by the engine control module (ECM), which is directly in control of the engine, so it oughtta know.

If the ECM then gives up on starting the engine, the power management control ECU (orchestra conductor for the car, essentially) sets code P0A0F, which just means "I'm not sure what's up over there, but I cued the ECM to start the engine and it didn't".

And when that P0A0F gets set, the skid control ECU sets code C1259, which just means "hey, there's a trouble code over in the power management control ECU".

So the three codes are only telling you what the P3190 by itself tells you. And that code still leaves you plenty of diagnosing to do, because with all of the fancy modern hybrid-specific things in a Prius and all of the specific codes that go with them, P3190 kind of throws you back to olden days, 'cause it just means "boy, this engine sure isn't running well, and it'll just take somebody using plain olden-day gasoline engine diagnostic skills to find out why".

Ever since the olden days, the three big areas that could figure in are;

• fuel mixture
• spark
• compression

so a person usually tries to make some early tests to figure out which of those three areas to be looking in, and then goes from there.

The extra challenge in a Prius is to get that diagnosis done with as few repeated attempts to start as possible, because each unsuccessful attempt drops the traction battery charge by about 1%, and at a point it will stop giving you any more attempts, and that's a bigger headache.

 

The extra extra challenge is that the Prius c battery pack is smaller, yet it is cranking the same engine. I couldn't characterize the exact spend per attempt, but simple logic suggests you'd get about a third fewer tries.

 

I'm not sure how precise the 1% figure was to begin with anyway. The Gen 3 liftback battery is the same configuration as Gen 2's, yet cranking a bigger engine. I know I got the 1% per attempt from some Toyota document I saw, but I don't remember what generation it was for.

 

Ah, good point about the 1% number being attached to the 1.8L.

I guess we have to be thankful that most mechanics can make progress on the gas-spark-air challenge before the fourth attempt.