2005 Check Engine light on- only owned for 4 days! :(

You need to take it to a Toyota dealer ASAP.

 

Make sure to rule out the easy stuff, and check that your gas cap is on tight.

 

If your inverter is too hot to touch, it could be an inop inverter coolant pump. Look for coolant flow(surface turbulence) in the pink reservoir(do not open if hot!) beside the inverter. No flow = inverter coolant pump inop.

 

it may just be the spark plugs too.. as mine slowly started to fail, it made the engine produce less hp.. which produced less voltage ( over several months ).. which would trip various lights while in mountain roads.

i replaced them around 92k miles. they looked newish still.. but.. shrug.

 

Toyota uses some proprietary diagnostic codes so this calls for a dealer. If it is the inverter coolant system a long drive may damage the inverter. That would turn a few hundred dollars repair into a few thousand dollars, unless the factory warranty is still in effect or you have a warranty from the seller. Still, people have done this without damage. If you feel like trying it, drive gently to the nearest dealer. Don't run the A/C while going there (the A/C is electric and will further load the inverter). When you get there leave the car running in Park until they can see it.

 

I would not drive it until you get it figured out.

I would first raise hell with the dealer. 4 days you must have SOME recourse. The major hybrid systems should be warranted to ~100k miles.

Second,, if it was the VSC light it could be something as simple as a rough road. I wouldn't drive it with the lights on until I could read the code.

Have AAA tow it to the selling dealer!

Icarus

 

Most states have a cooling off period in which you can return a product. It is more than 3 days in most states. Get your ball bat out man and give the team work speech.

 

delete

 

The 3 day right of recission doesn't apply to auto sales in Virginia. You drive it off the lot, you own it.

 

Not to get into a pissing contest on the merits of New vs used. I am in my mid 50's and have owned 1 new car in my lfe,,the '07 Prius. The choice between new and used in that case was no brainer as at the time new with dealer incentives/tax credits etc was essentially the same price as 2 years old with ~20k on it. It was in that odd swing time of 07 when the tax credit was lowered to $750 and gas was cheap,, lots of new ones were available.

On the other hand our other car is a 99 Subaru Outback. We bought it for ~1/2 price with ~50k on it in 02. It now has ~200,000 miles on it and we have had no significant repairs except for brakes and tires.

The net savings between new and used after 10 years is the $10,000 price difference between new and used. Clearly,, if you were to buy a 2 year old car, drive it a year and trade it for another 2 year old car, you would take a much smaller hit than if you were to buy a new car, drive it 2 years and trade it again for another new one.

If you buy quality well maintained used cars ~ 4-5 years old I think you get the best value for money,,AND then drive them 'till the drop. In any case,,IMHO the best "deal" is to drive a car as far as possible before getting another.

My work truck is a 1982 VW Rabbit Pickup truck, with a couple of million miles on it. I bought it used 10 years ago for $1500. I drop a few hundred into it every few years for tires or brakes or a radiator,, but even if I need an engine or tranny,, it still would set me back less than a couple of payments on a new Toyota truck that gets 1/2 the milage.

Good luck.

Icarus

 

[quote=Brown;906199]Thanks for the responses. I was afraid it might be the inverter coolant pump but looks like it'll be Monday before I know for sure.

So there is no movement in the fluid by the inverter? Actually considering the options I'd say this - a bad coolant pump- is a cheaper option. I replaced mine , plenty of threads here discussing the change. If you do decide to take it to the dealer, I would be willing to drive it --in the following conditions, do it during a cool time, e.g. early morning, no a/c use, and pop the hood to the safety hold, this allows outside air to cool the inverter, while driving under 60 mph.. I drive on a mail route 5 hours a day in Kansas and on really hot days I'll pop the hood release lever as I'm driving and watch my aftermarket temperature gauge for my inverter lower 15 degrees. (This is under stop and go conditions, faster speeds it doesn't matter, there is better airflow through the radiator, although without a inverter coolant pump it may help, so I'm suggesting it.)

Feel free to add wire/bungee cord to the hood while driving this way, I used to, but as long as I keep my speeds down, the hood doesn't seem to flex much from the wind, higher speeds I do notice, and will shut it. I've read many threads on this subject and have not read of anyone suggesting this, so.. use your own judgment of course.

 

I'd buy a used Toyota over a new Hyundai any day.
Bought my Prius at 3 years 60,000km, apart from service and accessories I didn't need, over the last 2 years I have spent $25 for repairs. Saved $$12,400AU off new price.

Previous car, a Toyota Camry wagon. Bought at 2 years and 60,000km, sold at over 16 years old and 300,000km. only repairs, a new water pump at 260,000km. Total cost if I had paid for labour would have been about $400. I saved $5,000 off new price.

Car previous to that was a 1976 Toyota Crown purchased in 1990. Cost was $1,000. I spent another $1,000 converting it to dedicated LPG. Owned this luxury barge for 4 years and sold it for $1300, so total cost was only $700 over 4 years. No repairs on this car.

Wife's 96 RAV4 has about 300,000 on the clock, bought for $9,000 under new price in 2001 with about 65,000km on. Still going, no need to top up the oil between oil changes, I've replace 1 wheel bearing.
How do you think a Hyundai would be going if I bought it new and drove 240,000km? Most of the older ones I see around here smoke like Mitsubishi's, great cars.

 

If you need to go to the BBB and file a complaint. I am surprised a new car dealer would not provide some sort of warranty on the used vehicles they sell. BBB has helped me out twice in my lifetime and it was all in my favor. Good luck man!

PS// I hope I did not offend you in any way.

 

I have owned a Hyundai and they do stand behind their very long warranty. If thats all the cash I had I would not hesitate to buy another one. My favorite car is still the Corolla for over all value and I love my Prius (Just a little expensive). I have not kept any car past 224K and that was a Chevy S-10 so I cannot tell you what the total cost of ownership is for any car with 300K. Most vehicles start to lose their transmissions at 100K and burn oil at 150-200K. Radiator leaks are common after 100K. Suspension parts start to show their teeth at 120K. This is assuming you don't care what the body or interior look like after 200K (work vehicle who cares). As far as keeping vehicles alive "change your oil often" live long and prosper.

delete// If I was to buy a car I was going to keep for 300K, it would be a Corolla ( assuming the quality is still there)


Pat, I still drive without the AC on.LOL

 

I owned two Rabbit diesel trucks and two Rabbit diesels cars over the years. Great MPG BTW. We seemed to have went back wards in time on MPG. Getting on the freeway was very exciting!
Last full kit with torque converter transmission rebuild with warranty was $2700 that I paid for(TC)(dealer wanted $3200). Full block engine rebuilds with a warranty and labor can get pretty pricey. If you have a shop and can do all the work your self then it may not be too bad. That is about 5-18 car payments for the tranny alone. Car payments all depend on how much you borrow and the price of the vehicle.

If I paid 10K for a new car the payments are =

Loan TermAPR*Estimated Monthly Payments24 Months3.90%$435.0048 Months3.90%$226.0060 Months3.90%$185.0072 Months4.90%$161.00

Corolla =

The following payments are for a $ 15000 loan:2009 ModelsLoan TermAPR*Estimated Monthly Payments24 Months3.90%$652.5048 Months3.90%$339.0060 Months3.90%$277.5072 Months4.90%$241.50

It all depends on what you want and need in a vehicle.

 

I would have thought it would have at least been possible to hook up a generic OBD-II reader and seen if any DTCs could be read? It might give a partial clue to what maybe wrong. It looks like there is a standard way of reading DTCs using mode $03. What I don't know is how the extra INF code mentioned in the Repair Manuals for some DTCs would be read (is that freeze frame data)?