Hybrid motor died

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by pkhoury, Dec 1, 2010.

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  1. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    Sad that my car is in repair, and today marks only the 4 year anniversary of owning it. I was hoping that it would've lasted 8 years total. I'm curious if anyone reading this post has accrued over 125K miles on theirs.
     
    #21 pkhoury, Dec 4, 2010
  2. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Yeah he's a German Shepherd. Great dog and very smart but yes sadly he does shed a fair bit of hair. I've got a really heavy duty seat cover that I throw in the back seat when he rides in the car. But my main concern is not hair on seats or the carpets but the possible effects of dog hair on the air vent that cools the traction battery (right hand side of rear seat).

    Other dog owners have reported that this rear vent and associated fan is somewhat prone to getting clogged with dog hair. So I plan to pull mine down some time this summer and find out if there is any blockage going on yet. I'll be posting my results in this forum when I do it.
     
    #22 uart, Dec 4, 2010
  3. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    IIRC, usbseawolf2000's 06 Prius has 130K miles on it.

    There are a bunch past 300K miles past http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/79235-299-999-mile-club.html. Apparently, the 2nd gen's odometer won't go past 299,999.

    http://avt.inl.gov/hev.shtml has taken 1st and 2nd Priuses + some other hybrids to 160K miles. Some non-Priuses didn't make it, for various reasons (accident, repeated failures of expensive parts, etc.)...
     
    #23 cwerdna, Dec 5, 2010
  4. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    @uart - They're awesome companions - I just wish the shedding was controlled. It's worse having a long haired German Shepherd.

    @cwedna -I'm still disappointed this car's components didn't last until 200k miles. But I'm also disappointed that I racked up about 37k miles + last year.
     
    #24 pkhoury, Dec 5, 2010
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Do we have an update on what's wrong? Thus far, I have serious doubts about this "hybrid specialist" and his diagnosis.
     
    #25 cwerdna, Dec 5, 2010
  6. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    He ordered a used transmission with warranty - apparently, the hybrid motor and planetary gears are all one unit, which is rather annoying. Then when this is finished, I get to take it to the Toyota dealer for the gas pedal/coolant pump recall.
     
    #26 pkhoury, Dec 5, 2010
  7. snead_c

    snead_c Jam Ma's Car

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    Please list the names of the parts and labor charged for the transmission... I'd bet that some of our site experts could really help us understand what went wrong with this situation.:confused:
     
    #27 snead_c, Dec 5, 2010
  8. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    What leads him to believe that the transmission needs to be replaced? What are the DTCs? If he can't supply them, it sounds like this guy is a "parts thrower" and just replacing stuff at random or on guesses.

    Was the transmission fluid ever changed and at what mileage?

    As for the gas pedal "recall", they'll trim down the bottom of your accelerator pedal.

    Per my earlier post which you can confirm by looking in your own warranty booklet:
    If somehow you are out of warranty, here's some interesting info (but not necessarily applicable to you, since it's for the Gen I Prius):
    http://lusciousgarage.com/blog/gen_1_prius_transmission_repair_p3009_p3120_p3125/ and the obsolete entry http://lusciousgarage.com/index.php/blog/prius_transmission_failure/.
     
    #28 cwerdna, Dec 5, 2010
  9. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    The transmission fluid was changed once - I was told it didn't have to be changed often, and boy were they wrong. All fluids were changed at about 110K miles, except oil, which was every 10K (originally using Castol 5W30 synthetic and moving to Royal Purple 5W30). I'll see if they have a status update for me on Monday.
     
    #29 pkhoury, Dec 5, 2010
  10. saechaka

    saechaka Member

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    I'm no expert and can only give you my experience. Did you ever check to see if your car was burning oil? I did the 10k oil change till I got to that 100k mark and saw that the car was burning close to a quart of oil per 5k. So I decided to do oil change intervals at 5k around 100k mark. Which may or may not have helped, but I'm currently sitting at 207k with no major issues (knock on wood).
     
    #30 saechaka, Dec 5, 2010
  11. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    Good question. I honestly didn't check until recently. Makes me wonder what other problems underlie, if it's burning oil, which isn't a good sign. One of the reasons I want to offload it. I love the Jetta thus far, except for a few quirks I'm going to get fixed on Mon or Tues.
     
    #31 pkhoury, Dec 6, 2010
  12. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    This mechanic sounds insufficiently familiar with Prius. Replacing the transmission without first getting a diagnosis from a Toyota dealer is a mistake.
     
    #32 richard schumacher, Dec 6, 2010
  13. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Yep here's how it seems to me. He got into a small accident, got hit on the rear of the car. It's knocked loose a connector or something in the wiring harness causing the problem. So the mechanic is changing out the transmission! :eek:

    This is what I've thought from the start here.
     
    #33 uart, Dec 6, 2010
  14. xs650

    xs650 Senior Member

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    Or maybe fixing the real problem and charging for a transmission swap.
     
    #34 xs650, Dec 7, 2010
  15. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    I went to see the car today with the insurance claims agent, and the mechanic was driving the car out. I didn't get many details, as he was tied up with other things (he's the owner of the shop), but was told they found some metal fragments in the transmission.
     
    #35 pkhoury, Dec 8, 2010
  16. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Oh really: they opened up the transmission to look for fragments. Did they show you any?

    On The Other Hand, the transmission may indeed be bad, but not because of the accident. When the ATF was changed was it replaced with Toyota Prius ATF? The motor/generator electrical windings are exposed to the ATF, and it is possible that aftermarket ATF can degrade the winding insulation.

    In any case, good luck. Please let us know what happens.
     
    #36 richard schumacher, Dec 10, 2010
  17. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Perhaps they were metal "fragments' like these ones Richard. (see attachment showing perfectly normal condition of ATF drain plug).

    To pkhoury. I'm not criticizing you in any way. You had a problem so you took it to someone and have to trust their call. It's just that this type of mechanical failure of the transaxle is very rare and (with real metal fragments) would usually be accompanied with some whirring or even grinding sounds leading up to its ultimate failure.
     

    Attached Files:

    #37 uart, Dec 10, 2010
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  18. pEEf

    pEEf Engineer - EV nut

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    I agree, get a second opinion at least Don't tell the second place what the first one said either.
     
    #38 pEEf, Dec 10, 2010
  19. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    They said it was in the ATF when they drained it. I probably didn't change it as often as I should, thanks to listening to the dealer's advice, but I did use Toyota ATF when I changed it.
     
    #39 pkhoury, Dec 14, 2010
  20. pkhoury

    pkhoury Proud TDI owner

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    So for an update - car works fine since they replaced the transmission with a used rebuilt with 43K miles. I still plan on selling the Prius, hoping I can get enough to break even on things. I got my recall work done at the dealership - gas pedal and they replaced a water pump. They said a coolant pump is leaking and quoted me $495, but I'm not going to bother. I did get them to check the hybrid battery for free and they said all cells checked out according to spec. Much to everyone's dismay, I feel a lot roomier in the new car, and it's way more fun to drive with Tiptronic, even at the sacrifice of lesser fuel economy. But I don't expect to get high MPGs while the car was breaking in - when I got my car, I averaged around 41mpg while I was breaking it in. Add to the fact that I'm 6'4 - while I can fit in the Prius, it was a little on the cramped side (and the 3rd gen is much better but doesn't totally rectify it).
     
    #40 pkhoury, Dec 14, 2010
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