Hi All, I have a question... My 2008 Prius has 520,000 miles, runs great and has always been well maintained. Recently a new problem has surfaced. The red triangle and engine light comes on simultaneously while driving @ 35/40 mph. The engine dies, and I can only use the battery to propel the car...until the battery dies. Then the car dies completely (in neutral). I push it to the side of the road, wait about five minutes, and restart the car without incident (except for a drained battery) and drive off. The first time this happened, I brought it to my local specialist who read the code as a hybrid cooling issue and said this is most likely due to a clogged traction battery fan. I pulled the fan and it was deeply clogged. I completely cleaned the fan and reinstalled it but did not re-install the paneling for both the fan and the battery. I did this so I could monitor the fan and battery. I drove around like this for the next 3 days with no problem. At this point I felt that the problem was solved...gave myself a pat on the back and put the panels back on. Soon after, The issue resurfaced and Im not too sure what to do now Any ideas?
Half million miles, congrats. I would say that the fan might be dying then. You might want to try a replacement fan to see if that helps to fix the issue.
Sheesh. Half a million miles and that's your first post? You must have had amazing luck to never need to help of Prius chat in your first 500k.
Maybe the battery is fine? Well apart from the abuse it's getting, lol. And the problem is engine or inverter related? I think on gen 2 the inverter coolant pump was problem prone. If it fails the engine would shut down to protect it? This might tie in with "hybrid cooling issue" your mechanic reported.
Maybe engine has misfire, since 35-40 mph is where the engine could still be starting and stopping. if this happens again, (red triangle) don't keep driving on the battery, till it gets low. this is stressing your battery!! pull over ASAP. Also, i would get a code reader and see if it could tell you anything. It might just be the fan though! Congarats on the high miles! keep us posted
With the car in ready mode check for coolant disturbance in the coolant reservoir fastened to the side of the inverter " the big silver box under the hood". Do this by removing the filler cap and looking in. No disturbance means no cooling pump operation. This pump is mounted below, and behind the drivers side headlamp. Listening carefully in that area you should hear a slight humming if it is running. Providing the electrical feed to the pump is ok replacement is the only cure. The fuse that feeds the pump also feeds other items so a blown fuse is an unlikely cause. John
