My first Prius. 2007 with 212k. Just picked it up yesterday. Of I have a few questions, TMPS light flashes for a minute then comes on solid. Per the manual that means an issue with the 'system'. Thinking it means one or more of the sensors or their batteries are bad. And just my luck 40 miles into my ownership the CEL comes on. I took the fuel cap off and put it back with many turns. This often times solves the issue on other cars. And..............how long should it take for me t learn most of the features????? Car has Bluetooth, navigation and all the other stuff. Man oh man............daunting!!!! Looking for advice and info on these matters. And of course anything else you all think I would benefit from. TIA
That's about the same mileage that was on my 2007 when I bought it a year ago. At 243K now, I'm still very happy with it. This link should help. 2007 Owner's Manual PDFs | PriusChat
welcome! the gas cap should only be tightened to one click. then, it takes a few runs for the light to go out. all the best!
TPMS flashes because the batteries are dead in the sensors. The batteries are sealed you must buy the sensor amazon.com $50 each then when installed they have to be paired with the software in the car. There serial number must be installed. CEL is most likely your very low on engine oil. Do that a few times and it may damage your motor. At your miles it most likely eats oil how much is for you to determine. Check the oil first thing in the morning before starting the car for true oil level. If you pull over and check it then it will read low on the dipstick as the oil needs quite a long time to drip back into the pan..
TMPS light also obviously could just be one of your tires' pressure is low. But based on the year of your car, one or more of the sensors is probably bad; they're designed for a 10 year lifespan. Most people continue to drive and just ignore this light until the next time they need new tires, then replace all of them. Go to an auto parts store and get the OBD codes read for your check engine light. Most auto parts store will do this for free - just take your cellphone to take pictures of their code reader. Google what comes up and if you can't solve it yourself, post back here.
Often times with my other cars it tuns out to be just that. the gas cap. But usually i have to turn it many clicks to solve the issue. I did that with my cap this morning and put a little over 90 miles on it today. So.........should it be just one click, or multiple clicks would fine as well? And.......any idea how many miles till the CEL would clear if it was indeed the cap?
i've never heard of the multiple clicks to correct it, so i can't answer. the o/m says not to tighten more than one click. i don't think it's miles, but the number of times you start and stop the car. most people report a few days to a week.
Great. first thing in the morning.open cap and tighten one click. then keep fingers crossed it is not a o2 sensor or worse,a cat.
At 140 miles after doing one click on the cap the CEL went out. Victory!!! Short lived. 6 miles later it came back on. weird. But on the good news side........have averaged a hair short of 42 MPG for the past two days. Now just need to get the CEL figured out.
Probably a bit premature on the diagnosis considering the limited info. As I'm sure you know, CEL could be literally many things. I don't want to speculate. Have you read the code(s). An ELM 327 dongle on Amazon or Ebay, ($10) and the Torque app ($5) are invaluable and work on any car.
For the CEL stop into an Auto Zone or O'Reilleys and borrow their scanner and scan it in the parking lot. Hopefully it is a P0101: "Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Range/Performance" The fix is taking a short/stubby phillips and unscrewing the MAF sensor on front of motor and spraying it a couple times with cleaner....then clearing code... Basically a free 5 minute fix...But obviously it could be a million things.
Seems that it is the gas cap. After a few days again of starting and stopping the CEL went out again today. But this time it has not come back on.40 miles later and so far so good. Hoping it stays this way.
You still need code read when it is on otherwise it is anyone's guess. But sounds like it is a very minor problem.
Finally a bit of luck. CEL was still out all day. Took the car to my local inspection place. They did the inspection. It passed. Then, and I am not kidding, one mile down the road after it passed the CEL came back on. Will get it checked. But if it is a cat or something costly...I have a year to worry about it.
