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2006 prius comes to a stop for no reason

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by andy song, Jun 23, 2020.

  1. andy song

    andy song Junior Member

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    2006 prius 200k miles. No accidents

    Just bought from a lady who said the prius stops. I figured she means the hybrid battery was bad and the car dies or goes into limp mode

    I bought the car and it drives fine. But 30 minutes into the drive the car literally stops. Not coast. It goes into park and stops on a dime. I was doing 50mph and you hear a noise like the generator is really loaded then the car goes into park. Almost went the windshield. Luckily the big truck behind was able to slow down and not hit me.

    I just read that Toyota has a recall for this issue on the gen 3 prius. But this is a gen 2.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated

    I haven't driven the car since
     
    #1 andy song, Jun 23, 2020
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome!

    any dash lights? you can check the inverter pump, but i'm not sure that would make it go into park
     
    #2 bisco, Jun 23, 2020
  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Any trouble codes to share. If any of the trouble lights on the dash are illuminated, there are codes to read.
     
    #3 dolj, Jun 24, 2020
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    If no check engine type codes no lights on the dash or mfd that means it’s strictly mechanical.
    I would investigate the manual parking pawl in the trans.

    That’s super dangerous. And hard to believe it doesn’t damage the trans doing that at 50 miles an hour. Hope you didn’t spend much it may need new trans.
     
    #4 edthefox5, Jun 30, 2020
  5. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I suggest that you have it towed to a dealership and pay for a diagnosis of the problem.
    Once the cause is known, THEN you can talk about service bulletins, etc.
    And you also can talk about reporting the condition to the NTSB/NHTSA,

    But given it's age and mileage, unless there already is a "program" in place for that particular failure,
    the repair cost likely will be 100% on YOU.
     
    #5 sam spade 2, Jun 30, 2020
  6. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat!!

    Check if the inverter coolant pump is functioning by touching it with a pencil/rod/finger. Next see if there is liquid movement in the inverter coolant reservoir attached to the firewall. If neither, then check the AM2 fuse under the hood to see if it has blown.

    If the pump or AM2 has failed (no vibration or liquid movement), replace the pump first, then the AM2 fuse, otherwise it will blow again.
     
    #6 SFO, Jun 30, 2020
  7. kens97uber171

    kens97uber171 Active Member

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    A failing 12 volt battery or a failing 12 volt connection can cause this as the voltage drops off it will go into park by itself. The Park Pawl is held open by the car. When you remove power or if the power is fluctuating it can engage the park Pawl.
    also a failing 12 volt battery can cause all kinds of weird things to occur.


    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #7 kens97uber171, Jul 1, 2020
  8. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Given in the OPs case the car was running, to arrive at this, the inverter DC/DC converter would also have to have failed, but, even before the 12-Volt battery could have reached low enough voltage to allow the parking pawl to engage, there would be a dash full of error lights.

    Somehow, I can't picture this as a viable explanation to explain the OPs situation.
    This sounds like a fail-safe reaction to something very serious.
     
    #8 dolj, Jul 2, 2020
  9. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Not while it is in "ready" mode it shouldn't.
    The inverter should still supply power for the 12 V systems.
     
    #9 sam spade 2, Jul 2, 2020
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