Car Stopped After Oil Change

Help!

I got a routine oil change on Tuesday and after a mile or so after leaving my mechanic place the car stopped accelerating and all of the usual lights came on for the hybrid battery (triangle; VSC; check engine; Exclamation point in big circle). I had the car towed back to the mechanic (lost a day of because my car key was stolen from the exterior overnight drop - luckily I had a spare). They said now the car won't turn on at all and the code 3190 was showing. They told me to tow it to a Toyota dealership so they can diagnose. Toyota said the only thing they found were hybrid battery codes P3000 and P0A80 and no oil anywhere. They wanted $6000 for a new hybrid battery but I had to purchase another one from Green Bean Battery (please don't give me a hard time about getting a refurbished one - the current one is also from them and the five year warranty just ran out this year). I had to have it towed back to somewhere for GBB to change out the battery - they did that yesterday and now the hybrid battery codes have cleared but now it's showing a ton more other codes with the main one being 3191. The car does turn on but engine turns back off after like 5 seconds and all the those lights are back on. I am at my wits in with this car. I still think it has to do with the oil change somehow and am going to go back to where I had it towed (I only have street parking so I had to tow it to a shopping center) and check to see if the oil was overfilled. They also checked the 12v battery and he said it is low but now low enough where the engine wouldn't start.

Has anyone else experienced this and any guidance?? Please help.

 

The mechanic isn't in a great part of town - but in the city that's how it goes sometimes. I didn't restart it after stopped driving and I pulled over. They may have tried restarting it a bunch at the mechanic's and then at Toyota which maybe at that point it had been drained. I think they do that too to see if you'll just give up on it and try to trade your car in.

I did check the oil - it is a little above the full dot. I just don't think it's a coincidence that it happened right after the oil change. I've had the refurbished battery go out a few times (but with the warranty who cares) and I know all of the typical symptoms for that and it wasn't showing any of those prior to this event. Oh the dealership also made some note on the report about how not all refurbished batteries are compatible with hybrids. I've been using a refurbished battery for the past five years so whatever. Also the moment I told them I wasn't using them to do the replacement they were like when can you get your car out of here.

Also this mechanic is usually very good but they had my car all day "checking everything" when I don't believe that either. They also told me the 12v battery was good and it wasn't. So I got impatient after they had had it all day and told me I would need to take it to Toyota anyway.

My plan is to have the mechanic check the oil and remove some of it and then check everywhere oil could have gotten and remove the air and engine filter they replaced to make sure nothing is behind there either. Then decide what to do from there.

Thanks for the articles!

 

hard to see but the oil is past the full dot. I keep seeing that really it should be a little below the full dot for a Prius Gen 2.

 

It already did - I had it replaced this weekend with another refurbished one because it's affordable. Now I'm getting P3191 at the main code. I'm convinced it's something from the oil change. My plan is to take it back to the mechanic and explain that I checked the oil myself and that it is past full and that I want everything checked for oil etc. Toyota said they didn't see evidence of that however I don't think they looked very hard. This has been such a stressful hassle.

 

Thanks!

 

I gave them a lengthy list of things I wanted them to check and Green Bean Battery had instructions for me to pass along as well. Their warranty department sent me a really thorough email about it. They said whenever there is an engine issue/code - do not try to start the vehicle until the issue is diagnosed because it will kill/drain the hybrid battery. They also said in this case to not disconnect the 12v battery bc it will do the same. They've had the call all day so who knows if I will hear an update today or not.

What a headache!!

 

So then oil must have gotten on/in something right? I reached out to a prius mechanic and they said to also tell them to have the Mass Air Flow sensor cleaned. I just don't think this is a coincidence that this happened right after an oil change. I also keep reading in all of my research that a Gen 2 Prius only really needs like 3.6 quarts of oil but the full is 3.9. This is all so frustrating. I have loved my Prius since I've had it for a very long and time and it's been very reliable (only two times has it left me on the side of the road - this time is included in that number) but I'm ready to move onto something else at this point if I have to now worry about it being overfilled with oil and how much damage that causes...

 

OK I just spoke with the mechanic because I wanted to share the info sheet from the battery company on ways to not kill the new battery plus they gave a list of things to check when these codes come up (which would have been helpful when I first called them to let them know what code was coming up)

The mechanic said gas is not going into the engine but he is waiting on a tool he needs to be able to check something for it which should arrive tomorrow. Would that be a fuel pump issue? He said when they manually force gas to the engine - the car runs perfect but it's not doing it on it's own. Also I am going to call Toyota corporate and let them know their service center did not properly diagnosis my vehicle and if anything can be done for that.

Could this still have been caused by an overfill of oil? Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

 

OK update - it does appear to be the fuel pump. I have never run out of gas in my life but it was explained to me that if the fuel pump is bad then the gas meter won't accurately show how much gas is in the car. When I took it for the oil change - there were two bars of gas showing. The mechanic put gas in it and the car worked fine. He was short staffed today so he could not take it on a longer drive so he is going to do that tomorrow to see how it does. I also spoke with the GBB warranty manager who was a mechanic for a long time and he said that will happen if the car runs out of gas (all of the lights coming on etc etc). Prior to that he did spend like half an hour on the phone with me explaining everything and what the possible options for the repair could be. Will post another update as I know more.