1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Lost power in reverse

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Orf, Nov 18, 2008.

  1. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Today I was backing out of my garage and onto a near level driveway when my 2006 I-tech prius lost power - it died.:(
    I was travelling at about 4-5 km/hr at the time when the system seemed to shut down. By the time I realised something was wrong, the car was slowly rolling to a stop, and looked at the instrumentation only the gear layout was showing with the "B" part missing.
    I applied the brakes and pushed the power button and the instrument panel lit up as normal and I continued backing out onto the street.
    One thing I should mention, the failure happened about the time I pressed the button on a remote door shutting device. Initially I wondered whether or not I pressed the power button instead of the remote (which is velcroed to the diver's door window sill not far from the power button). I cannot remember if the door was still open but I don't think so.
    Later on, I tried to duplicate what I may or may not have done but could not get it to fail again, even by pushing the power button.
    Anyone any thoughts on this one?
     
  2. donee

    donee New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2005
    2,956
    197
    0
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Hi Orf,

    Did you bump the shifter into Neutral while looking backward? Either with a knee, or with something else ?
     
  3. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hi donne, no I am sure I did not bump the gear lever into neutral. I use the rear view camera and two side mirrors to back out of my driveway and it is not until I get to the gate that I swivel the head. Having said that, I will try putting it in neutral tomorrow and see what happens.
    Even so, how would selecting neutral power down the car?
     
  4. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2005
    4,089
    468
    0
    Location:
    Bahstahn
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    What is this "remote door shutting device", and how much RF
    energy does it emit?
    .
    _H*
     
  5. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    The device is a small hand held remote control with only one button to open or close the garage roller door. It has a range of about 20 m.
    I have been using it in the Prius for 2.5 years without any problems.
     
  6. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2004
    7,663
    1,041
    0
    Location:
    United States
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    "This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error."
    :_>
     
  7. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I hope you are right, Richard. I would rather it be me that failed than my beloved Prius.
    Any idea what I might have done wrong?:confused:
     
  8. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2007
    1,540
    93
    0
    Location:
    Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    My guess:

    You hit the power button without pushing the brakes.
    You shifted into neutral, the car rolled backwards.
    You realized something was wrong and hit the brakes + power button, bringing it to ready mode.
     
  9. spitinuri

    spitinuri Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2008
    317
    13
    0
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Most likely scenario if everything is working okay now.
     
  10. Bobwho

    Bobwho New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2006
    68
    1
    2
    Location:
    Chicago area
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I wish that you had a scan gauge attached at the time. That would have yielded some more information.
    When I had a problem I had my scan gauge on and functioning and it showed an ECU failure code. No scan gauge = No information.

    Please get one, if it happens again note the codes generated.

    Oh when my car went nuts it took the scan gauge to get it to shut off. I had to clear the codes to shut it down. Having a scan gauge I was able to continue my day normally on December 25. Modern electronics always picks the least convenient time to quit on me.
     
  11. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks for the comments, guys.
    To start with, I believe the scan gauge will not work in an Australian Prius.
    Bob64,
    Unfortuneately, I cannot go along with your suggestion as to what happened.
    I can leave my car in neutral at any point in the garage or driveway and it will not roll backwards or forwards. I must have had power to travel the 3-4 car lengths at 4-5 k/hr before I noticed a loss of power.
    However, I could have hit the power button instead of the remote door shutter without the brake being applied. I have since tried this and it did not shut the Prius down. I certainly did not select neutral but after I discovered the failure I did put my foot on the brake and hit the power button to get going again.
     
  12. drewtiss

    drewtiss New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2008
    11
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    I guess you shifted into neutral.
     
  13. Orf

    Orf New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    414
    4
    0
    Location:
    Devonport, Tasmania
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I guess anything is possible but I don't see how I could have shifted into neutral.
    Remembering our Prius is right hand drive, I would have had my right hand off the steering wheel to activate the roller door remote control (it resides on the right hand door sill) as I cleared the door. The drive selector is on the left hand side and the only way I could select neutral is by hand - my knee will not reach the lever. I need at leaset one hand on the wheel to make a small adjustment in direction as I back out of the garage.
    Also. going into neutral would not power down the car. The parking pall did not engage and I would have thought it would if I were in neutral and powered down.
    I must admit that I did think I may have knocked the selector after selecting reverse and starting to accelerate out of the Garage and then pressing the power button instead of the door remote. When I tried to duplicate the problem, I found that the lever has to be held in neutral for about 1 second and pressing the power button while still rolling did not power down the car.
    We do have a ghost like figure that lives with us who we have named John (at least two people have seen him) but he has never worried us before. Perhaps he was playing silly buggers with me!