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A friend of mine is having transmission issues. Can someone help?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Setheroth, Jun 27, 2016.

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  1. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    A friend of mine is having what seems to be transmission problems in his 2nd generation Prius. He says the car will run just fine in electric mode, but as soon as the gasoline engine kicks on the engine revs very high and there is no power - he says it's as if someone threw the car into neutral and left their foot on the gas. He had another issue with the car over the last year or two that seems to be related to a low 12v voltage situation - strange lights that would randomly turn on/off, the entire dash cluster going black until the batt is disconnected/reconnected (the owners manual says it will do this if low voltage), and a 12v battery that had to be replaced. I don't know if this may be related to his transmission problem or not. Any help is greatly appreciated!

    Edit: I forgot to mention that he says he can turn the car on and the engine will auto start/stop just fine to charge the HV battery while parked.
     
    #1 Setheroth, Jun 27, 2016
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    could be a dirty throttle body, what year and how many miles?
     
    #2 bisco, Jun 27, 2016
  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    he should get the codes read on the car. are there any warning lights on the dash?
     
    #3 JC91006, Jun 27, 2016
  4. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    2006, about 220,000 miles

    He says there is a red triangle. Not sure if it comes on immediately or only when the engine kicks on while driving..
     
    #4 Setheroth, Jun 28, 2016
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Get the codes read, that'll take the guess work out
     
    #5 JC91006, Jun 28, 2016
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    agreed. ^^^ probably a bad hybrid battery, is it original?
     
    #6 bisco, Jun 28, 2016
  7. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    I will get him to read the codes and will update… I'm sure the hybrid battery is OK though because you can drive it an electric mode just fine. He said it would go up to like 40 mph and he actually limped it home by driving it like this until the battery depleted and then parking and allowing the battery to recharge and driving it again. He limped it home for like 30 miles this way LOL
     
    #7 Setheroth, Jun 28, 2016
  8. M in KC

    M in KC Active Member

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    Be sure to use an appropriate DTC reader. Not all readers are compatible with the Pri's
     
    #8 M in KC, Jun 28, 2016
    strawbrad likes this.
  9. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    I have an Actron CP9180, do you know off-hand if that would work?
     
    #9 Setheroth, Jun 28, 2016
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it's worth a shot, but you might have to get mini vci.
     
    #10 bisco, Jun 28, 2016
  11. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    Here is a video of the issue, perhaps it will help.
    I am reading codes P0A7A and P0A92
    Thanks in advance!
     
    #11 Setheroth, Jun 29, 2016
  12. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Yes you'll need a transaxle and possibly a new inverter. I would first start with the transaxle if you are going to attempt to fix this........or just tow it to a junk yard and let them part it out. It's way past it's designed end of life.
     
    #12 JC91006, Jun 29, 2016
  13. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    Unfortunately, my buddy still owes $5k on the car.. He's probably going to try and fix it. Curious - what are the chances that the inverter is bad in addition to the transaxle?
     
    #13 Setheroth, Jun 29, 2016
  14. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The inverter is cheap and easy to replace. Cost about $150 used on Ebay. Chances are slim that it's bad.....

    used transaxles are also pretty cheap. So shop around for someone to do it.
     
    #14 JC91006, Jun 29, 2016
  15. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Transaxles may be "cheap", but don't forget about the huge amount of labor.
    Takes a fair amount of time and effort to replace it.
    Not a fun job.
    job might cost up to $2,000 depending on who does it.
     
    #15 ericbecky, Jun 29, 2016
  16. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Yes labor is expensive, but when you owe $5k, decisions are even harder to make
     
    #16 JC91006, Jun 29, 2016
  17. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    I have done some calling around and it looks like I found a shop that will do it parts and labor for $1600 with a one-year warranty on a 90K mile transaxle… I think that's going to be the best way for him to go...

    This is all great information, thanks guys! Looks like I'll be selling my Prius before it hits 200,000 just to be safe!
     
    #17 Setheroth, Jun 29, 2016
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    me too.
     
    #18 bisco, Jun 29, 2016
  19. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I guess there's no way to prove a shop is really giving you a transaxle that's 90k miles....I don't even know why that number is relevant. I guess it sounds good to throw a reasonable number out there
     
    #19 JC91006, Jun 29, 2016
  20. Setheroth

    Setheroth Junior Member

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    You sound skeptical...
     
    #20 Setheroth, Jun 29, 2016
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