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Check Engine Light -- 2001 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by gippah, Oct 1, 2007.

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  1. kocho

    kocho Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2007
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    Location:
    Maryland
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    For what it's worth, my 2002 Prius also gave me the same P0420 code yesterday, along with P3191. The folks at Auto Zone were nice to lend me a OBDII reader for free and I got the code off the car myself.

    I also used the tool to erase the codes and now the engne warning light is off and the code did not come back on after about 30 miles or so.

    In my case, I think I was the reason for the code though. It appeared after I washed the engine with A LOT of high-pressure water to remove some oil spills. I think the water vapors along with the cooling effect that washing had on the cat converter may have helped :(

    At first, the car gave me the Hybrid System failure icon as well (the red "!") but that disappeared shortly.

    I'll see if it reappears and I am nervous as I just bought this Prius used with no history from the prior owner (except that he was a heavy coffee drinker, judging by the many coffee stains I'm still trying to suck out with my carpet cleaning machine).

    So, visit Autozone, borrow the code reader, plug it in, read the codes to make sure there are no others, then reset them....

    If they reappear - time to take action :)
     
    #21 kocho, Oct 16, 2007
  2. gippah

    gippah New Member

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    Apr 7, 2006
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    Location:
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    Kocho,

    I followed a similar route. I cleared the ODBII code with the help of a friend. The Prius, like most cars, will then leave the CEL off for six trips.

    After the sixth trip, the light came on again under the exact same scenario, after driving the car for 5 minutes.

    I had him visually inspect the CC and he did not see any damage or rusting to it.

    I have a friend in California who owns a Toyota dealership. I had them look up the part cost, and it is $650, and it should take only 1 hour to install. So if a Toyota dealership tries to sell you one for $1700 plus 2.5 hours of labor as they did to me, you can tell them where to stick it.

    Another thing they wanted to do was replace the spark plugs for $150. When a dealership feeds you a line like that, you know you just need to leave.

    One thing I also need to mention is that my friend who owns this dealership confirmed that this is a KNOWN PROBLEM with the Gen I Prius. Their dealership has replaced several CCs, and they seem to think that there might be a recall coming. (I personally doubt that Toyota will recall for any problem that happens after 100,000 miles, though).
     
    #22 gippah, Oct 16, 2007
  3. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2004
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FL_Prius_Driver @ Oct 5 2007, 01:47 PM) [snapback]521930[/snapback]</div>
    yup Part 3 scroll down to "real life problem" and look at the cat see the actuator, put a vacuum pump on it and see if it leaks and has the ability to move the lever and hopefully the valve inside. If it does the other test will be to put a vacuum gauge on the hose to the actuator and wait till cold and start it up the gauge should show vacuum being applied to the actuator, if it is, new cat time for sure.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kocho @ Oct 16 2007, 05:29 PM) [snapback]526616[/snapback]</div>
    voice of experience speaking: if you washed the ICE and didn't pull the ignition coils and blow the water out of the spark plug tubes, your setting yourself up for more check engine lights and stalling and missing, as I did. The seals on the bottom of the ign. coils don't seal. There is a TSB on early 2k4's stalling and missing because of a poor seal on the cowl that allowed water to run down on top of the ICE and then into the plug tubes. So your cleaning job might not be complete if you didn't blow the water out of the tubes.
     
    #23 Frank Hudon, Oct 16, 2007
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