First Breakdown

just a thought if it does it again, put it in park then power down and re-boot. That might just get you going normally.

 

Wow, great timing on this post! I've had my 2004 for about a month now. Yesterday I was driving in traffic, on the same road as usual, at around the 60 km/h posted speed limit. The MFD indicated the battery was green and one bar away from the top, which I usually have in Winnipeg city traffic. The car gave a sudden lurch and started slowing down: the ICE had stopped and the electric motor/generator was the only source of power. The dash had the Master Warning red triangle, the Check Engine, and the Hybrid warning icons; in addition, the MFD had the warning triangle and "PROBLEM." I pulled off safely on battery alone and tried the Power Off / Power On sequence several times, and the ICE refused to restart. Ironically, I pulled into a parking lot off the highway that had a truckstop AND a major towing company, which Toyota Roadside Assistance found hard to believe. Instead of calling the towing company directly, they had to go through a central dispatch, so I had a coffee in the truck stop and waited. I then waited at the towing company, chatting with the tow driver, while they waited for the "official" Toyota call. A big truck had blocked access to the Prius and the tow driver wanted to know if it was possible to push the car. Out of habit, I put my foot on the brake and poked the Power button, to shift into N: The ICE started but the Check Engine remained on. I drove to the wrecker and called Toyota again to see if I should just try to drive it anyway, and they said under NO circumstances to try to keep driving. The Service Manager was VERY surprised to see me again, as that morning on the way to work I had set up an appointment to install winter tires. They set me up with a rental (Ford Focus, yuk) and the tech gave a call before closing. They have never SEEN the combination of codes they had pulled and needed to do more intensive diagnostics starting next week, including discussion with engineers. I'll keep everybody updated on what they uncover, but so far I'm very disappointed and very worried that Toyota's usual excellent reliability is lacking in my Prius. First and foremost, I need a car I can rely on, and if this car proves to be unreliable, I'm getting rid of it.

 

Based on the advice of Toyota Canada, the technician erased and reprogrammed the PCM/ECU to Calibration #34705100. I picked it up this morning and - so far - so good. They want me to stop in next Tuesday to verify no new codes. I must admit, the tech seems honestly concerned about this and really went out of his way to try to resolve the problem. Here is a strange side effect of the new Calibration: the Homelink has stopped working, and Toyota is baffled by it. The programmed remotes are now erased and the Homelink refuses to allow programming. I just wanted my car back, so I'll let the tech dig into this deeper and hopefully he'll have the answer by next week.

 

Is the same Jayman on the Cruiser Boards?

 

Had my first problem today on the way home:
Prius Problem 11/8/2004
Mileage: 4150
Temp: 75
At around 5pm I was attempting to accelerate onto a highway access road. When I stepped on the accelerator the car began moving, then hesitated strong enough to push me forward. It made a "clunk" noise, then picked back up. It drove normally after that.

About 15 minutes later I was attempting to enter a highway onramp. As I began to accelerate the master warning light (red triangle) came on and the car beeped. The check engine light and the red brake system warning light also came on. The hybrid system warning light was also on the display.

I switched to the energy monitor screen and noticed that the engine was not running. The battery level was slowly dropping so I pulled off into a parking lot. I shut the car down, then restarted it. The brake light cleared, but the other lights were still on. The engine did run and began charging the battery. I called the roadside assistance line and she asked if the car was driveable. I took a short trip around the parking lot and the engine was running and the battery appeared to be charging again. She recommended that I drive it to the dealer if possible. I drove the remaining 5 miles home without incident. The lights are still on. I plan to bring it to the dealer first thing in the morning, 11/9/04.

I'll post the diagnosis.

 

?? Cruiser Boards?? Uh, no. :roll:

 

My local Toyota tech called early evening to see if everything was ok with the car. There is a TSB for a similar problem: After stopping at a red light and the ICE shuts down, when the light turns green and you accelerate, the ICE will NOT restart but the electric motor / generator will continue to provide power until the HV battery is exhausted. However, mine gave out almost a block from the light AFTER the ICE had restarted. When the ICE quit, it was a sudden lurch, like slamming the brakes. The "fix" is to flash the computer to the new Calibration number, and the tech is also supposed to put a sticker under the hood next to the Federal Emissions label. I checked and my local tech did put this sticker next to the Federal label. I'll keep everybody informed how well this "fix" has cured the problem, keeping in mind it took a month and 3,000km before this problem became apparent. Still no luck with the Homelink though, it refuses to allow programming.

 

As for the homelink, sounds like it may have gone into an unknown state possibly due to 12V power fluctuations (dead/disconnected battery).

Someone had a problem where it wouldn't accept programming after taking delivery. The problem was solved by going through the proceedure to erase the homelink. It would then accept programming.

 

I conveniently ran across the post Dan referenced. Here are the instructions to clear the Homelink:

 

Thanks Danman! I checked with the tech and he DID have the 12V battery disconnected due to shop manual / safety requirements. That may explain why I lost my radio presets too. However, when I held the two outer Homelink buttons for 20 seconds, they didn't flush/reset. It took over two minutes before the solid red LED started blinking. I was then able to reprogram the Homelink, so at least that works.

So far so good, but time will tell. This is the first new car I have ever owned that actually died on me, and it has shaken my confidence. At least if a doorknob falls off, the car is still driveable!

 

Update on my problem. The car drove fine for the 15 mile trip to the dealer. They reprogrammed the ECU (EG4017) per a TSB and I'm running normally. A friend of mine who bought a few months ahead of me had the same thing happen this past week.

 

8) It sounds like you found the solution to your problem. Push park button first than power down.

Ben

 

I had a call from Toyota Canada profusely apologizing for my breakdown. We had a pleasant chat and it appears my problem was software in nature, as they've already analyzed the program dump the tech downloaded from my car. So I also gather from the posts that this problem isn't a hardware problem (Bad relay, shorted/open wiring, bad sensor, etc), but rather a software problem? Most embedded systems (RTOS such as Wind River VXWorks, Sun Chorus, QNX Neutrino, etc) allow you to perform extensive iteration testing while prototyping a new system. I offered to reverse-engineer the Prius to "assist" Toyota Canada, that made them nervous. Wonder why?

 

"nervous" HA HA HA man just about fell of my chair!

 

I, too have had my very 1st 'red triangle' of doom.

Was sitting at a light, when traffic moved again and I got thru the light, the red triangle, check engine, and VSC lights came on. I pulled into the nearest parking lot, noticing the gas engine was off and I was running on battery alone. Turned car off, went into a the store, thinking I'd wait to restart. Came back to restart and all but the red triangle and check engine light went out. Engine came on within ten seconds, charging the battery.

I drove home (about 5 miles) and car ran fine. Idiot/warning lights still on. Got home, powered down, then back on, still have the red triangle light and check engine light.

Thought I may have messed something up with my amp and subwoofers project, so I disconnected the 12 V battery, waited for 10 min., then reconnected and powered back on. No warning lights, car runs fine. Have driven 30 miles since and no issues.

I did read something in the manual that said "to re-enable VSC after 12 V battery has been disconnected, power on normally (foot on brake), shift into N, then press park, before driving vehicle". I didn't do that when I originally installed the amp.

I'll try to find that page again and post it. Not sure if this is my problem as I have had the amp installed for 3 days. Crazy computer car!

 

Last night my '04 #9 broke down! My pain and anguish is great right now. It seemed like all the warning lights came on at once and the car literally came to a stop on my street. I sat in the car for a few minutes and then tried to start it up. It did start (with all of the warning lights going), and I was able to drive it to my house. I have 5300 miles on it and took it in for service (5k) 5 days ago. Any connection? I called the number on the window for service and they sent out a tow-truck to take it to the dealership. It was a flatbed truck. Before I called them I tried starting a number of times. The normal green leaf battery icon was red. While I really love this car, I am bummed by the hassle of this break down. I am still waiting to hear from Toyota about what went wrong. I will say they did get a tow truck to my house very quickly. I then had to call the dealership to let them know my car is coming in for service. I think my initial call to roadside service should have called the dealership about my sick Prius. I know some owners have had this problem. Has anyone had the issue fixed and then sees it happen again? I will keep everyone posted on the progress. Right now, though, I am down in the dumps with my baby at the dealership.