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flashing/blinking gas gauge

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by thuston, Mar 2, 2009.

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  1. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Just a comment about posting to anyone reading this thread. When you are posting about a problem, please include ALL of the information that you have, whether you think it is relevant or not. We often end up playing "twenty questions" and making bad assumptions because of withheld information. It doesn't help us, and it doesn't help the OP get answers, so post all of your information in the first post.

    Tom
     
    #21 qbee42, Mar 4, 2009
  2. thuston

    thuston New Member

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    Point well taken. I was so overwhelmed at the beginning that I thought I would start with one small point and try and see what answers I could get. I'm sorry if I wasted anyones time while y'all were trying to help me. My appologies to firepa63 for not taking his advice in the first place. Like I said....If I knew everything:rolleyes:.

    I just got an email from the dealer saying the codes after changing the computers were not transferred to the hard copy of the R/O, and hence are not available. I will probably take it to a different dealer and have them read the codes again. After that I think I'll digest this for a day or so and then start working on a plan to get those lights to go out. In the mean time....we love the car. My wife has been reading the online owners manual and is schooling me on how to get better mileage.

    She noticed the car makes a noise sometimes...like a pump running. It seems to change speed also. I too have noticed this. Anyone know what this is?

    Many thanks,
    Terry
     
    #22 thuston, Mar 4, 2009
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Terry,

    There are at least three pumps that you will hear from time to time:

    1. The brake pressure accumulator pump will run periodically while you are driving the car. To force the pump to run, depress the brake pedal repeatedly a few times. Then you can learn to recognize that particular sound.

    2. The coolant heat recovery pump will usually run upon first startup, and again upon shutdown. This is moving coolant to and from the coolant heat recovery canister and is part of the emissions control system.

    3. Five hours after the Prius has been shut down, you may hear a pump running to pressurize the fuel system. This checks for leaks in that system and is also part of emissions control.

    Beyond those pumps that work intermittently, there's an electric pump that moves engine coolant to the cabin heater core whenever the heater is required. There's an inverter coolant pump that runs at all times when the car is IG-ON. The engine throttle control motor is also pretty noisy.
     
    #23 Patrick Wong, Mar 4, 2009
  4. thuston

    thuston New Member

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    I will listen for these. Do any of these pumps change pitch or change speed?
     
    #24 thuston, Mar 4, 2009
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    No, I haven't noticed that.
     
    #25 Patrick Wong, Mar 4, 2009
  6. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

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    Terry, no need to apologize. I was just trying to point out the need to supply all information surrounding the problem. It makes it a lot easier when trying to troubleshoot a problem remotely.
     
    #26 firepa63, Mar 4, 2009
  7. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    The coolant recovery pump on mine does squeal and change pitch during cool weather. I suppose that means it will eventually fail.
     
    #27 richard schumacher, Mar 5, 2009
  8. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    Are you out of warranty yet? There is a TSB and the applicable warranty is the 5 yr/60k powertrain warranty.

    http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-...-you-have-squeaky-chs-water-pump-new-tsb.html

    Mine squeals also, but still working as verified by watching coolant temp on the Scangauge.
     
    #28 dogfriend, Mar 6, 2009
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