Fun times with my next Prii

OK, so I'm supposed to be getting rid of vehicles. Instead, I bought two more Prii and picked them up last week. Both under 100k miles and supposed to run good. One is a genuine cherry, with only a small dent to repair. The other one is going to be a little more work.

I bought it because I already have the body parts that need to be replaced/repaired - two doors, front fenders, and rear bumper, in the exact color. I now know there is some rust on both rocker panels and a rear quarterpanel. Not too much that I see, but I've not crawled underneath yet.

But I soon will. It threw a P1347 (or is it 1437?) for a vacuum issue that usually indicates a stuck flap on the catalytic converter. It didn't seem to effect the performance, and I needed to get it 1200 miles back to Texas, so I started driving.

Then, the steering wheel started shaking violently when first moving the car. It drove fine on the highway though, so we kept driving.

And, it made it to Texas fine, but the truck we drove up there in didn't, and I still had to go get the second Prii in California. So, we dumped the truck and kept driving this Prius to LA. And, it made it just fine, after it would usually shake violently first thing in the morning and, sometimes, when driving slowly making tight turns.

And it make it all the way back to Texas with me following in the second Prii, until a few miles from where we dumped the truck. My brother said the CEL light, which had always been on since the P1437, started blinking and then the engine/transmission/whatever started going crazy.

We pulled over and parked it, went back today and trailered it home, and that's as far as I've gotten. Raining here.

Was trying to read some old threads on the road, but couldn't connect here. I checked the oil/coolant, and they're fine, so the engine isn't locking up. I can start it now, and it will idle fine for a minute or two, then start misfiring. This did begin after it started raining. We drove about 100m in the rain. So,

I've read that it's possible rain can come through the hood and foul a spark plug. I've read that blinking CEL points to a catalytic converter issue - which matches up with the P1437, which matches up with the rust/corrosion under the car. I've read to check the same things that one would check for any ICE misfires - plugs, coils, injectors. Of course, I would begin by checking codes.

For some reason, my OBDII widget wouldn't bluetooth my phone. I thought the car just had OBDII issues. But this morning, my brother was able to connect with his phone, so I need to check my phone settings. Then, I can pull the codes.

My bigger concern is the steering wheel. I'd like to hear from any and all regarding any possible cause. I understand there was the original recall. I've read of entire steering racks being replaced, and replaced again. I've read of "tin whiskers" that can be zapped with a 9v battery for a temporary solution.

If I have to replace the "steering rack" - has anyone done that? Any write-ups or vids? General description? How many labor hours? Special tools? My dilemma is that these cars are probably not worth buying that/those part(s) new, but if it's a lot of work, and I have to do it 3x (off a parts car, off my car, on my car), it's not worth it either.

This one is a hard decision, because it'd be a cherry otherwise - 90k miles, nice interior, with all the rust repaired/replaced. What's a boy to do?

 

"unless it was like coming out of someone's garage and perfect condition and rarely driven which would be bad."

They're out there. One of these is. I bought another last spring and sold it already. The one I drive every day was like that before my dog took over. But, I replaced the entire interior, so it's nice again. The touch screen is starting to go on that one though.

Re tin whiskers et al. I haven't researched all this. Just pulled in the driveway this afternoon from those 5000m driving to get these cars. I've had a car do the steering wheel shaking thing before, but I can't remember what I did with it. (I'm old and losing it, plus I've had so many of these cars. They're all alike.)

 

Wonder if it could be 12v battery related? It was dead at the auction, but jumped right off and has always started and worked correctly for 4k miles since then. I assume it's a good battery and fully charged, but maybe not? Maybe all those highway miles hid a weak battery?

 

I wish I could remember what happened with the other car. I'll definitely post when I figure out what's wrong with this one.

 

Dang, the service manual I have is difficult to understand. I assume its the Toyota version. It doesn't separate out "steering rack," so I have to piece together instructions from several different parts not quite knowing if they really have to come off or not.

I'm trying to figure out which parts I would need to pull off a parts car to have everything that might need to be replaced on this keeper to fix the shaking steering wheel issue. Of course, I know that the parts car's parts might be defective as well, but at the price of new parts, it's worth a try. If I only knew how to tell which part was failing, might save me a bunch of work.

 

OK, this one would be a decent riddle for most DIYers if all they had was this list of codes I just pulled off the car.

Current Faults
P0440
P0441

Pending Faults
P0300 - P0304
P0446
P1437

If you read the backstory above, my guess is that P1437, which the parts house guy read when the CEL first went off, led to these other codes after I continued to drive it another 4000 miles. Imagine that.

I think the1437 is caused by the exhaust vent flap at the catalytic converter getting stuck. That mechanical lever probably has some Minnesota rust on it. It drove nicely all those miles, fortunately, and didn't start all the misfiring until just a few miles from home. The 0440, 0441, and 0446 probably set at that point - my brother couldn't tell since the CEL was always on.

I expect the ECU is getting crazy mixed signals from the ox sensors/whatever that are out of whack with that flap stuck open or closed and trying to adjust fuel pressure resulting in all the misfires. I'm hoping that when I replace this cat, it willclear all this mess up.

I have a spare OEM cat, but I'm saving it for/selling it to someone in a CARB-compliant state. I'll just swap in an aftermarket cat, hack the vacuum actuator, then sell this rusty/clogged cat to the recycler to make about $500 of my ROI on this one.

May be a little bit before I get to this. If that works, I still got to solve the steering wheel shake problem.

 

Dang, it occurred to me that this silver car might not even have a cat with the exhaust vent. So, it quit raining and dried enough for me to look under it, and sure enough. The OEM cat on this car has already been stolen and the PO replaced it with an aftermarket cat. I lucked out because I bid on this assuming it had an OEM cat, such that if it had other problems I could always sell that and get a lot of my money back. I'm lucky because the car runs great otherwise.

Or, I should say it did for the first 3,000 miles. Now, I'm thinking the original P1437 code it threw is the same one that's thrown when you don't do the vacuum line hack after swapping in an aftermarket cat. That's exactly why you do the hack. I think others have said that it still runs without the hack, but the CEL light comes on.

That all lines up with my new, unconfirmed diagnosis - that the PO swapped in an aftermarket cat, but it doesn't have the exhaust flap and he's just left the vacuum line that operates it dangling open. That threw the P1437, and after 3000m driving it with that code, something else failed - maybe the ox sensor, or the aftermarket cat? - and that triggered the other codes (P0440, P0441, P0446) and all the misfires.

I had already ordered a new aftermarket cat and ox sensor and vacuum reservoir to hack that line, and as soon as the reservoir gets here, I'm going to see if that fixes the problem.