help prius just died. completely shut off no warning lights

One of the possibilities is that the inverter coolant pump has failed shorted. That can blow fusible links that can render the car as you describe it. That is a safety issue which required Toyota to address the situation. Did you have the inverter coolant pump recall done?

If not, then Toyota will do it at no cost.

How about headlights, do they come on?

Check the fuses at the 12V battery, under the red cover. If they are OK, then there is a fusible link in the engine compartment which is possibly blown.

 

I doubt it is the 12V. Did you have the inverter pump recall done?

 

Yes, Toyota is still honoring the recall. Just bring it in to a dealer somewhere and they are supposed to take care of the pump replacement, no charge to you.

I suspect the 100 amp fusible link in the engine compartment is blown, which is not easy to get at. They should take care of that also.

 

The cause of your current problems are almost undoubtedly the fusible link being blown. Your constant use of ACC mode however will kill your 12v battery lickedy split. So stop it. You can use some nice heavy gauge clips and jumper the fusible link. It is a lot easier to get to in the 2004-2009 models than in the GenIII's. If that allows the car to go READY, then there you go. It is just as easy to inspect it with a light. It looks just like a big fuse with the burn area stamped in copper so you will have a section not connected. If you have a DMM, that is the easiest and most accurate way of checking continuity.

If that works, you can then limp it off of the freeway into the nearest parking lot for a tow truck. If the inverter pump is the problem or something else that blew the 100A fuse, you don't want to drive it.

If you neglect maintenance, this sort of thing happens. Toyota sends out letters in the mail, emails, and phone calls, telling you to come in to the dealership for a free service because of Problem X. The letters are big and red, you can't miss them. After you get it fixed, keep ontop of these things.

 

Yes, in a few cases the pump failing shorted will blow the main fusible link. That is why the inverter pump problem was considered to be a safety issue and a high priority for Toyota to address.

It is not the way I would have designed the circuit personally, but they never contacted me for advice.

 

Glad everything worked out for you in the end.

SCH-I535

 

The old "$125 needs a new belt ploy" is standard dealer upsell. Go for it if you are not mechanically inclined. Otherwise, it is a cheap belt and a pretty straightforward DIY install, if a bit cramped. The belts will show some minor cracks years before they let go. I have not seen any post here mentioning that the belt actually broke. Another point is that some, including myself, think that the factory spec for tightness of the belt is excessive and contributes to premature water pump leakage around the shaft. I backed mine way off and the pump spins just fine, no slippage, with much less tension.

Also, the dealer saying that "the car powers off to avoid damage to anything else" is not really true. As we in engineering say, that's turning a fault into a feature. The pump can more commonly fail open, i.e. it just stops pumping, and the inverter/transaxle will begin to overheat, and will throw all the concomitant warnings and lights, but you will still have brakes and controls functioning. The blowing of the main fuse is just a poor design and could have been avoided, given the safety implications.

You'll be back running soon I expect.

 

Now that you have it fixed, you need to figure out what to do in the future. If you received the Toyota notifications and just chose to ignore them, then breaking down on the freeway is deserved and you should learn to accept big red warning flags. If you received nothing, then you need to register with Toyota so that you do get them in the future.

 

That just happened to my prius also same thing. I changed my 12 v today and the 120v fuse and still no power