My 2013 Uber vehicle died after making a loud noise.

Thanks, I bought the car as a Toyota CPO vehicle in 2017. It should have had all recalls taken care of. It was originally purchased in November 2013, making it an "early 2013". The Carfax report showed no recalls that were outstanding or fixed.
I will bring up the possibility that this one slipped through the cracks when I talk to the service manager on Monday.

 

I got the letters. The first said that Toyota was admitting a problem, and once they had a solution, they would notify me. Then Toyota notified me.

I was aware, but procrastinated because the Toyota dealer 1 mile from my house has a very sleazy used car department. They might have a good service department, but I only use them for parts when I can't wait to buy the part online. I wanted floor mats for my new 2017, and found Conicelli and their web store had a good price If I ordered online and picked them up the next day. They are also are close to where my wife works. I also started participating more on PC, and kept seeing posts asking if people had the inverter recall applied.

So I finally decided to get the recall done at Conicelli back in June, instead other Toyota dealers in my area. This is the same dealership where the car is currently sitting..

 

I do not know. I have picked up and dropped off Passengers on the 6200 block of Osage Ave. I was in my last year in college when that happened. The white police can't tell if they are dropping an "Entry Device" on an unsuspecting white Uber driver in a Move neighborhood. Even our police commissioner is even named "Danielle Outlaw".

Actually it is Broad and Erie that the cops hover over nowadays. The "Boner 4Ever" building became nationwide news with a police standoff there in August of 19.

 

I wound up buying a second set of floor mats for the 2013. My heel had worn a hole in the driver mat. Black is OK by me, as it shows less dirt. I also buy my fluids (except oil) from them for about same as the non-Toyota fluids at other places.

 

A new set (black only) is only $88 + $15 shipping from Conicelli. Mine lasted 100k, and now I have just a whiff of "new car smell" from the new mats. As an Uber driver, the rear mat was ready for a replacement as well. I knew it was time when I discoverd that I had left the passenger side mat at the car wash.

 

Today is Monday. Not much has happened. I called the dealer a few times asking for updates. I finally got a call around 3:30, and the technician wanted to know where I bought my gas most recently. He wanted to know if it had a high ethanol content. It seems that he had focused his attention on the fact that when you press the start button, the ICE turns on for 20 seconds, then cuts out.

I asked but what about the loud firecracker noise, and the almost totally depleted Hybrid battery. This seemed to be news to him. I asked about the B1000 error, and the low signal on the downstream O2 sensor. I didn't get an answer.

It seems that he was going to spend the rest of the day bypassing the fuel tank, to see if he could get the engine to stay running. I told him he should put the car up on a lift, and look for burn marks.

I did tell him that I put a fresh tank of gas at a reliable gas station, but I could not recall which one. I told him about how on Wednesday, my Uber driving seemed to have fairly low MPG ~34 on average, which considering it was in the 70s, and I had the windows down, was unusual (I would expect about 40mpg). However, since filling up late Wednesday night, my MPG was 41+.

NOTE: I reset the "average MPG" at the beginning of each shift of driving.

I could not recall where or when I got my previous gas fill up. We spent the weekend of October 1-3 on a trip to Ithaca, and I did no Ubering that whole week.

I checked my credit card transactions, and I filled up on Wednesday night at a Speedway gas station near my home. Prior to that, my most recent fill up was Saturday September 25th at a "Gas and Go" in Philadelphia. I was dangerously low on gas, and I was on a $35 promotion that required that I accept the next ride request. I was lucky to find a gas station, since I was near the airport, and my next ride could be a long one. Sure enough, I got a ride request while pumping the gas.

Before leaving for Ithaca on September 30th, I swapped the steering wheel controls back to the 2017, so we would have the "Voice Command" button on our trip in the 2017. That meant I disconnected the 12 volt battery of both cars, so the airbag would not go off.

So I can believe that the "Gas and Go" gas was of a lower quality that I usually get. That might explain the reduced MPG on last Wednesday. Still I drove a solid shift on that Wednesday, and used most of the tank. I did not have any issues that were notable, other than the reduced MPG. When I filled up the tank that night, I put in about 8 gallons of name brand gas.

When I began my driving again at 2:15PM on Thursday, I again drove with the windows down. I got 3 rides in that time, and the third ride ended with the "bang" that I heard.

I am disappointed, as this dealer came highly recommended. I know that the minimum they will charge me at this point is $280, so I am concerned that they are way off base.

 

I hope you are right about the dealer and service advisors. I wonder if the information about the loud bang and sudden drop of the Hybrid Battery indicator made it to the tech working on my car.

I was there on Friday afternoon, to pick up my dashcam and other rideshare stuff. The advisor that walked me back to my car spoke glowingly of the hybrid tech that was assigned to my car. He seemed genuine about it.

As for the drop in MPGs, I reset the Avg. MPG display before each shift, and Wednesday's numbers were clearly lower than they should have been. I was doing my normal driving, and not using the AC. There must be an explanation for the lowered mileage, although not necessarily the fuel. I have noticed over the past few weeks that many gas stations have started only selling regular, or out of gas entirely, which I find odd. Could be a Mid-Atlantic thing.

It is entirely possible that the Gas-n-Go was selling E-70 or E-85, and I did not notice. That would account for a drop in MPG. It would not account for the ICE only running for 20-30 seconds, and cutting out.

 

I thought about it. Water is heavier than gasoline, so it will hang out at the bottom of the tank. If I got gasoline with water in it, I would expect it to get sucked in pretty soon after I filled the tank. The "suspect" gas was put in the tank 10 days prior to the failure, and I used about 8 gallons of that gas with no trouble (except maybe a reduced MPG). Then I refilled the tank from a reputable station. When the car died, I had 50-75 miles on that tankful.

What makes me dismiss the "bad gas" theory is the way the car went kaput. Loud firecracker type bang and gunpowder-like smell, then sudden loss of HV battery. I experienced the symptom the tech reported where the ICE would only run for 20-30 seconds. ICE did not sputter to a stop, it was a clean shut off on purpose. Eventually, what little was left in the Hybrid Battery could no longer turn the ICE on. Still later, I could not even put the car in Neutral for the tow truck driver (but I think the 12 volt battery does that).

At the time, I assumed that it could be that the Hybrid Battery was drawing so much current, that the ICE was turned off to protect one of the Motor/Generators. I would expect a more specific code than a B1000, but all I had to pull that code was Torque Pro on a new phone. If I had my laptop and Techstream, I would have gotten more info.

I didn't mention that I could hear a strange whirring noise in the vicinity of the ICE water pump or AC compressor during the short period the ICE ran. It was loud enough that I could hear it over the ICE running from inside the car.

I also find it strange that the only other code was the downstream O2 sensor signal low (active fault). I think that implies a signal wire shorted to ground. My fear is that the big orange cable from the battery discharged through the O2 sensor.