Stolen Catylitic Converter replaced and now Prius wont turn on

We've got to get past the u100 code type readings if you go get or can borrow an Innova scanner it's a light blue red and white logo stuff advance Auto and maybe Menards I don't know out west sell it that will pull your ABS and all of your generic trouble codes from the Toyota it does a real good job actually before I had tec stream which I still rarely plug up. Innova did a great job. And was inexp. You've only had this car for a month you probably driven the He double out of it too No problem realize the factory battery even if it's rebuilt or refurbished is about 20 years old as is the rest of the car so we're expecting the hybrid battery to fail any minute so get ready for that your first car the car doesn't know it's your first car it doesn't know that you don't know anything about cars so you're in the right place to bone up a little bit A real hybrid battery replacement if you do it right and you're going to commit and keep the car just the battery alone is going to be about $1,400 bucks or you can cheap out and do something with any of the refurbishes for about $700 just realize the 700 is going to get you about two or three years. And then it's time to do it all over again. You get a factory battery and you might make another 20 years like your car just did. It will all be the choices you make. Or maybe it's better for you to go to all gas . Or the little Ford hybrid thingy I can't remember what they're called they kind of look like a hammered on Prius I can't I just can't remember the name of them a friend of mine has had one had good luck with it treats it like crap doesn't know anything about vehicles doesn't care to know All he wants to do is drive when he does. So these kinds of cars spend lots of time in the driveway until the light bulb goes off it says they need to do something and then they might get around to doing it so the car spend a lot of time sitting not real good for a hybrid setup actually.

 

iow, you need a prius aware scanner: tech stream

 

This is likely to happen if the car is in neutral. NEVER EVER just sit with the car on and in neutral. The air conditioner and other stuff will run down the hybrid battery because it doesn't charge in neutral.

If the car will start and run, you might get away with starting it up and sitting in Park while it brings the hybrid battery back up to at least two bars. At one bar, you'l have almost no power for driving because it's trying to get energy into the battery and protect it. Once it's up to at least three bars, it's going to feel better about letting the battery start taking its share of the load.

If the car will not start and run, don't keep trying it. As others said, get a Prius literate code reader and find out what it says. Matched with a decent quality bluetooth OBDII dongle, several phone apps will talk to your car. I have Carista, OBD Fusion, Engine Link, Car Scanner, and Dr. Prius. Some are free, some cost a couple dollars. Not all have all the Prius codes built in, so depending on which one you select, you might need to add them.

Or, as @bisco said, there's Techstream. It's the gold standard, but you'll need to install it on a Window$ laptop.

 

What did the mechanic do with O2 sensor wires when they replaced the cat before they installed the O2 sensor? It's possible that mechanic failed to secure those wires and they shorted out to the frame of the car, which fried the ECU. Alternatively, the mechanic isn't responsible and those loose wires shorted out the ECU before mechanic worked on it, but because those dash lights didn't come on till later, I'd hold the mechanics feet to the fire on this and get them to swap out the ECU with a used one to see if that fixes it and no charge to you because they didn't insulate those wires so they wouldn't fry...

 

Hello & welcome to Priuschat!

First of all, take a few deep breaths and chillax .

Now what can happen- when the cat is cut out, they cut the wires to the downstream Oxygen sensor. One of those wires is an ignition power feed to the sensor heater. If that wire shorts to metal around it, then the EFI fuse in the underhood fuseblock will blow. Then the engine ECM won't turn on & you have all the problems you listed.

The 4-wire connector for the sensor is inside the passenger compartment, right side , under the carpet under the dashboard. If not done unplug that & check the fuse. It is possible that the ECM was damaged if the wrong wires short together, but check things first.

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Looks to me like the hybrid battery has failed which is extremely common on this car. The car is now in limp mode.

It has the red car icon alert in the upper left corner of the mfd.

The fact that it has such low miles does not bode well for that battery it means it was not driven alot. A healthy hybrid battery is one that is driven everyday.

 

I have to update my response. (didn't notice some details)

The OP likely had the EFI fuse blow, then he kept driving without the gasoline engine, and now the HV battery is discharged.

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yep that's about right.

 

Lifesaver dude - someone just stole my old Gen II cat, it pops into electric only mode (on my non-plug in model that might get me a mile with all these hills if I'm lucky) with the red ! of death and "Problem" flashing on the screen at startup. Didn't even know it was my cat until my neighbors told my wife they saw it and called the cops Saturday night! The cops came and didn't even knock, we slept through the whole thing.

I'm looking into replacement aftermarket cat, sensor, and fuse now. Will go check to see if I can find the bad fuse. All parts, if DIY will work, will be far below my $500 deductible.

Made my account here after lurking for years to say thank you - your deep breaths recommendation was just what the doc ordered for me, and I bet the fuse, cat, and sensor are just what the doc ordered for my Barcelona Red "Cherry Pie."

Cheers mate!

 

But you're in Maryland the aftermarket cat may not work very long they have a track record of failing very quickly I don't know how often you have to get inspected in Maryland but I imagine it's yearly here where I am in North Carolina I don't have a missions in this county so I don't even have to have a cat fitted but I know friends in states that do and when they mess with these cheap cats a lot of times they do it a few times But anyway good luck I have an aftermarket cat on an '05 here and we were never able to get the light to go off The sensors and all look good I don't have any fuses blown in the car drives wonderfully gets 46 miles to the gallon but the PO420 it can't pass the flood test at the car runs on the cat and I didn't think it would be able to now I know. I think the answer to this is to take two small cats from the muffler store they're about 80 bucks a piece and weld them together kind of like they are on the original pipe and install that into the car I bet that'll work just fine I haven't had the time to try it because I don't have to fool with it but that seems like that would be the ticket double the amount of converter material and one fell swoop and two little bulbous things welded right to your original pipe should take your muffler guy about 25 minutes throw it back up into the car and see what you got

 

Verified blown fuse, see pic for location. Checked with a multimeter before I realized I was an idiot and can see it with my eyes.

Discussing with insurance, sounds like they can cut me a check for repairs, if I diy with an aftermarket cat we're talking some pretty serious savings. Looking at the Walker one, currently ~$270 on amazon for a legit brand, even if not as fancy as magnaflow hopefully it will keep the poisons down better than the ~$100 soda cans on a pipe.

Good luck out there!

 

I agree with Tom, since you are in a CARB state you may be required to get an oem cat or, if you are lucky, just an epa certified cat. Both of which will be more than $500 installed, possibly thousands more.

You need to check into this before buying the lowest cost replacement.

With that said, I have seen some aftermarket cats keep the P0420 off for several years and counting. The right cats are already dual.