Sudden loss of power, Red Triangle, Won't Start + P3190

You should get a hold of your mechanic's landlord and tell them the rent they're charging your mechanic is to much because he can fix cars out of his own home garage.

 

The $1,100.00 a year Toyota charges for Techstream and TIS isn't that bad. An independent repair shop should be able to afford that. Now $1,500.00 a year for Honda's crappy software is a different story.

 

You forgot to ask what the engine compression readings were.

 

I lost count of the number of times I thought the same thing while reading this thread.

 

*cough* BULLSHIT! *cough*

 

I thought the same when I read that.

 

What, am I supposed to fix this over the internet? Who do you think I am, this guy? Culver City Toyota - 127 Photos & 832 Reviews - Car Dealers - 9077 Washington Blvd, Culver City, Culver City, CA - Phone Number - Yelp

 

I wouldn't replace an engine without low compression readings. I often run these things on parts cleaner to rule out compression and spark. Assuming the problem is fuel, I would check for pulses of power at the fuel injectors, quality of the fuel (not diesel or water). If fuel pressure is good, injectors are a possibility. Sometimes I smell the exhaust while the engine is cranking, NOT RUNNING, to see if I smell gasoline (or diesel). Maybe I'll post some more thoughts later.

 

Thanks you your insightful posts.
I was just helping an earlier post that had tagging issues with some users.

 

Bad gas is a possibility, if you filled up recently and it broke down afterwards

 

A claim is one thing, measurements in PSI are another.

 

Did the throttle body on this ever get cleaned?

 

Holy Moly, you would spend $5k? To fix it?

I would sell you a perfectly running 2006 prius for $3k

 

Sounds like your Mechanic doesn't have much experience with Hybrid vehicles. To be a "Good" Mechanic, you need to know how to analyze and properly diagnose a problem rather than just being a parts thrower. There even a lot of dealers out there that just takes peoples money and not find what the problem is so that they can keep coming back. This one lady told me she taken her 2 gen Prii to the Toyota dealer because there was a light still on here dash. She didn't know what the light was and paid the dealer $180 to run a diagnostic scan and told her that they couldn't find anything and kept her money. When I went to look at her car myself, it was just the maintenance light on. I told her that light is normal as it comes on after 4,500-5,000 miles. I cleared the light for her. She said she gotten her oil changed recently. Where ever she taken it changed never reset the maintenance light. For something simple like the dealer missed, I wouldn't charged that lady anything.

 

Donating to a charity is a very good thing to do.

Alternatively you can list it for $1000 and it'll sell in a few hours on craigslist.

 

Pinging can be caused by many different things. I had that problem once. At first I though it was my spark plugs were just worn as they never have been change from the previous owner. I went ahead and changed them anyway. Using cleaners like Techron, or Gumout are pretty much snake oil as I wouldn't waste your money on that junk.

Gasoline has enough detergent additives to keep your engine clean an way. What I discovered was the entire combustion chamber had heavy carbon build up after inspecting the combustion chamber with my borescope. These engines are prone to carbon up very easy esp when the engine goes between the on and off cycles driving in the city. The only real way to clean the combustion chamber is have it professionally cleaned using a motorvac.