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weird near stall event 2015 prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016.

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  1. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    Hi I have a 2015 Prius 2 with 5K on clock. I was pulling into the costco gas station when it suddenly made an awful sound like "schproing" and stalled. I checked for whether I had hit something or had a blowout - nothing. I put it in drive and it would only crawl, feeling like it was working against tremendous resistance - like if you had the parking brake on (it wasn't, I had just come off the freeway). I was able to go no faster than about three miles an hour and manage to get into a parking space and out of everyone's way. I called toyotacare for a tow. About ten minutes later I sat back in it (I can't leave well enough alone), started it up, and put it in reverse. All the symptoms completely went away. This morning I went to the dealer and they said they could check it out but had never heard of such a thing and thought they might not find out anything if no trouble lights came on (which didn't). They were busy so I thought I would give it a pass and see if it happens again.

    The only other relevant facts about this car are that my wife did let it get low on gas just before this happened (it had been down to blinking on last bar, and I put in a gallon just to get me to costco. Also it has been involved in a rear end collision.

    If anybody has any idea what this could have been or has had this happen I'd love to hear about it. I'd hate for it to happen to my wife when she's out and about and I'm out of town. It was potentially dangerous under other circumstances.
     
    #1 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2016
  2. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    Did you accidentally hit the EV button? I often fill up with the fuel light blinking so doubt that is an issue. Was this rear end condition a big repair?
     
    #2 mmmodem, Jan 18, 2016
  3. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    It's possible I hit ev button by mistake... But I have actually put on ev button on purpose while in similar situation with no untoward symptoms (as I am in line at costco gas station, no reason to add to fumes?) The rear end collision was to body only, didn't involve or need any frame repairs.
     
    #3 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
  4. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    If I had to guess, I would say two things.

    1. There is probably a code stored in memory or "pending".
    2. It sounds like you ran out of gas and was moving by the traction battery only, could have possibly gone into turtle mode briefly.

    My best advice. Don't get into the habit of running the Prius down to the bottom of the tank. Fill it up when it gets down to no less than two pips on the gage.

    Finally, take the Prius into the dealer and ask them to do a courtesy check. Have them hook up the laptop with the "Techstream" Software and request they pull any and all codes and "report" what they find back to you.

    If you ran out of gas, there will be a code stored or pending.

    You also mentioned the rear end collision. I would get that taken care of ASAP. No telling what is going on back there with that. Sorry to hear you are having problems. I do suspect you ran out of gas though.

    Best of luck to you!
     
    #4 dorunron, Jan 18, 2016
  5. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    weird indeed. please keep up posted. was it bought new or used with only 5,000 miles?
     
    #5 Former Member 68813, Jan 18, 2016
  6. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    i bought it new. I got rear ended ten days later, before I even got plates on. But all repairs were done professionally by a reputable body shop, and no issues since then until this. I'm also leaning toward the "out of gas" theory, it's just that the whole thing felt pretty violent when it happened (like I say, I thought at first I had hit something that damaged a wheel or suspension, like if you ran over something big and solid)... The wife has been duly lectured about gas tank (I would never myself let it run that low). I'll post if something else happens along these lines, or if dealer turns something up in courtesy check.
     
    #6 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Right away I'm thinking you hit the Park button.

    It'll do nothing (or shift to Neutral?) at higher speeds, but at walking pace I believe it'll do what you ask.
     
    #7 Mendel Leisk, Jan 18, 2016
  8. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    i vote no to both low gas or park button. the symptoms are not consistent with either. maybe something broke in the axles, bearings, or brake system, or brakes were erroneously activated? was ICE on while struggling to move?
     
    #8 Former Member 68813, Jan 18, 2016
  9. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Hmmm, the more I think about this the more I agree it is probably not a out of gas thing like I originally thought. What is odd is the strange noise and then the drive system laboring to move the vehicle.

    Prius would not/should not move at all if in Park...

    As was said earlier by friendly jacek, weird indeed. Hope the OP comes back when ever this is finalized.
     
    #9 dorunron, Jan 18, 2016
  10. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    yes but if something broke, the really weird thing is that now everything functions perfectly, I've driven all over since with nary a symptom or the slightest sign of any issue.
     
    #10 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
  11. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    sorry, had to look up what ICE is. To be honest I was so panicked I can't answer whether it was on or not, but my guess would be not; also I don't recall it revving faster when I was pressing acceleration pedal, it just inched along against great resistance. I'd say it was in ev mode, but like I say I was pretty shook up with cars behind me honking etc. as I was obstructing traffic.
     
    #11 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
  12. Grateful Dad

    Grateful Dad Junior Member

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    From P. 303 of my manual (this might explain the weird noise, not the slow crawl): "Sounds and vibrations caused by the ABS brake assist, VSC and TRAC: a sound may be heard from the engine compartment when the hybrid system is started, just after the vehicle begins to move, if the brake pedal is depressed forcefully or repeatedly. etc.; "vibrations may be felt throughout the vehicle body and steering." They say all this is normal. It is possible I hit the brakes as I had just made a quick move into the line of cars and may have had to brake, though I don't reacall it being particularly sudden or forceful.
     
    #12 Grateful Dad, Jan 18, 2016
  13. FroggyTaco

    FroggyTaco Member

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    Any chance you left the parking brake set? That could explain a lot. I really don't think it was out of gas.
     
    #13 FroggyTaco, Jan 19, 2016
  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    It's 3 letters less than engine, obscure and pretentious.
     
    #14 Mendel Leisk, Jan 19, 2016
  15. FroggyTaco

    FroggyTaco Member

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    Well it is 3 capitalized letters which implies it's an acronym. Which is short for "Internal Combustion Engine".

    I was under the assumption it's more about technical accuracy then pretentiousness but I could be totally wrong about that as well.
     
    #15 FroggyTaco, Jan 20, 2016
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    no worries, our northern friends don't appreciate their ice being hijacked.:p
     
    #16 bisco, Jan 20, 2016
  17. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    I understand the acronym.

    Guess I just bristle, at this trend to intentionally (and needlessly) fluff up nouns with superfluous qualifiers, and then convert to an acronym. Pretty much every engine employs internal combustion, so endlessly noting that amounts to cargo cult.

    You'll see folks here referring the big metal object under the hood as "ICE engine" too, it just keeps getting sillier. :)
     
    #17 Mendel Leisk, Jan 20, 2016
  18. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    no, my friend. not every engine is internal combustion engine (ICE). prius had 3 major engines/motors (and several more minor ones) and only one of them is ICE.

    en·gine
    ˈenjən/
    noun
    noun: engine; plural noun: engines
    1    .
    a machine with moving parts that converts power into motion.
    synonyms: motor, machine, mechanism
     
    #18 Former Member 68813, Jan 20, 2016
  19. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Which, as Mendel said, is pretentious, and not one bit more technically accurate, considering that all car engines are internal combustion engines.
     
    #19 CR94, Jan 20, 2016
  20. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I am wondering if there could be water/ethanol separation in that one gallon added. I did that to my lawn mower few months back.

    In short seems like lots of possible non-long-term-problems that might account for it.
     
    #20 wjtracy, Jan 21, 2016
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