engine wouldn't start, motor ok, "ready" light

[lleni]

It seems there are some pretty knowledgeable people here and I just encountered a problem I'm hoping to get feedback on. Last Saturday (a couple hundred miles from home and up in the mountains), I started the car and a warning light came on in the screen (the little car with the exclamation mark) and the check engine light came on up in the dash. I looked at it for a bit, turned the car off and dug out my manual which said call the dealer. I did and we determined that the engine was not on. I drove a couple of blocks to a garage and the engine kicked in, albeit a bit sluggishly. In a few minutes every thing looked normal. So I drove home scheduled my 60,000mile check up. (I have a sweet aqua ice 2002 model). The dealer service dept. says it is a known TSA (technical service advisory) and they will replace the the gas tank and engine control module--all under warranty. That was Tues. Thurs. pm and the parts haven't arrived and I'm talking to a different service rep (they have these guys who process the customers) This one says, btw, did the other guy tell you that you also need to get the circuit opening relay and that isn't under warranty. It's part of the TSA and the parts we've ordered. I'm a bit disturbed by this so I quizzed him about it. He says it is just under the hood and only takes 15 minutes or so to install (I'm thinking parts plus labor now). It controls the fuel pump, the ignition and other controlled things, he says, sort of like a spiderweb of connections.

So what do you think? Is this true? reasonable? Thanks

[tochatihu]

Sorry your first post was with a problem, lleni. For the 2001-2003 Prius, this seems to be the most common problem. What they are talking about is technical service bulletin EG011-03. It is posted in the files section of the Yahoo toyota-prius-sat1 group, in case you want to read it.

The warning lights came on because the gas engine did not start rapidly enough, or not at all. Diagnosis involves them going through several steps and noting the outcome. The simplest (and most common) repair is to replace the engine control module (ECM) with one that contains programming more "tolerant" of this condition. In more aggravated cases, the fuel control relay and/or the entire fuel tank assembly are replaced.

The ECM has an 80k mile warranty but it is just 36k for the other two components. Therefore it is a bit of a surprise that you are hearing that the tank assembly is also under warranty. But I would not complain because that is the most expensive part of the three!

If I remember right, the parts and labor for the relay should be about $100. Please also ask them to check if the accelerator butterfly needs to be cleaned of soot, because this can also cause a slow start/no start.

If the tech. is not very good, they may conclude that all three parts are needed, without completing the diagnosis This is from personal experience with Beaver Toyota in Santa Fe New Mexico! But in my case a better tech elsewhere determined that just the ECM was needed. That was 44k miles ago for me, and no problems since. Hope yours works out as well, and please post the outcome to the group.

[lleni]

Thanks for your reply. And you're right, this was my first post. And thanks to someone for moving it to a more appropriate section. I see if ai can find the yahoo section. I do wonder if they are just throwing the works at it. I don't think I have a lot of ways of checking them out and I have never been very pleased with the local dealer or service. Unfortunately, it is an hour away to get to another dealer/service. I emailed Toyota once asking if they were training any mechanics who weren't dealers.

After reading here a bit I called and asked for problem codes. They told me P3190, P3191 and P3101.

The 2nd guy quoted me $110 for the circuit opening relay and 15-20min to install it. He said he would try to do something about the price since it's been there for 2 days and they hadn't told me that yet. I guess I should just let well enough alone.

Thanks.
Lleni

Originally posted by tochatihu@Mar 9 2006, 09:18 PM
Sorry your first post was with a problem, lleni.  For the 2001-2003 Prius, this seems to be the most common problem.  What they are talking about is technical service bulletin EG011-03.  It is posted in the files section of the Yahoo toyota-prius-sat1 group, in case you want to read it.

The warning lights came on because the gas engine did not start rapidly enough, or not at all.  Diagnosis involves them going through several steps and noting the outcome.  The simplest (and most common) repair is to replace the engine control module (ECM) with one that contains programming more "tolerant" of this condition.  In more aggravated cases, the fuel control relay and/or the entire fuel tank assembly are replaced.

The ECM has an 80k mile warranty but it is just 36k for the other two components.  Therefore it is a bit of a surprise that you are hearing that the tank assembly is also under warranty.  But I would not complain because that is the most expensive part of the three!

If I remember right, the parts and labor for the relay should be about $100.  Please also ask them to check if the accelerator butterfly needs to be cleaned of soot, because this can also cause a slow start/no start.

If the tech. is not very good, they may conclude that all three parts are needed, without completing the diagnosis  This is from personal experience with Beaver Toyota in Santa Fe New Mexico!  But in my case a better tech elsewhere determined that just the ECM was needed.  That was 44k miles ago for me, and no problems since.  Hope yours works out as well, and please post the outcome to the group.

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[cmwade77]

Originally posted by lleni@Mar 9 2006, 08:17 PM
Thanks for your reply.  And you're right, this was my first post.  And thanks to someone for moving it to a more appropriate section.  I see if ai can find the yahoo section.  I do wonder if they are just throwing the works at it.  I don't think I have a lot of ways of checking them out and I have never been very pleased with the local dealer or service.  Unfortunately, it is an hour away to get to another dealer/service.  I emailed Toyota once asking if they were training any mechanics who weren't dealers.

After reading here a bit I called and asked for problem codes.  They told me P3190, P3191 and P3101.

The 2nd guy quoted me $110 for the circuit opening relay and 15-20min to install it.  He said he would try to do something about the price since it's been there for 2 days and they hadn't told me that yet.  I guess I should just let well enough alone.

Thanks.
Lleni

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This is why I bought the extended warranty, it covers anything that isn't covered by the original warranty.

[tochatihu]

I'm not sure if it is possible to access the Yahoo group files without joining, but here is a "tiny-ed" URL for EG011-03, to see if you can:

http://tinyurl.com/krbjr