Stalling on the Chicago Skyway

[bojojohn]

I'm in the midst of an adventure...although not by my own choosing.

I left Pittsburgh on Sunday at 1pm to see my mom who is in the hospital unexpectedly in Eau Claire, WI. My 2004 Prius has made this trip before and now has 44,000 miles on it. I have never had a problem with it before.

I got as far as the Chicago Skyway (I-90 West) when I lost all power. All the lights came on and "Problem" showed on the display screen. I was only going about 15 miles per hour because of the weekend traffic, so I was able to mosey over to the shoulder and a nice officer was helping out another car that was pulled over. I got out the manual and it just basically said "stop and take it to your Toyota dealer". Well, since my dealer is in Pittsburgh, I called AAA to ask them where I should go and could they find a motel near where I could stay over since the dealer/service wouldn't be open until this morning. I am now typing from a workstation at the River Oaks Toyota dealership in South Holland IL.

They haven't looked at the Prius yet but they seemed to know the symptoms of the problem.

I've looked online here and have seen reports of "inverter" to "new transmission". I have no idea what the problem is. I just know that I have to get back on the road and get to my mom.

I'll update when I know more.

[FireEngineer]

Victorria,

So sorry to hear about your problem. Do get the diagnostic codes and subcodes from the dealer, they should have them by now, and post back.

Wayne

[qbee42]

I assume you still had gas? Running out of gas will produce that type of problem.

Tom

[seasalsa]

What was your fuel situation? Sounds like you might have ran out of fuel.

[bojojohn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Jul 9 2007, 11:04 AM) [snapback]475503[/snapback]</div>

I assume you still had gas? Running out of gas will produce that type of problem.

Tom
[/b]

Yep, had just topped off two stops before. Had gone 120 miles and was sitting in traffic through the tolls.

I wish I had seen that Libertyville Toyota was having a Prius gathering next weekend. One of the options that AAA gave me was to tow me to that dealer although it was quite a ways away from where I'm at now.

Waiting, still waiting...they haven't looked at it yet.
Victorria

[Sho-Bud]

Did your car get the software update allready?
If I remember correctly, there was a stall problem with the earlier series of the Prius II, which was corrected by the update.

[bojojohn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sho-Bud @ Jul 9 2007, 11:21 AM) [snapback]475514[/snapback]</div>

Did your car get the software update allready?
If I remember correctly, there was a stall problem with the earlier series of the Prius II, which was corrected by the update.
[/b]

I don't know--I bought it used last June. the dealer didn't have any of that information and I didn't know enough to ask. BUT. I did have the steering shaft mechanism replaced per the recall about 3 months ago. Is the software update situation part of a recall?

Victorria

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sho-Bud @ Jul 9 2007, 11:21 AM) [snapback]475514[/snapback]</div>

Did your car get the software update allready?
If I remember correctly, there was a stall problem with the earlier series of the Prius II, which was corrected by the update.
[/b]

That could be it. They would stall suddenly when traveling at highway speeds. You had to go through a reboot sequence to get it running again.

Tom

[TonyPSchaefer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Victorria @ Jul 9 2007, 10:09 AM) [snapback]475510[/snapback]</div>

Yep, had just topped off two stops before. Had gone 120 miles and was sitting in traffic through the tolls.
Victorria [/b]

What about bad gas?
How does someone have their gasoline tested for water or other pollutants?

I'm just throwing out ideas while the mechanics are looking at the car. With that angle hopefully covered, we can consider other angles.

[ohershey]

Could be ECM system recall - A simple software patch and you are good to go...

See this topic: List of TSBs for 2004,with DTCs