OK! My FIRST real problem with my Prius....

[jamesbalch]

OK Gang. Here is a weird one.....

I get into my Prius the other day. It's 0430 in the morning. I have an early show at the airport for a 0700 flight. I push the Power button and back out of the garage into the turn around. Then I pull out, leave the driveway and zoom away.

I look at the speedometer display to see how fast I am going....and it is dark. In fact the ENTIRE display is dark! No gas tank display, no mileage, no speedometer....no NOTHIN'! The signals work and display...otherwise.....BLANK.

So I say to myself...."Must have the dimmer down". So I flip the pot up and down....click it up fullbright....spin it all the way down to the bottom...NO CHANGE! Still blank.

So I start thinking...."How much gas do I have in this thing?" Now I remember...I thought to myself on the way home the night before that I had to stop and get gas the next day. So I take stock of the situation....thing is runing like a top...just like always. Nothing bad is happening. So I say to myself "I'll just drive my regular route to work and stop for gas where I usually do. Maybe when I shut down, gas up and turn it back on...all will be well".

So.....I pull up to the pump and push the power button. NOTHING HAPPENS! Thing still keeps running. NOTHING SHUTS OFF. So I push the power button a few more times - NOTHIN'! So I push and HOLD the power button (just like shutting down a computer that has locked up). The thing shuts down - sort of. The engine stops and everything gets quiet - except the radio. It keeps goin'! So, I reach up and push and hold the power button again. After a few seconds, the radio shuts down. Now, EVERYTHING seems fully shut down.

So now you know what I'm thinkin' I'll bet! Is this thing gonna turn back ON when I hit the power button....or am I stuck here at the pump? So, I figure - screw it....what else can I do? I might as well find out sooner rather than later. I reach up...and hit the power button.

Friggin' thing turns on just like normal! All displays normal! So, I reach up and shut it off again. Down it goes...shuts off like a champ. Gas up. Turn it on....no problems. Go to work. Get out of work, hold my breath and hit the power button. Thing turns on ...everything normal.

Been three days now since it has happened. Ran it all those days. Not ONE glitch in it again!!!

Weird!

Anyone had ANYTHING similar happen??

[FL_Prius_Driver]

One extremely rare possibility is what is called a Single Event Upset. This is where a cosmic ray or electronic glitch causes the software to go into a strange, one of a kind state that remains until the system is completely powered down. The identifier, lacking a complete memory dump of the software registers and memory, is that it never returns. If this problem appears again, then that is definitely not the cause and more conventional explanations apply (intermittent connector, chaffed or shorting wire, etc.)

I have definitely seen these in flight control systems where the recording of any unusual software behaviour is completely captured and the event can be traced to what memory or register bit changed. Fortunately, flight control systems have a lot of automatic backup and redundancy to immediately isolate the malfunctioning devices. The Prius is not engineered like this yet, but is engineered so that unsafe conditions cause the system to go into a safe mode.

[EZW1]

Someone else posted here with the exact same scenario. I dont' recall what the problem turned out to be.

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by EZW1

Someone else posted here with the exact same scenario. I dont' recall what the problem turned out to be.

Its a problem with the Combination Meter. There is a thread on it, plus a blog entry at Luscious Garage.

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-ma...lem-video.html

Luscious Garage | Blog | LG TV - Prius Dead Dashboard

More threads:

http://priuschat.com/forums/care-mai...ing-mfd-3.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-ma...-turn-off.html

[FL_Prius_Driver]

Cool. Nice to have those that keep up with these things keep me up to speed.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Originally Posted by jamesbalch

Friggin' thing turns on just like normal! All displays normal! So, I reach up and shut it off again. Down it goes...shuts off like a champ. Gas up. Turn it on....no problems. Go to work. Get out of work, hold my breath and hit the power button. Thing turns on ...everything normal.

So what's the problem?

There was one day when I was parked at work and Priapus started making all sorts of crazy sounds as though the auto-theft alarm had gone off but only a little stranger. I had similar difficulty shutting him down and the MFD was showing a display about parking on an incline or something like that. Keep in mind that this was in a perfectly flat parking lot.

The whole ordeal had me freaked for a few days but anymore it's only when someone posts a story like yours that reminds me, "oh yeah, I had an oddity once..."

[jayman]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

Its a problem with the Combination Meter.

I'm still undecided if it *really* is the combi meter, or a bad connection on one of the four connectors at the combi meter. I posted the connector locations at the thread you mentioned.

Sometimes a component may look or test "bad," but the problem may actually have been a poor connection on one of the pins of one of the connectors. Just the act of removing all the connectors removes the oxidation, the "bad" combi meter is replaced with a brand new expensive one, and magically the problem is gone

What if instead, replacing the combi meter is only coincidental and the real issue is a bad connection? Without the use of an appropriate MSO to examine for glitches (Good luck with that for a rare/intermittent problem) on CANBus, you're guessing

Before I spent the money on a combi meter, I'd pop and reseat all the connectors first

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by jayman

Before I spent the money on a combi meter, I'd pop and reseat all the connectors first

If I was spending the money, I would try your way. If it was under warranty, I would let the dealer deal with it.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

So what's the problem?

I'm guessing you're one of the rare but documented humans who are a Malfunction Magnet

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

MFD was showing a display about parking on an incline or something like that.

That's the warning for the parking pawl, isn't it? Low 12 vdc voltage?

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

that reminds me, "oh yeah, I had an oddity once..."

Ok, I'll be the first to admit I sometimes will go out with a real Coyote Ugly woman, but lets leave my personal sex life out of this serious discussion.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

If I was spending the money, I would try your way. If it was under warranty, I would let the dealer deal with it.

Of course. What is the warranty on a combi meter? 3/36?? A lot of Prius are therefore off warranty for a repair like that