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HELP!!! something is not right!!!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by juliolopezgonzalez, Feb 4, 2012.

  1. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    Never cleaned the fan, and of course dont know if it has ever been cleaned...Regarding the 64 degrees, that was La Jolla by the ocean, inland was in the mid 70s on Saturday wjtracy :)

    Dropping it off tomorrow at an independent dealer www.tlc-auto.com to read the code (free) , will report back with the good news (staying positive)
     
  2. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    UPDATE:

    Just dropped it off, and left it there. Technician ran the scan on it and found no codes. No present codes, no past codes. Only the red master warning triangle and the hybrid red light on the OSD were on this morning since powering on. 8 mile drive to the shop without any other problem: noises, overheating, lack of power or brake failure. Go figure.

    $10 to whoever diagnoses this correctly!
     
  3. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    Easy. Your shop is using a generic scan tool. You need techstream in order to confirm the codes in the other ECUs, as they will not be shown if you scan the car with a generic scan tool.

    MB860 ?
     
  4. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Julio, it's been asked before but you haven't responded. Are you certain that the inverter coolant is circulating correctly!. This is a very important potential cause to try and eliminate.
     
  5. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    UPDATE:

    Just dropped it off, and left it there. Technician ran the scan on it and found no codes. No present codes, no past codes. Only the red master warning triangle and the hybrid red light on the OSD were on this morning since powering on. 8 mile drive to the shop without any other problem: noises, overheating, lack of power or brake failure. Go figure.

    $10 to whoever diagnoses this correctly!
     
  6. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    Uart I have no idea where to look to make sure the inverter coolant is moving...hopefully these guys know where to look.

    Should I call the shop and ask them if they have a techstream? Otherwise it's like they are looking for the needle in the haystack...?
     
  7. uart

    uart Senior Member

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  8. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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  9. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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  10. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    P0A08 is very unusual. Even at a dealership, it will cause some head scratching.
     
  11. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    They are scratching all right Seilerts!!! They had it all day today and nothing! They better figure it out because I have to be in the Bay Area Friday mid day...I think I am getting a rental, even if they tell me "all is good...sure come and pick up"
     
  12. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    I hope they have contacted the Toyota Technical Hotline.
     
  13. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    UPDATE:

    Just spoke with service @ the dealer in SD and they can't figure it out. He quoted $600 to go into the hybrid system in search of the problem, without any promises of finding anything. And then he said if they find something and it is the HV battery or the inverter then it will be "thousands of dollars, might not be worth it due to the value of the car". To what I said "well car is still under warranty for the hybrid system up to 150k in CA" and he goes "No because there has been an engine replacement" (look at my other post of what happened a couple of months ago when the dealer in OR messed up and had to install a used engine at no cost). I told him to hold off, I am picking up the car and leaving it garaged in SD for three weeks until I return. Then I can tackle this.

    At this point I don't know where to take it next. To the dealer in OR? Another dealer in SD? Any suggestions? Does the fact that the car has had an engine replacement has anything to do with the hybrid system and Toyota would not cover the repair? Guys I love the car but it has been such a source of stress for my family lately that I wish I had purchased just a simple Corolla... :(

    Any help appreciated...
     
  14. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    Where does it say in the warranty terms that replacing the ICE will void the warranty of a different component?

    At this point you need to be in contact with the dealer in OR.

    MB860 ?
     
  15. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    You know, this has me wondering if something possibly got messed up with that engine replacement. The way I read the service manual, P0A08 by itself should be impossible. I think this is potentially a short or ground fault. Will you be back in Oregon any time soon? I agree, you need to punt this back to the dealer in Oregon.
     
  16. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    Picked the car this afternoon. The first few miles no red triangle, I thought it was gone. But no, still there. Rented a little Mazda 2, leaving tomorrow in the am to the Bay Area to meet my family and fly over to a very green place, far away, in the middle of the blue ocean where cars are not even necessary. Prius will stay in SD during those 3 weeks, curing. On my return, I don't think I want to push the car to a 1,000 mile trip up north because anything can happen, so what I will do is call my good old dealer in OR on Monday and see if they can teleport it from SD and have a look at it.

    I am just wondering how bad can this warning be. I have driven in between dealers about 40-50 miles and the car behaves perfectly. No strange noises, loos of power, main battery recharges fine, Ac, lights, horn, all electrical behaves...tested everything and it all works. My concern is that I don't think OR is a carb state and at 122k any hybrid issues will be out of pocket. How does the hybrid warranty work? Where the car was initially purchased is what determines the warranty? The plates? The location of the dealer that is dealing with the problem? Location where I purchased it as a 2nd owner?

    Thanks in advance again...
     
  17. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Wow you have had a lot of bad luck with service personal "fixing" your car. First some jackass gives you a reverse polarity jump start, then the dealer "replaces" the fan-belt but forgets to tighten it and toasts the engine. And now this (not necessarily unrelated to the previous abuse it's suffered).

    BTW. How the heck does someone reverse the polarity of jump start on the Prius anyway? It's a negative-ground, like just about every car made in the last 50 years, so if you follow the correct procedure of placing the negative jumper to a ground point rather than directly to the battery then it's basically impossible to reverse it. And even if you don't use the correct procedure, the positive on the Prius battery has a big red cover that screams out "I'm the positive" and a fairly short ground strap on the other terminal that screams "I'm the negative. Why do we hear so many stories about people getting reversed jump starts. :confused:
     
  18. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    I might be a bit late now to get this done before you leave, but given that the code is related to the charging of the 12V battery it would be extremely insightful to take it for a good drive in "service menu" display mode and monitor the 12V voltage during the trip. Should be between about 12.0 to 12.6 before you make ready, rapidly increase to about 13.9 to 14.1 after you make ready and remain at about this level during the trip*.

    See thread here for info on entering service menu mode: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...out-switching-headlights-off.html#post1095046


    *Note: Could actually drop to 13.4 to 13.5 under some specific driving conditions but we can cover those conditions later if you see it.
     
  19. juliolopezgonzalez

    juliolopezgonzalez Junior Member

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    I have the scangauge so I will be monitoring the voltage. And regarding the bad luck, I agree. I am determined to keep the car but my wife has given up. "I am not driving that POS anymore" Which saddens me because the car has been perfect so far from purchase at 77k to a couple of months ago.

    Sometimes I think my dad was right when he said "just change fluids and dont touch anything else. If you tinker with it, it will fail"
     
  20. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Any updates???