Broke down 700 miles from home! Help!

Well the good news is that the car has approximately 170k "mostly trouble free" miles on it.

The dealer SHOULD be able to figure it out!! Don't they work on Priuses at this dealership??

You mentioned that the dealer said that it is not the "auxiliary battery". Do they mean the Traction battery, or the 12v battery? If the 12v battery is dead, the car can't power on or do anything.

I suppose that the inverter might have catastrophically failed.

At any rate, something sounds fishy. A Toyota dealership should have the tools and training to diagnose this.

Try to come back with more information if you can.

 

DTC codes ?

 

KC,

Did the car "quit" while it was running at speed, stopped at a light,
etc, or when it was shut down at at rest stop, etc.

Ask the dealer for a written copy of any trouble codes that were
recorded/recovered and post them here. These will give the
troubleshooting gurus here a good place to start on the problem.

 

Not being able to shift out of P when the car is IG-ON, as well as the lack of power, is a very good sign that the 12V auxiliary battery is bad. However the question is why the car quit while your friend was underway.

My guess is that the battery had a shorted cell within. This caused excessive current to flow from the DC/DC converter to the battery, which popped either the DC/DC 100A fuse or the MAIN 120A fuse. That current surge may have cleared the short in the battery, temporarily.

I have little faith in battery test units being able to determine that a battery is definitely good or bad. Other posters have paid for a battery test and been told that their battery was OK, only to have to replace the battery a few days or weeks later.

I'd start by checking the two fuses (DC/DC is a fusible link located in a 5" long clear/white plastic box within the main relay/fuse box near the inverter, and MAIN is located on the positive battery terminal fuse block on top of the 12V battery), and replacing the 12V battery. Then if that doesn't help, I'd agree with Frank's suggestion to check the inverter as that part probably has failed.

If the inverter has failed the Toyota dealer repair bill will likely be north of $4K. That might help your friend's decision about buying another car vs. repair of the current Prius.

 

the car just totally quit. No power or anything.?
This happened to me a year and a half ago, when my inverter coolant pump went out. The car blew a fuse in the engine compartment

From my writeup--
, one fuse was replaced, the 15 amp one inside the engine compartment fuse box, right side, second one from the top
AM2 : Blue 15 amp fuse in right side main engine fuse box.---

Check all the fuses there , there is an extra replacement fuse in the same fuse box. Hopefully it's this simple in your case to get the car running again, and of course if it is this, check for a running inverter coolant pump.

 

KC10, this is drttrus.

The car had a complete electrical failure on I-40 just outside of Tucumcari, NM after fueling up at a Chevron, ironically the same station that my parents broke down at in 1981 (obviously not driving the prius).

Anyways, following loss of power the car rolled to a stop on I-40 and then refused to start, turn on, move, you name it the car wouldn't do it. The tow truck driver realized that he couldn't roll the car up onto his flatbed because it was locked in park, and because Toyota made the terrific idea to remove the parking gear manual override and made it impossible to roll the car in the current state that it's in. Luckily since it was so icy they managed to slide the car up the ramp, and back down at the hotel the tow truck dropped the car at.

In the meantime, I had been called and we determined that the best course of action was for me to rent a tow dolly from U haul and drive out there with my 4x4 F-150 (really bad weather that night, but since I was in Alaska for the past 3 years with my trusty 4x4 all perceptions are relative). I drove out there, and after my arrival we determined that there was absolutely no way to get the car on the dolly ourselves; as I mentioned earlier, with no working electrics we can't shift out of park, so we can't even shove/roll it onto the dolly.

Anyways, after a night in the hotel and the tow company coming back with two large floor jacks we towed the vehicle from Tucumcari to Albuquerque. The car was dropped off at Karl Malone Toyota, and after an episode with the service department almost dropping the car after jacking it off of the dolly (same method on, same method off) it sat for 5 days before we called again and they determined they "thought" it was the aux battery because they found a bad cell. later today we wound up at the dealership and happened to ask what was going on and they determined that the battery wasn't the issue, and they'd call us when they know what's wrong.

All I can determine is that either they've checked every major component and can't pinpoint the issue, or they're barely working on it and only thought to check the aux battery (I don't think it's been moved inside, it's been sitting in their outside lot since we dropped it off on the 26th). At this point, my parents are scheduled to leave Albuquerque in 60 hours or so and they haven't even figured out what's wrong with the car. we might wind up just driving over there and talking to them in person since they don't seem to get the point that we need a decision one way or another on what the issue is with the vehicle.

PS. parents did mention cruise control being inoperable shortly before the electrical failure, not sure if this could be a contributing factor or not.

 

You're right that once the parking pawl in the transaxle is set, without 12V power there's no way to roll the front wheels.

The cruise control failure is an interesting wrinkle. Cruise control is an electronic function performed by the hybrid vehicle ECU. I haven't noticed anyone complain about failure of that system in the past.

However that should not have caused a total electrical failure. Please find out whether the dealer tech checked the fusible link box within the main relay/fuse box near the inverter, as well as the 120A MAIN fuse located within the positive terminal fuse block on top of the 12V battery.

If they are able to restore partial electrical power, do any DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) exist?

 

Like I mentioned, we're planning on driving over there and have them visually step through everything they've been doing. It shouldn't take 4 days to verify that the fuse box and aux battery aren't the primary problem, but with how the car is performing as of right now it's acting like it DOES have power just not in all the right places.

Enter the car, with the smart start wireless fob you obviously get in and sit down. Following this 'complicated' step, you hit the power button (power locks, dome lights and horn all working at this point) After the power button is hit, the 4 outline dash lights for P, N, B and R light up with a few miscellaneous lights flash for 1-2 seconds, and then everything dies. As long as you hold in the power button, it will flash yellow once every few seconds but no sufficient power/electronics can be started to put the car in a READY-ON mode.

 

OK, then the 120A MAIN fuse at the battery must be OK. If you have time to DIY a little while at the dealer, note that there is a fuse box behind the instrument panel, near your left knee when sitting in the driver's seat. The main relay/fuse box near the inverter also contains many fuses. The fuses are very small, so bring a pair of small needle-nose pliers if you plan to inspect them.

Check how bright the headlights are, that is one quick way to gauge 12V battery health if you don't have a digital multimeter available.

I understand that you cannot even make the car ACC-ON or IG-ON:

- ACC-ON is where you press the POWER button once without depressing the brake pedal, so that the MFD lights up and you can play the radio.
- IG-ON is where you press the POWER button a second time without depressing the brake pedal, so that the instrument panel warning lights appear.

If my understanding is correct, here is a list of possible problems:

Power source control ECU
AM1 fuse
AM2 fuse
Power switch
Key slot
Wire harness

Suppose you can make the car ACC-ON but not IG-ON. Then check the IG1 and IG2 relays, besides the above list.

Suppose you can make the car IG-ON but not ACC-ON. Check the ACC relay as well as the above list.

 

Unfortunately, with the car at the dealership there isn't much poking around we can do. We talked with them already, drove over there and from everything they've said is that the issue is something that Toyota has never seen before and they've already gone through all of their flow charts for known problems that Toyota has seen. They checked the battery, replaced the battery, voltage is there but nothing is talking. They're suspecting a wiring harness issue, in which case that tells me that they aren't doing creative troubleshooting with a multimeter and a test lead to figure out what's wrong with the wiring.

On top of all that, the tech hasn't even dragged the car into the shop; it's been sitting outside with him walking out to it and checking things as the people on the phone have asked him to. the asst. service manager wasn't aware that the car was still outside, he seemed a bit flustered that it wasn't being worked on inside the building (as we were flustered that it wasn't being worked on inside)

Either way, Toyota has never seen this issue before us and according to the service techs here this is something that could be released in a tech service bulletin in the near future.

 

Hmm, before a TSB can be released, a diagnosis is first needed... It does not sound like this will be provided any time soon - given the staff at the dealership you are working with.

As it does not sound like your parents' car will be repaired any time in the near future, hope they have an alternate transportation plan in the works...

 

Is there another Toyota dealer nearby to which you can have the car towed? This one sounds clueless. But while it is there, have them check for Diesel fuel in the tank; they should be able to do that.

 

I am an albuquerqian, and have to admit that the two local Toyota dealers do not inspire confidence.

 

This gives me great faith.... ugh. What makes you say that they don't inspire confidence?

 

Sorry famtruss, I know that is not what you wanted to hear. Locals know that each dealership is partly owned by the same person, which has lead to degraded customer service. I didn't even bother to check them when I bought my Prius. The one time I took my car in to the (other) dealer for a radiator fluid exchange, the 'Prius certified' tech tried to convince me to exchange the inverter fluid too, because he was sure that the circuits co-mingled.

The best advice I can give you is to demand that they work in concert with regional Toyota in the diagnostic phase.

 

I am not sure I follow what is going on here. Was the dealer able to read any DTCs or not? If not, then the ECU is not running because it is not getting power, or it or another controller has failed. It could also be that the computer connects, and reports no codes, but then the car should run.
There is a 7.5A fuse labeled OBD on the fuse panel in the car. If it is open, no codes will be read. I don't see how the problem could have been Diesel fuel, based on the symptoms. Diesel fuel should cause the ICE to stop running, which would bring on the CEL and the red Triangle. Turning the car off and on would allow it to run on the traction battery until it died. (I haven't actually tried this of course, but I did have an ICE failure, and that is what happened.)
If DTCs cannot be read, then the ECU is defective, or another controller on the CANBUS is defective, and preventing the bus from communicating. Unpluging all the other computers on the CANBUS should help identify which one is bad. This should not take more then an hour or 2 to do.
Not a good start for the new year. Best of luck figuring it out.

 

Even after replacing the 12v aux battery that had a 'bad cell', they still aren't able to pull any codes because the car's system is screwed up enough that it won't retain 12v power long enough to let the diagnostics run. according to them, they've checked power on everything and it's all getting 12v but nothing is talking to each other.

I'm suspecting that the techs aren't really digging into the car to find the problem, whether it's a logic or connection issue. they have engineers staring at schematics over the phone trying to diagnose the problem, and with my experience that's not how you diagnose the root cause of an electrical issue. We went over there and tried to ask them what all they've checked, but company lines kept popping up and I knew we weren't getting anywhere. Like I mentioned before though, the asst. manager wasn't aware that the car wasn't actually in the shop. Last we checked it was still sitting outside, so troubleshooting the bus lines and verifying communication (heck, even just a continuity check for the wiring harnesses) is something that's not happening at this point.

 

This is the problem. If it is not in the book, no one knows what to do.
I had a problem like that with my Prius. The dealer had it for 2 weeks, didn't get anywhere. I took the car back, and finally figured it out myself. The problem was that the solution as outside normal operating specifications, so they had no clue.
Looking into this further, I see that the power source control ECU is required to turn on the Engine. This ECU enables 2 relays, IG1 and IG2. Mechanical devices are much more prone to failure then electronics, especially ones that move. If one of these is not working, maybe the power source control ECU shuts off again. I can find nothing about this in the manual, but I would look there first.