Finally had a problem with my '04

Best car I have ever owned, and I've owned a few. My third hand '04's check engine light finally came on.



A few weeks ago, she finally had her 200th birthday. I finally just had the coolant pump replaced and those other silly tsbs worked off. Fresh oil and engine filter change for her birthday, all that good stuff.

this morning with 2 ticks left on the fuel gauge (which has never made any sense to me, most fuel I've ever put in there was 6.5 gals, against a blinking tick) The check engine light came on.

I've spent some time driving around this am. ICE never shuts off. From a (relatively) cold start, ICE will come on in park within 10secs, even though i've not touched the accelerator.

She accelerates strongly, no hesitations, the idle sounds nice. all fluids are fine, exhaust smells normal, not eye watering or anything.

I have no scangauge or such.

Checked 12v battery voltage from mfd, looks fine. I replaced the 12v 2 years ago with the nice yellow top kit. traction battery cycling seems pretty normal, given it's age. My wife's 08 with many fewer miles performs much better, but that just makes sense.

coincidentally, my mileage has suffered since I had the tsbs done, about 10mpg down from 'normal'. Which is kinda strange as it's warmed up, and I've not been running the heater, I would have hoped it would have improved. Oh well.

Any ideas? Just ask'n.

thanx in advance,

--chipper

 

Hey MacsVoltage;

thanks for the rejoinder.

Yes, Coolant, both radiator and inverter look fine, as does the oil. Actually, oil is a bit high, meaning, it's to the full mark, rather than 2/3rds full as folks often suggest.

I don't have any way to pull the codes, wish I did. perhaps this is a good time to invest in a scanner.

yes, merely the check engine. Actually, I presume it's the check engine, it's the icon that looks like the ICE. No other warnings. No triangle of death, no 'maint', none of that.

Aside from the ICE running all the time, all other things I can think of seem nominal.

 

Hey Patrick;

Thanks for the input.

There's a local shop around here, fellow who runs it is a well respected prius nutcase. I've been meaning to come up with a reason to take my car in (I try to do most stuff myself, given my financial status), and I suppose this is it.

I will share what I learn when I get the codes.

Thanks all.

--

 

Okay,

Well, it remains a mystery.

First off, no data, no connection at the OBD2 port. Spent an hour chasing that around.

Leetle Tiny fuses under the dash. 2 were blown, 1 15 amp accessory fuse and a smaller value (5 amp?) for one of the ECUs.

Replaced those fuses, then could pull the codes.
reset all the codes, as there were lots of them, restarted, and it threw an 'idle control system' error. Car's idling just fine, it just won't shut off. He reset the check engine light, (or so I understand) and the ICE finally shut off.

It's acting normally now.

No check engine light,
ice behaving as normal.

We'll see. Popped fuses? Guess so.
my question is, I wonder why the fuses popped. Everything seems fine.

thanks for all the replies;

Onward thru the fog.

--chipper

 

Quite so.

Fuses generally don't just pop for no reason, in point of fact, I'm pretty sure they never do.

And yes, hopefully, it's just one of those things.