Undiagnosed fault - red triangle, engine light, red oil warning (P0340)

Hi guys - new here!

I bought a 2006 Prius here in the UK a couple of weeks ago. It's my second Prius - my last one was a total loss after covering 160,000 relatively trouble free miles so I thought I should buy another.

However the issues have now started. A few days ago the car was driving along just fine when the red triangle appeared together with the 'problem' message followed by the red oil warning displaying in the top left corner of the screen. A few seconds later, the yellow engine light lit up and I drove the remaining mile or so back home (very slowly and carefully). I should point out that the car didn't drive any differently after these warnings appeared and I haven't noticed any strange sounds or anything like that.

I've been out to the car on a few occasions since. It goes into ready mode just fine and drives perfectly in EV mode. The triangle and oil warning reappear shortly after the engine cuts in every time it's started. The hybrid battery charges and discharges on the display when it's left at idle as normal. A friend of mine has a cheap and cheerful diagnostic machine that he brought over and that pulled the P0340 code which relates to the camshaft position sensor. That sensor has been replaced for a brand new one and the fault codes cleared but the code is still showing.

The next day we decided to check a couple of things to see if there was no oil pressure or a blockage somewhere simple. Oil level is fine - maybe slightly above max but not so far to cause a major issue according to my friend. The oil filter was removed and the accelerator pressed to see if any oil came out, but nothing/very little. The filter was then replaced for a new one. Then the sump was removed and the pickup checked - no blockage present. Sump put back on and we put the drained oil back into the car for now. I've also checked the voltage of the 12v battery through the in car display as detailed online - everything seems perfectly fine and the voltages are towards the higher end of the parameters, leading me to think it's a fairly new battery in good condition.

After this we had the car trailered to a local garage and he came back saying the timing chain was stretched, the valve timing was out and the camshaft and crank weren't lining up properly. He said if this was fixed then that should solve all the issues, but I've since been told by two other mechanics that information is false and it won't fix the oil problem.

It seems like every mechanic has a differing opinion on what is likely causing the trouble, but all of them seem reluctant to work with it. So far I've had suggested...

- Electrical fault
- Poor compression
- Filled with incorrect fuel
- Timing chain needs replacing
- Hybrid battery faulty
- Blockage
- Oil relief valve

I'm really desperate for it to be resolved but I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall and getting nowhere as nobody seems prepared to strip the engine down to find the fault. I'm hoping and praying there's nothing mechanically wrong and there's some simple electrical issue causing a false oil warning.

I'd be really grateful for some advice on this if anyone has any ideas? Thanks.

 

Apologies.

Could a mod please move this to the troubleshooting section if this is in the wrong subforum?

 

Thanks guys.

The mechanic suspected a timing chain issue when he had a look over it so that makes sense.

I figured that the problem of oil pressure has probably caused the timing chain issues though, so if we put a new timing chain on the car or reset it, won't the same problem happen again due to lack of oil pressure?

 

Unfortunately guys I think the Prius may be beyond worthwhile repair.

The garage today had it up on the ramp to test oil pressure with a mechanical gauge - the needle didn't even move on the gauge at any RPM. The kid put it in drive and gave it some revs while it was up on the ramp and it seems to have made the car much worse.

When it was lowered to the ground it was cutting out and making noises I hadn't heard before. Now the red car icon with the exclamation mark appeared and there was a strong chemical smell (sulphur) in the garage.

If the engine, timing chain and hybrid battery need to be replaced it's just financially impossible. Pretty lousy for a car I've only had a couple of weeks!