Question

welcome!

how else can the dealers diagnose the problem, over the internet?

you need a prius aware scanner to find the trouble codes.

how many miles on her? sounds like your hybrid battery might be going.

 

Your dealer has the software Toyota recommends to read the Prius-specific trouble codes.
Only with those codes will we have an idea what is wrong.

 

Well Jerry, there's about a million things that COULD be causing your problem. Guessing would just be wasting everyone's time. Do you have a laptop? If you do, then go on ebay and purchase the mini-vci cable/connector and techstream software for 30 bucks or so. That will allow you to go online with the car, so you can get the actual codes and subcodes which will help localize your problem. How much did the ECU cost? What's your time worth? How many other parts do you want to swap out following guesses? There's a lot of smart guys here with a TON of experience with Prii. Even they need a starting point to not waste time, money and effort.

How was the battery replaced? A craigslist rebuilder, or a Toyota facility?

 

You can get your own code reader and copy of Techstream or Techstream Lite to diagnose trouble codes. Doing that the official way Toyota recommends would be more expensive than getting a shop or dealer to diagnose the codes on your car - it costs $500 for the Mongoose Pro they recommend, and Techstream itself has a yearly subscription cost of $500 or more. Alternately, there are much less expensive options that should work. VXDiag Nano is only $80, for instance.

 

You are about 500 miles away from the best G2 Prius independent shop - Prius hybrids sales and service Scottsburg Indiana

JeffD

 

Jerry, I'm being serious. If you are going to own a Prius, and plan to do your own maintenance, you really need to think about getting techstream. At the very least, if you have an android phone, get some free apps like Torque or Hybrid Assistant and an OBD Bluetooth adapter so you can at least read the hybrid codes. Otherwise you are purchasing a ticket for the pain-train.

 

Maybe you should DO that.
How much money (and time) have you wasted on the ECM so far ??

And then......what line of work are you in ?
Don't people PAY you for your training and experience and expertise ??
Why do you think that is such a bad thing when it comes to car mechanics ???

 

That can't happen unless you post what your diagnostic codes are. If they're not the same as mine, we don't have the same issue.

Even if they are the same, there's still a set of possible issues: the code narrows it down, then there's some actual troubleshooting on the car to be done to pin it down completely. So even two people with the same diagnostic codes may or may not have the same issue.

But if the only information you can post is that your hey-read-the-codes lights are lighting up and the car is shutting off, there's no way for anybody to tell whether they are the someone you are looking for, or not.

-Chap