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Dies at Interstate speeds only

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Harold McFarland, Feb 17, 2020.

  1. Harold McFarland

    Harold McFarland New Member

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    2010 Prius
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    V
    I have had a couple of occasions now where my Prius has all the lights flash on and suddenly dies but only when driving at Interstate speeds. I don't use it much on the Interstate but when I do if I get it up around 70 for very long suddenly all the lights come on and it dies. I pull over, wait about a minute and it starts right up and does fine except for a warning that there is a problem with the hybrid system.
    It did it a year ago but then worked fine in town and had no problems for over 7 months. The light about hybrid system issues even went off. Then up on the interstate and it does it again. Then months in town with no issues and then again dies on the interstate again last week but fine and no issues in town. It appears to happen solely at the 70 mph speeds when it is done for ten minutes or more at that speed.
    Is this the battery? A problem when at a high enough speed that there is too much resistance and it has to pull both the gasoline and electric engine? Any ideas?
     
    #1 Harold McFarland, Feb 17, 2020
  2. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Get the CEL codes to figure out where to begin troubleshooting. My guess is either inverter over heat or issues within the fuel delivery circuit.
     
    #2 Grit, Feb 18, 2020
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  3. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Certainly sounds like an inverter temperature thing. Although it's perhaps the most common, there's plenty of other potential causes. I'm not familiar enough with the Gen 3s to give proper advice, so I'll just stick with the best advice I know of for where we are in the troubleshooting phase.....Have the codes read by a place with a Prius friendly scanner, preferably the Toyota Techstream software or the Toyota handheld. That will hopefully point you in the right direction..
     
    #3 TMR-JWAP, Feb 18, 2020
  4. RMB

    RMB Senior Member

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    My friend's 2015 Prius had gotten Check Hybrid System light and gotten into fail safe mode twice, both times after a few minutes rest able to get in Ready and was driving fine again.

    Checked code for him, it was the water pump code (think P261B?, don't remember). He got the water pump replaced and never happened again.;)

    It could be a lot of things to set off the warninge lights, until you get code read, you are probably just gonna get wild guesses from us.:unsure:
     
    #4 RMB, Mar 8, 2020
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  5. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Friend with a 2015, eh:whistle:?

    We haven't met him yet;).

    Maybe next time(y).
     
    #5 Raytheeagle, Mar 8, 2020
    RMB likes this.
  6. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Welcome. As you can see, there are lots of possible reasons. I'll add another. Clogged fuel filter that can't flow enough gas. Happened once to me with a different vehicle, but same symptoms. Seems less likely with a Prius, but there's no easy way to be sure where to start looking without the codes.

    So, it's just a guessing game till you connect a Prius capable code reader.
     
    #6 jerrymildred, Mar 8, 2020
  7. RMB

    RMB Senior Member

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    :whistle:
    :cautious:He’s the kind that doesn’t take good of cars, just gas and drive.

    Only times his car gets washed were during the rain (nature’s car wash, not by him :D); ask for conventional oil just to save $30 per oil change:cool:; his Prius has dings gashes and scratches all over, even rust spots:cry:! Pedal to the metal driving style, I saw his trip meter shows 43mpg display, he said it’s never been reset, so it’s cars life time MPG :eek:. Water pump failed at 145k miles, guess what’s to fail soon:whistle:? I wouldn’t buy his car even if he sells it for cheap:p. What’s worst, it would bored him to death to attend auto enthusiasts meets :ROFLMAO:.
     
    #7 RMB, Mar 10, 2020
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