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Sudden loss of power while driving. Car would not move while in D but engine remained on.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022.

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  1. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    While i was driving up a slight hill id say 1/4 throttle i felt as the car needed more power so i gave it 1/2 and it felt like nothing. So i steped on it but no response. Took me a bit of fidgeting to get it to run again. The ice remained on the whole time. I turned it off and on and tried to engage drive again, the ice turned on but there was no power to the wheels as if the transmission would not engage. Took me 2 times of on and off cycles to get it to engage in D again. After this it drove me to house, but on the way it felt like it did not like to engage after say going down a hill and reaching bottom once starting the new hill the engine would revv up before actually engaging the cvt.

    There is no transmission leak.

    But if any one has any idea of what this could have caused let me know.

    Thanks in advanced.
     
    #1 Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    any trouble codes?

    any movement in the inverter fluid reservoir?

    how many miles on her?
     
    #2 bisco, Mar 17, 2022
  3. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    This happened less than an hour ago so im yet to scan it.

    Im not sure how to chek that and it did not occur to me ill look it up.

    Asume above 300k since its maxed out.
     
    #3 Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    just open the reservoir cap with the car ready, and look inside
     
    #4 bisco, Mar 17, 2022
  5. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    I have cheked the inv fluid (if its the reservoir thats right next to it wth the denso cap then yes there is movement. Tho it seems low, could this caused the issue?
     
    #5 Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    probably not, but you should top it up
     
    #6 bisco, Mar 17, 2022
  7. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    Just to be sure, can i use any coolant, i have some delo elc antifreeze. Or is the system sensitive to the coolant type?
     
    #7 Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    no, go to a dealership and get the correct fluid
     
    #8 bisco, Mar 17, 2022
  9. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    Thanks!
     
    #9 Gaby03, Mar 17, 2022
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I’m running Asian red coolant pre mix in my inverter about 3 or so years now . So far great Sam color never drops even if pump fails I’m on 3 20 min change so I use 30 $ units .
     
    #10 Tombukt2, Mar 17, 2022
  11. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    Update: i scanned and got a code for throttle circuit high

    Took of the air filter box and cleaned the throttle thing wth carb and throttle cleaner and dw40'd the spring thats conned to the motor that opens and closes the throttle. Del the codes and drove the car. So far no issues have happened. It seems weird that that would cause such an issue tho.

    Also drained the old coolant and flushed the system wth destiled water. Added new dealer coolant. Hopefully no more issues appear. Ill son chek the trany fluid to see how its looking.
     
    #11 Gaby03, Mar 19, 2022
    bisco likes this.
  12. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It might be worthwhile to post here the actual trouble code that you had.

    The fortune cookies that are sometimes shown next to the code (like "throttle circuit high") are often vague or not specific enough to really quite know what happened, and that's when they're not plain wrong.

    In any case, just going by the fortune cookie, I am guessing the code was about the electrical circuit that controls your throttle actuator, and not about any of the mechanical parts that you have now cleaned and wd40'd. If the code hasn't reappeared, that may be more because of an electrical issue that is intermittent than because of the work you just did.

    So while it's good to be back on the road with no trouble codes for the time being, I might also not be too surprised if you see a recurrence.
     
    #12 ChapmanF, Mar 20, 2022
  13. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

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    I would have posted the code but i forgot to save it once i worked on it and deleted all the codes. Altough if it recurs again i will copy all codes for this reason.
     
    #13 Gaby03, Mar 20, 2022
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