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P261B- Safe to drive to garage?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by shankyyy, Sep 7, 2023.

  1. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

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    2010 Prius
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    III
    I have been seeing Check Engine on and off for the last month. Code P261B (water pump) as per Panlong OBD2 with Dr. Prius app. Last weekend, I made a mistake of driving on the freeway for about 20 miles round trip. On the way back, just as i was taking an Exit, the yellow triangle and Check Hybrid System came on. Luckily was able to pull over. After a few minutes, was able to restart and drive home about 3 miles from the exit. The yellow triangle and Check Hybrid System was still on. Next day, only Check Engine light on, the triangle and Check Hybrid System msg vanished. I guess the engine got overheated driving on freeway due to likely bad water pump.

    Is it worth taking the risk to drive to a garage about 25 miles on local roads at slow speeds <40 mph? Is the distance too far for the engine to not get overheated and messing up big time? Or should I rather safely get it towed?

    FYI. 125k miles
    No coolant leaks seen..levels are intact. Also, EGR cleaning done in early summer this year.
     
    #1 shankyyy, Sep 7, 2023
  2. AzusaPrius

    AzusaPrius Senior Member

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    You can download Hybrid Assistant and monitor engine temp if you want to drive there and pay someone to replace the water pump.

    You can also buy a water pump and install it yourself if you can DIY, it is very easy.
     
    #2 AzusaPrius, Sep 8, 2023
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    When you take your water pump off this is stupid easy in this car too It's nothing like a normal belt driven water pump when you take your water pump off if you take the extra two three bolts loose you can pull the impeller out of the electric pump You're going to find the plastic shrouding around the impeller is peeling and looking like bad skin on an elephant or something a rhino others have been able to find that impeller on Amazon for like $34 You drop that new impeller into your existing water pump and everything will probably be restored that seems to be the part that gets funky and causes the water pump to not spin properly and then turn not move the water properly and in turn cause overheating. Or you can just buy a whole new pump and forget about all of this bolt it on burp the hoses fill it to the b mark take it for a drive pull back in the driveway milk the hoses again make sure the b mark is moved down to the full mark on the bottle and you should be good to go pretty much regular normal generation 3 stuff.
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Sep 8, 2023
  4. Pdaddy

    Pdaddy Member

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    Do the thermostat too with an OEM part since the fliud will already be drained. Its directly on the other side of the pump housing and does not cost much...time wise its like 15 min to do that part.

    Bleeding the air out of the system does take like an hr but not much work. There are good YouTube on it.

    SM-G960U ?
     
    #4 Pdaddy, Sep 8, 2023
  5. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    If you fill the coolant VERY slowly, fill SLOWLY for 15 seconds or so, and pause for 30 second
    in between to allow the coolant to push out the air, and do this until you can SLOWLY fill to the
    "B" line on the coolant tank, it will not take you an hour. Only about 5-10 minutes.
    Then you won't spend hours trying to bleed the air out.
    Filling very slowly allow the coolant to push the air out without making any pockets.
     
    #5 ASRDogman, Sep 8, 2023
    ColoradoCrow likes this.
  6. Pdaddy

    Pdaddy Member

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    Note to the wise! I will be more patient next time!

    SM-G960U ?
     
    #6 Pdaddy, Sep 8, 2023
  7. shankyyy

    shankyyy Member

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    Thanks all. I wasn't bold enough to do it on my own with a simple jack that came with the car.

    I started driving at slow speeds, and the coolant temperature per the Hybrid Assistant was a nice 90c/194f. But after about 10 miles, Check Engine light came on, and the temperature started creeping up quickly to 97C/205f. Didn't want to push it too far, and get stranded in the middle of nowhere. So, got it towed to the garage.

    I was told the head gasket will definitely fail within the next 3 months..big expense. Apparently, this is a given anytime you change the water pump.

    Damn...this year has been back to back repairs...first the brake booster, then EGR cleaning, now water pump, and....soon head gasket. And guess the hybrid battery will be due anytime.
     
    #7 shankyyy, Sep 8, 2023
  8. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    "I was told the head gasket will definitely fail within the next 3 months"
    Idiots! NO ONE knows how long the head gasket will last.
    If you only drive 100 miles a month, that's 300 miles.
    If you drive 5000 miles a month, that's 15,000 miles.

    A camera and pressure on the coolant system, you likely will see the coolant leaking
    into the cylinder if the gasket is bad.

    And it still cost less than a new car.
     
    #8 ASRDogman, Sep 8, 2023
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2023
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