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Prius 2004 broken v-Belt: is it safe to drive?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by nas, Jun 27, 2009.

  1. nas

    nas New Member

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    Hello.

    I have a 2004 Prius and when driving it the Check Engine light turned on and the car with ! red warning appeared in the MFD. I stopped and checked the engine and noticed that the V-Belt broke.

    Question: is it still safe to drive the car to the dealer? What's the belt for in a Prius 2004? (cooling?)

    Thanks,


    Nas
     
  2. brick

    brick Active Member

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    The belt drives the engine coolant pump. Don't drive it. The engine can't cool itself and the aftermath could be extremely expensive.

    How many miles on the car? Was that the original belt?
     
  3. nas

    nas New Member

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    The car has about 18000 miles and yes, it was the original belt. Thank you for your response.
     
  4. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    180000???????
     
  5. nas

    nas New Member

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    No, 18,000 miles. The car is not used everyday and only moves short distances.
     
  6. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    sounds like a bad belt or something.. my 04 has 122k miles on the OEM belt
     
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  7. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    No, do NOT drive it! Even if you have to pay for towing, that is a fraction of the cost of a +$4,000 all aluminum motor
     
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  8. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Wow! You got me thinking about checking all my other vehicles.