HELP!! car shuts down while driving

Hi Rooster. The "P" lock warning is a classic sign of a severely depleted 12V battery, however the battery shouldn't normally be depleted *while* you are driving.

What it sounds like has happened is:

1. Your inverter coolant pump has failed (fairly common problem).

2. The inverter has overheated, causing the car to lose power.

3. The inverter issue also causes the 12V battery to stop charging, and hence your final issue.

If you let it cool down for a few hours you should be able to drive a short distance if you take it easy. Be cafeful however or you may lose the inverter completely.

 

I absolutely agree with uart. Those are the things to check with those symptoms and that mileage!

 

Did you have the inverter coolant pump recall performed by Toyota? If not, now is the time.

 

If you could get some fault codes then that would be most helpful. As mentioned above the Inverter water pump would be the most likely cause,

Gavin Craske
www.currenttech.com.au

 

Sounds like the same symptoms that we experienced with our 2004 Prius. We kept taking it in for service, but none of the "fixes" resolved the problem until the inverter coolant pump was replaced.

BTW, this was way before the recall came out.

 

We just had this happen in our 2008, while en route from Maine to upstate NY. We were stranded, but after a half hour or so of shutting down and restarting we were finally able get it to work. Drove to the dealer in White River Junction VT. This was the second time it happened, and neither place that looked at it was absolutely certain what was causing the issue. They both "guessed" that it was a failing 12v battery (I guess they could've just googled it like I just did and found the answer, duh... that's how I found priuschat!)
We decided to try it and had them replace it (cost $280 total). We then drove the rest of the way and had no problem after that. Seems like it fixed the problem.
One other thing that might be helpful for folks who get stranded with this issue: the tech said that if you pull the top left 7.5v fuse in the lower section of the fuse box, leave it out for 30 seconds or so, then replace it (see photo), this should reset the error system and allow you to start it and get it in drive. He also said that if that doesn't work you could try pulling the negative battery cable off for a few seconds and that should accomplish the same thing. Hopefully one of these fixes will allow you to get moving enough to get to a repair shop. We were much relieved that it was such a simple fix!



EDIT: after reading more closely, I see the original problem had a different cause than ours, though the symptom and error message was the same. *goes off to find the right thread to post the story and tips into...*

 

Hello,
I am experiencing an issue with the power being cut off. I was driving my 2007 prius and it just shut down...I had it towed to Toyota dealer here in Los Angeles and they told me the invertor went bad. Replaced it, and then drove maybe 20 miles and same thing. took it back, they said, "the invertor went bad" again and started to look as to why it went bad. I bought the prius used and thought it was in good working order. Apparently, the old owner where putting the wrong kind of fluid into the AC causing it to over worker the inverter making it burn out. The dealer said in order to fully fix this issue, we need to replace the ENTIRE ac unit and hoses since everything is now contaminated. Has anyone ever experienced this? IS this true...I am worried that this will not fix the issue. Please help. I am new to Prius and hybrids in general.

 

Disable the A/C system and you'll know if it's gonna fix it. I would just unplug the A/C compressor to eliminate
it as a potential problem. You'll have your answer soon and it's a free test. Don't waste the money testing their theory.

 

So what exactly are they saying then, that the a/c compressor burnt out and this caused cause the inverter to "burn out". I'm surprised by that, I would have thought it would have just tripped and thrown a code rather than burning out. Hopefully someone else here knows more info about what should and shouldn't have happened in this situation.

 

Jesse, please post here the DTC (trouble codes) that the dealer scanned from the car. Better advice can be given with all the data. Perhaps the A/C compressor has developed a high voltage ground fault as a result of using the wrong compressor oil. I agree that unplugging the A/C compressor will be a first step to isolate the problem.

All this assumes that the inverter coolant pump is working.

 

Hey, thanks for replying. Well, the car is at Toyota, has been there since Thursday and they are replacing the inverter, just waiting for the part to come in. They said that by disconnecting the AC, it should fix for the mean time until I replace the AC (their idea as well, just like all yours), so that's what we are going to do first. If it still burns out the invertor, thank goodness it will have warranty and they will replace it and start trouble shooting some more. There wasn't a code being given by the prius, at least, that's what I am thinking but I will ask them. I already know I must replace the AC since its a gonner. But that can wait, my main concern is the car is bad...Could it be anything else? I hope I didn't buy a bad prius.

 

Wow how come your fuse box is full of dirt. Where is the cover??

 

Not our car; I lifted that pic off google images. The fuse box is under the hood on the driver side.

 

Oh I see. That car must be in a junk yard and someone took/bought the cover.
Thanks. So how's your car now? Best wishes to you.

 

Ok, So the dealer called me today and stated that with the new diagnostic tool they received in the shop today, they were able to track down the issue with the car...the inverter is fine, the AC is fine, what went bad was the transaxle. that the codes that were being shoot out where for the inverter but its really the tranny....So thank goodness it is under warranty and it will be replaced, but I have to shove out 500 bucks for the install since it doesn't cover that...
I hope this foo is telling me the truth...

 

[quote="Jesse Melara, post: 1857304, member: 116268Ok, So the dealer called me today and stated that with the new diagnostic tool they received in the shop today, they were able to track down the issue with the car...the inverter is fine, the AC is fine, what went bad was the transaxle. that the codes that were being shoot out where for the inverter but its really the tranny....So thank goodness it is under warranty and it will be replaced, but I have to shove out 500 bucks for the install since it doesn't cover that...
I hope this foo is telling me the truth...[/quote]


What a load of CRAP Nobody will ever be able to see through this one. The NEW tool we got today. Yeah, Right. Lie's are as transparent as glass and this one is laughable

 

If the part is under factory warranty, the labor should be as well. I also agree that the "new tool" line is BS.

 

This is how the dealers make money. They tell people the labor isn't covered and collect from them and Toyota

 

Its not factory warranty. I was there today and asked to see everything, They pluged the car into the old machine and shoot out an invertor code, then did the new one for hybrid Toyota cars, it gave a more detailed code, well, words, and said transaxle something. The warranty that it has is not by Toyota, its from the dealer I bought it from...I called to see if they will cover labor, they said no. just part.