Dead - Help

did you ask the dealership what went wrong with their pre purchase inspection?

it's hard for us to say much without diagnostic codes. did you check the oil level?

many people make mistakes when checking the 12 volt, it's not like a regular car.

 

You are at the mercy of your dealer right now. Cleaning the MAF sensor requires 10 minutes and a $10 can of MAF sensor cleaner so if you are going to be charged for two hours of labor you know that you'll end up paying more than enough for a new car monthly payment before you are done with this repair.

To prepare for the future, I suggest that you purchase Mini VCI (which you can buy on Amazon.com; requires a Windows XP or Windows 7 32 bit OS laptop) so that the next time your daughter's car logs a fault code, you will be able to determine what it is. Then you can post a request for help.

I further suggest that you avoid discount auto repair places like Pep Boys and instead DIY the periodic maintenance required, or be prepared to pay the Toyota dealer prices. Since the problem occurred immediately after the engine oil change it is reasonable to suspect a problem with the maintenance effort.

Yes, any car with 182K miles is at design end-of-life so although you may be lucky after this initial issue has been resolved, don't be surprised if other repair issues develop over time.

 

Yes, it is. It seems, sadly, that the training on how to use the tester and how to interpret the data is sadly lacking with most that offer this service.

Also, for the future, these cars do not like being overfilled, so confirm with the dealer on what the oil level was.

Hope it all works out.

 

I'm not sure how Toyota does their pre-purchase inspections. I would think they hook it up to techstream and press health check...if nothing comes up, it passes the electronics test. Then it's all visual from that point on.

There are no guarantees that an existing problem will be detected....

 

Obviously you were not in the right frame of mind.

I would have only bought that car if:

• a NEW Toyota HV Battery was installed w/in the past 2-3 years; not a used/rebuilt/remanufactured.
• transaxle had been serviced no later than every 60,000 miles
• other maintenance items (struts/shocks, water pump, belt, etc) are easy and cheap enough

READ about the worst case scenario of an oil change overfill: Another Walmart oil overfill, Toyota is hinting at new ICE | PriusChat

Sadly, many drivers do not check their oil level on a regular and frequent basis. These drivers are easily identified, as they ask about an intermittent low oil light that shows up when they brake hard, accelerate hard, or take a turn fast.

THIS IS NOT A LOW LEVEL OIL LIGHT. It is an oil pressure warning light, that is frequently triggered by a low oil level. If you like to spend money needlessly by replacing an engine sooner rather than later, I'll gladly drain 3 quarts of oil for $3000 (approx. cost of a used engine installed).

3 Battery checks:
1) NO Load test: 12.8-13volts (higher is better)
2) LOAD test- FOOT off brake, press POWER button twice (this is Ig-ON, LED is amber): should still be above 12V (higher is better)
3) make car READY-depress brake, press POWER button once, LED is off: should read 13.6-14.4V (DC converter is working to charge battery)

If you just drove and checked the battery w/o a load, you might get a false high reading due to surface charge. Putting a load on the battery will remove a surface charge, and is the best indicator of health. The closer a load reading gets to 12.0V, the sooner you should replace the battery.

Don't listen to the radio for long periods of time in ACC mode (foot off brake, POWER pressed once, LED is green). Easy to drain the battery quickly, shortening its overall longevity. Some just keep the car READY (when not in an enclosed space), so they don't have to worry about a drained battery; a slight decrease in overall MPG will occur, because the engine will cycle on/off.

 

Short term I think all the advice you have been given is great.

Long Term?
Pre-Inspection, which was a good idea, or not...you do now own a 7 model year old Prius, heading towards upwards of 182,500 miles.

I don't know if anyone can predict that. But if it is the original hybrid battery, you may indeed be standing in front of rat hole central.

I don't think one can buy a Prius of that age and mileage and then approach it with the idea that you will be guaranteed of saving more money on gas, than the potential cost of possible upcoming maintenance.

I sincerely hope you aren't standing in front of said rat hole. If this is a gift, or intended primarily for your daughter, I think the best you can hope for is X amount of time and reliability as you head towards the ultimately inevitable hybrid battery failure. That could be as close as tomorrow, or years away.

 

buy a maf sensor, and I think it takes torx screws (you'll have to look at it) a set of torx drivers and diy the maf sensor for less than $100. $400 for a $40 part install that takes 5 minutes is robbery.

 

Since all this started after the oil change, I'm going to say it's oil change related, probably an overfill situation

 

Just to stir the pot some more.

 

The dirty throttle body and MAF is accumulated over time, the oil overfill however was done just after you brought the car into pep boys.

Pep boys is not the only place that overfills, dealers do that as well. A common rookie mistake by people that don't know how much oil the Prius takes.

 

Was the MAF sensor cleaned or was it replaced? What was your final service charge?

Well, it is true that the Prius throttle body interior and throttle plate will accumulate black gunk during the normal course of events. This is unrelated to the use of unleaded fuel. The gunk is caused by the Prius engine using the Atkinson cycle (instead of the normal Otto cycle that most 4-stroke gasoline engines use.) A feature of the Atkinson cycle is that the compression stroke will start while the intake valves are still open. As a result, unburnt HC mixture is forced into the intake manifold and throttle body where it will condense and form deposits.

The engine low power DTC (P3190) can be caused by the black gunk as well as engine oil overfilling. Given the timing of your car's problems, I would say the engine oil change was the immediate cause and it would be reasonable for you to seek reimbursement of the dealer service invoice.

 

That actually sounds like a pretty fair service invoice for a CA dealership. At least they did not charge you for a new MAF sensor.

 

I just had the oily throttle body problem for the second time in my 2002 Prius. The car seems to be overfilled when the oil is at the top indicator of the dipstick, when cold.
The first time it was overfilled the dealership did it. This time I took it to a Firestone center. Since they had previously overfilled my old Acura, I was careful to tell them that it takes <4 quarts and that overfilling causes trouble. When I picked up the car, I checked the oil and it was right at the max mark.
The car made it home fine. Then I decided to change the front brake pads and rotors. When I was test driving it and hitting the brakes hard, the car went into EV-only mode and displayed: PS, Main Battery and Triangle! icons. The check engine light came on too. I assumed that I'd screw something up when I did the brakes. However, I hadn't drained down the brake fluid reservoir or opened the bleeder screws, so I was confused about what I could have done. I suspected the ABS sensors. [At this point I wasted a ton of time trying to get my Mini-VCI cable to work with Window 7, but that's another story.]
Anyway, I finally remembered the oil change and pulled the air filter. The MAV sensor was black and there was a puddle of oil below the throttle body. I was able to clean them up; disconnected/reconnected the 12V battery to clear the errors and it fired up fine. It is at Firestone now having some of the oil drained out.
The point is this: At least in the case of my own Gen I Prius, oil should NOT be added up to the max indicator on the dipstick. This probably applies to other Gen I cars as well.

 

Seems funny, for oil level to be within spec and an issue like that. You'd think when they set the high and low marks on the dipstick there'd be some margin for goof-ups. Could it be coming from PCV valve or something?