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Diesel container & the smell test

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by MikeB6, Jun 22, 2018.

  1. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    My daughter's 2008 Prius run out of fuel, so she called her mom to the rescue. The latter, went to my shed and picked up the first 5 gallons container full of tractor diesel which they pored in the car tank. My daughter started the car and drove it for less than 2 miles before the engine stopped running. She was able to park it safely with the battery power. When I called my wife to find out that she didn't accidentally use diesel,she replied, " No, because this fuel does not smell like diesel " :)

    I'm no professional but I can work on engines -mostly bikes- but Prius is somehow different. So here is my question to you:
    - I need to remove the diesel from the tank, is there an easier way of doing it beside getting to the tank via the sender's opening (under rear seat?)
    - Are there any troubleshooting steps to follow to flush out the diesel out of the engine?

    I have already looked some the threads dealing with similar situation but many deal with post repair by dealer, etc.. Also, some recommend taking the car to the dealer. I can't pay 1k+ for the repair so I'm hoping someone can help me out with some details on how to solve this problem.... I got the server manual already. Thank you in advance.
     
  2. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Easiest way is to access the fuel pump harness under the rear seat so you can power the pump to pump out the bad fuel.

    The harness is under the thin metal plate cover under the back seat bottom. The plate cover is affixed with adhesive.

    Carefully use a screwdriver or putty knife to pry the cover up. It will become slightly deformed when removing it.

    When done with the job, form it close to its original shape before putting it back on.

    Wear eye protection and fuel resistant gloves.
    - Disconnect fuel line under the hood.
    It is at ~40 psi pressure so be careful. You can wrap it with an old rag or towel while while disconnecting it to reduce amount spraying everywhere.
    - Put a length of hose on the fuel line and run it into an appropriate fuel container.
    - Provide 12v to the pump harness in the rear to run the pump until all the old fuel is out.
    - Put in some new fuel.
    - Pump through some of the new fuel to somewhat purge things further, disposing the fuel pumped through.
    - Refill with fresh fuel.
    - Reconnect fuel line under the hood.
    - Clean up any spilled fuel.
    - Reconnect harness under the seat.
    - Replace rear harness cover.
    - Replace rear seat.

    I had a customer put diesel fuel in a Prius and she ran it. Not a good thing. She lucked out and it did not damage anything.
     
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  3. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    Eric, thank you for the quick reply. I will be working on the car following your detailed steps this weekend and will post my progress. One thing that I'm concerned with ahead of the work, is what to do post fuel flush to start the car. As of now, the engine doesn't turn at all and the hybrid battery is depleted (1 bar) but the auxiliary battery is fine. Is there any reset or initialization that I need to perform post flushing the bad fuel?
     
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  4. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Do not try to start it with diesel in the tank.
    You do not want to damage the engine or deplete the hybrid battery.
    Hopefully the car will start right up once you get the correct fuel in it.

    You could try starter fluid down the intake when first starting it.
     
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  5. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    His first post says the daughter ran it on diesel till it died then limped it off the road. Probaby killed the hybrid battery. We saw many of these years ago same scenario ran out of gas and drove it like a magic car on battery till the battery died. Back then the dealer had to get a 200 volt charger from Japan. Financial hilarity ensued.

    Hybrid battery is what turns the electric motor MG1 in the trans that then spins up the combustion engine and that starts the motor. The car has no usual starter motor. So dead hybrid battery no engine turnover.

    So your probably screwed. But continue on with Eric’s plan and flush out the system and then cross fingers it will start up. You have very few attempts if any at all left to turn the engine over.
    Make sure they count.

    They sell an auxiliary hybrid battery charger that you can charge the hybrid battery back up it requires installing a charge cable into the battery itself and you plug the charger into that cable. You may be able to just buy that cable install it and maybe borrow a charger from a fellow chatter. There’s many in LA. The really bad news is it’s very very bad to kill the hybrid battery to that level of discharge. It sometimes will kill it and at the very least it will severely shorten the life of that 11 year old battery.

    Use Search Forum button up top and search. PROLONG CHARGER that’s the hybrid battery charger and also search

    RAN OUT OF GAS. And HYBRID BATTERY

    The website for the prolong charger is. Hybridautomotive.com

    Good luck. You have a lot of work to do. I would make the daughter do it with you. She wont run out of gas again.
     
    #5 edthefox5, Jun 24, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2018
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  6. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    One thing to keep in mind, one big problem with diesel is the extremely low octane.
     
  7. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    Hey guys, I'm following Eric's instructions and so far here is an update:

    - I disconnected the fuel hose. The fuel definitely has Diesel odor and the oily viscosity.
    - Hose is connected and ready to pump to approved containers.
    - I'm having challenges jumping the fuel pump. I'm not sure where to connect the 12v to the pump. I have the cover removed under rear seat. Can you please provide a picture or detailed location including wire colors. Most of what I found on this forum and elsewhere did not match my situation (2008 prius)
    -I also plan to take out the injectors for cleaning and while at it, perform a tuneup (replace spark plugs oil, Air filters.) Some recommends replacing the fuel filter, Is that really necessary?

    At this time, I would appreciate it if someone can help with the fuel pump. Thank you again.

    Mike-
     
  8. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    First, forgot to mention that the metal cover under the back seat has VERY SHARP EDGES! So be careful handling it.

    After you remove that cover
    Grey connector goes to the pump.
    You have to push and hold open a tab on the connector to unlock it.
    Then pull/lift the grey connector apart.

    Looking down at the connector with the tab side nearest you.

    There are 2 rows of 4 pins.
    I'll arbitrarily call the position on the far left "1", position on far right "4"
    Power can be applied to the pins in row "3".
    For those 2 pins, apply positive to the pin in the row nearer the connector tab, negative to the pin in the row farther from the tab.

    Unfortunately I don't have the colors handy.

    Just did this procedure yesterday on a Prius yesterday so the position is fresh in my memory. ( As well as the cut on my finger.)

    Feel free to call me with questions.
     
  9. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    Eric, You are spot-on. Amazing that you remembered the pin locations. I initially found the diagram which states Black for + and WB for Negative which goes against everything I learned in my electrical engineering regarding the DC coloring code. I wouldn't never guessed that solid black is positive, hence my hesitation to risk damaging the pump or worse, but your reply gave me the courage to finally connect the wires as instructed. Thank you.

    I got the fuel pumped out till nothing came out, filled with 2 gallons, pumped it out. then filled with fresh fuel. Also cleared the fuel in the hose from fuel disconnect to fuel injectors. cleaned fuel injectors. New plugs; new air filter. Cleaned the flapper.
    At this time, I have both batteries (AUX and Traction) disconnected. The hybrid battery had on1 bar left last I checked before disconnecting it.

    Is there anything else I need to do before I connect the batteries and start the car.

    ps: I got the techstream installed and bought the cable today. Although this is new to me, I'm sure I can manage to do some initialization..
     
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  10. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    I could remember pin locations from memory, but not the colors.

    Once you get Techstream up and running put the car in accessory mode and hook up the cable. No need to put the car in ready mode or start up the car yet.

    Run a health check and then go to HV battery info and go to the live data tab.
    Take some pics of the screens that show HV battery data. Battery SOC, voltage for each of the 14 battery blocks.

    Hopefully battery SOC is above 20% else you'll have more problems on your hands.

    If things check out ok, then move on to starting the car.

    To get your best chance of starting I'd clean the MAF, sop up the oil in the intake underneath the throttle body, and clean the throttle body of needed.

    Then use a little starter fluid down the intake when first trying to start the car. Squirt a bit as needed to keep it going until normal fuel delivery takes over.

    Again, call me of you want me to explain some nuance to these instructions.

    Or skip all this, say a little prayer, try to start the car and hope all goes well. You might get lucky... But if it were me I'd take the little bit of extra time so as to increase my chances of success.
     
  11. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    Eric, I had a busy day at work but still managed to work on the car and make some progress. Getting the techstream working was a pain mostly because of the mini vci cable. I did everything to fix it including opening the device to noavail, then, I did something different, I smacked the connecter hard on the metal bench, and to my surprise, the light came on...go figure.

    Now to the status, I said a little prayer, as you suggested, then started the car with no problem, except the battery started to charge up too fast. My wife has 2015 prius so I'm familiar with the charging duration.

    Anyway, I plugged techstream and tried my best to capture some live data as well as screenshots (see below.) I'm certain that is not the data you wanted but I'll try to learn more on that topic and post further data.

    While looking into the hybrid batteries issue, my daughter stopped by to inform me that the warning lights and the hybrid behavior are normal to her as the car has been like that since thanksgiving last year.
    Although she wants her car back as is, which I will do in the next two days, I still plan on finding out my options to fix the batteries. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

    Thank you very much for all the followups. I wouldn't have done it without your help. My daughter thinks I'm genius but we know who's the genius here :)
     
    #11 MikeB6, Jun 28, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2018
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  12. MikeB6

    MikeB6 Junior Member

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    Forgot the pics. I have the live data saved on my PC but I'm not sure if the that's portable, that is, attach here for you to open it with your techstream.
     

    Attached Files:

  13. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Most people don't bother with the additional steps, and often get lucky.

    But if you are the guy that is not lucky, then you kick yourself for being so lazy since you just bought yourself a world of hurt.

    Pack looks good.
    Keep on trucking.
     
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  14. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Not sure what your looking at but Pack looks failed to me.The P0A80 was a good hint.
     
  15. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Edthefox,
    You are correct.

    I clearly was skimming and not look close enough at all 3 pics.
    In second pic all blocks were ok and delta SOC was good as well.

    But in pic 3 delta SOC is out if spec. At 38. Should be under 20. Even though there blocks aren't terrible, I wonder if you'd see larger voltage separation in voltage in the blocks over time at high/low SOC.
     
  16. Athos

    Athos Junior Member

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    Thanks, @ericbecky . To clarify:

    If you pop the cover of the connector you can see that the pins are numbered. Black (#3) is positive, White/Black is (#7 ) is negative. So, from my picture below, three down, left is positive, right is negative.

    If you are draining the tank because diesel was put in by mistake I would suggest that after you pump it out you add some gas to dilute the remaining diesel then pump that out as well.

    You will have to make your own electrical connection. I used a connector from a scrap car.

    20190603_115423[1].jpg
     
  17. robert mencl

    robert mencl Member

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    I have needed this photo for so long.......