Diagnostic codes prius

Get a real code scanner like the AP200 from a u t e l so you can read your own codes and start performing some of this stuff in house if you will because this car is going to cost you a fortune If you bought this to save any kind of money you've already lost I promise you be that as it may your journey is just beginning and it generally is not a fun one I'm sorry but you really need to get a real scanner so that you can read codes like everybody else does with the letters p and c and b and all that in front of them not these funny things that everybody has to go running to look up because these are the cars interpretations and what it throws out to people not in the know I guess or whatever you want to call it It's another language that well I don't want to learn so generally you want to get the codes that the industry considers the way it's done You see everybody else if you've read any posts here their codes look completely different than this any mechanics reading this would have to go and convert the stuff you posted to real codes that mechanics look at these kind of codes here is posted are only for Prius folks that read their owner's manuals and have done their due diligence to know what they're reading same with the blink codes that have been going on for I don't know 30 years now where the light flashes used to be the check engine light whatever light it is and you convert those flashes to numbers and so on mechanics and people that work on cars aren't doing that It's to time-consuming. But there will be a few owners along shortly that post like this regularly that will break it down.

 

The U0293 and U0155 codes are communication network issues, and those are things a Prius-specialist mechanic might be well suited to track down.

The P3190 is a code that really a general mechanic could go after, because when you look up what it means, it just tells you the gasoline engine was producing less than a fifth of the expected torque (or, in technical terms, running like crap). The diagnosis for that code is just the standard gasoline-engine diagnosis of the last hundred years; you know it all depends on compression, fuel mixture, and spark, and you roll up your sleeves and start testing those things.

Tombukt2 has been losing me a lot lately, and I'm lost again. OBD-II codes have been the standard form of trouble code across the industry for thirty years this year, and those are the five-position codes where the first position is P, C, B, or U, just like the codes the original poster put at the top of this thread. "read codes like everybody else does?" What the OP posted are the codes.

It's still important to look up what codes mean, because just looking at the code itself (or even the code itself and its one-liner fortune cookie) doesn't really tell you enough to start fixing a problem. Maybe Tom pictures a world where it's all easier and you don't have to do that, but I don't know anyone who lives in that world.

 

What's the real story on the 12 volt as the car been in an accident? Every time I'm dealing with communication errors it's because while doing something else somebody unplug something to check something and then scan the car or put it in some mode to display codes and they're showing what they've disconnected or similar or the 12 volt is dying and computers can't be kept powered up enough to stay in contact with each other and that's like 98% seemingly of communication problems that I see in this type of vehicle usually when I stabilize the 12 volt system so it actually has 12 volts consistently that doesn't waver if it wavers it goes higher not lower. And the communication problems generally stop especially if I plug all the plugs back up that have been unplugged trying to suss out these communication problems then I reboot the car with this newfound 12 volt consistency and all the communication problems are gone. Maybe now the car can even fire the coils properly who knows on this model is a lot of things to look at and play with before you get anywhere so it'll keep you running around a while.

 

unfortunately, qualified hybrid repair isn't cheap. outside of dealers, there are only a few private mechs who have the proper code reader and access to the service manual.
it all depends on the problem. some are fairly ease fixes that most any mech can do, and some require more technical expertise.
i think hybrid pit is in your area, and maybe avi's advanced auto, but that could be san fran, i'm not sure.
i hope the mobile guy gets it done for you!

 

You are exactly right. A Prius is a complicated car and even some dealer mechanics are not qualified to work on it. Most of the regulars here expect everyone to diy everything including major network diagnosis and significant engine repair.
There are a few silver bullets but not many on a Prius.

 

There are two dimensions here: whether a mechanic is general or specialist, and whether the mechanic knows what they're doing or not. That makes four combinations, and in the real world all four exist.

A good general mechanic wouldn't have too bad chances of solving a P3190, since that's a code about a gasoline engine running poorly and general mechanics know a lot about that.

For some things the generalist-specialist dimension matters more (communication problems on the network between Prius ECUs, specialist might figure out quicker); sometimes it's just the skill dimension that matters more.