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Generic Freon in 2010 Prius III and Hybrid System error

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jimlyons, Aug 22, 2024 at 3:31 PM.

  1. jimlyons

    jimlyons Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2007
    31
    4
    4
    Location:
    East Stroudsburg
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    My son recently bought my 2010 Prius. When I sold it, it had 232k miles. Had recently got 49 mpg on a long round trip to Massachusetts. EGR was replaced. My Toyota tech said the car was worth keeping.

    AC was not blowing cold. My son is on a tight budget. He was quoted $425 to fix the AC. His girlfriend’s stepdad told him to use generic refrigerant. He said the AC is working now. Soon after this “fix,” that I would never have done, he got all the lights on the dash and a hybrid system error. The AC “fix” may not be related, but I do not know at this point.

    I am going to bring it to my Toyota tech and have him check it out. This car cost 32K when I bought it new. I don’t want to junk it because of the AC issue or even if I need a new traction battery. Thoughts on proceeding? Thanks for all comments. IMG_4097.jpeg
     
    #1 jimlyons, Aug 22, 2024 at 3:31 PM
  2. vallesj

    vallesj Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2007
    83
    16
    0
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    You need to connect to odbd port to check dtc's. Otherwise is like buying a lotto ticket
     
    #2 vallesj, Aug 22, 2024 at 4:18 PM
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    11,187
    4,558
    0
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Take it to an automotive AC specialist ASAP... The AC is a variable pressure system and amount of refrigerant and lubricant is measured by weight, not by pressure. Because your kid used generic refrigerant which is measure by pressure the system could/has failed. But lets hope you got it dealt with before you had a problem and the warning light is something else that's cheaper to repair.

    Get yourself one of these so you can connect your phone to the car and use apps like Dr. Prius app and Car Scanner (ELM) app to read and clear error codes. It could one day be the difference in waiting for a tow truck versus arriving on time: Panlong OBD2 Scanner Bluetooth OBDII Diagnostic Tool Car Code Reader Turn Off... | eBay

    Once you've read and cleared the error codes post some screenshots here and we'll walk you through next steps...
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Aug 22, 2024 at 4:55 PM
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