1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

2005 Prius died on interstate today.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Ice D, Feb 19, 2018.

  1. Ice D

    Ice D Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2015
    21
    4
    0
    Location:
    nh
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    Went to run errands this morning with my wife. The car started feeling sluggish when we got on the interstate. After about a quarter mile the red triangle came on and it felt like the gas engine shut off. Drove about another quarter mile, under I'm assuming battery power, until we slowed to a stop. Shut the car off and restarted it to ready mode. Gas engine turned on in park but sputtered when put in drive. It automatically shut off gas engine and put itself back in park. I shut it off again an tried to restart it. This time went into ready and was able to drive a few feet before it shut itself off again. We got a ride home and grabbed a wrench to disconnect the 12v battery to see if it would reset and run. After the reset it will not go into ready mode. Had it towed home, checked the codes using obd2 wifi adapter and torque app. No codes showed up. I am going to check 12v voltage and plug for moisture.

    Some recent history on condition.
    Mil was for the coolant storage valve.
    Ran low on oil last week. And switched to 10w40 thinking it would slow down the loss that is now around 2 qt every 3000 miles. Cluster and touchscreen shutdown intermittently, sometimes wont shutdown without holding pwr button for a few seconds. Buttons on right side of steering wheel not working.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,470
    8,383
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    How many miles?

    You need to read the codes once they appear again. Because you disconnected the 12v, it erased the stored codes.

    My guess is a failed transaxle or inverter. But that's a guess only.
     
    Raytheeagle and SFO like this.
  3. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    11,696
    11,317
    0
    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    When you say you ran low on oil, do you mean the light came on? If so, the engine was almost out of oil. :eek:
     
  4. Ice D

    Ice D Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2015
    21
    4
    0
    Location:
    nh
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    275,000 hard mail route miles.
    Yes oil light came on.
     
  5. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2006
    7,028
    1,116
    0
    Location:
    South Jersey
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    The non-working buttons on the steering wheel are a symptom of a bad clock spring.
     
    Raytheeagle and Prodigyplace like this.
  6. Ice D

    Ice D Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2015
    21
    4
    0
    Location:
    nh
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    Yeah clockspring was on the list with removing fixing cluster/ touchscreen and replacing noisy blower motor.
     
  7. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,470
    8,383
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    That's a lot of miles. With the low oil pressure light, and other issues, it may not be worth it to fix it
     
    Raytheeagle and Prodigyplace like this.
  8. Ice D

    Ice D Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2015
    21
    4
    0
    Location:
    nh
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    Oil was overfilled a bit drained some off and unplugged the 12v
    When I reconnected the 12v I noticed the gas light blinking. Started up and running now.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,781
    48,985
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    no gas?
     
    Ice D likes this.
  10. Mavi

    Mavi Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2015
    484
    283
    0
    Location:
    San Diego,ca
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    Check to see if there is anything blocking the MAF sensor, or any of the airlines.. that was once a cause of a similiar shutdown. A bee had somehow got lodged in there and the engine shut down.
     
  11. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    11,696
    11,317
    0
    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I believe it takes a while for the fuel gauge to return to normal after the 12 V battery gas been disconnected.
     
  12. Ice D

    Ice D Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2015
    21
    4
    0
    Location:
    nh
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    With the main cluster working intermittently it must have reverted to last gas reading before it died. If it dies a little bit each day it may not have been reading gas level correctly. When the car shut off yesterday the reading was over half.
    I actually put gas in it before it got towed. Either not enough or I didn't leave the 12v unplugged long enough to reset.