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An appeal/request to our top tech gurus...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by efusco, Feb 22, 2009.

  1. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Hobbit, Galaxee, Patrick in particular...you guys could work together or just one of you could take the task, but we're starting to see a slight increase in problem reports for the older 2G Prii.

    What I think could be really useful would be a top 5 or top 10 list of problems that people are seeing laid out in a format that would allow people who've suddenly experienced a problem to come and look at the list and, hopefully, get a good idea what may be wrong.

    I forsee each problem being listed as follows:

    Problem: ie. Throttle Body Issue
    Symptoms: ie Loss of power, "Mandatory"- XYZ lights, "Variable"- ABC lights, maybe loss of power.
    Frequency: Continuous, intermittent, catastrophic failure, etc.
    Diagnostic: Error codes on scan gauge, diagnostic too, etc.
    Cure: Cleaning of throttle body, reset codes, etc. Is it a DIY job (ie replacing 12v, or dealer required)
    Other information/Alternate diagnosis possible:

    Certainly you guys can change that outline, but the point is that people should be able to look down the list and correlate the symptoms they had with one or two of the problems on the list, then, after getting the error codes be able to confirm what they're being told by the dealer (if necessary).

    Anyone willing to take this on? Any suggestions fro the problems that should be on the list?

    1) Car won't start
    2) Car won't shut off
    3) Dash lights up like a Christmas tree and car loses power
    4) 12V failure symptoms
    5) Throttle body issues
    6) HV battery failure
    7) ???
     
    #1 efusco, Feb 22, 2009
  2. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Evan,

    My only problem is that my 2004 with 142k miles has only needed one repair service (bleed brakes for "brake bark" - a TSB issue) in 5 years. My original 12v battery, brake pads and the MFD still function well (knock wood).

    JeffD
     
    #2 jdenenberg, Feb 22, 2009
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    No question that the problems are infrequent, but there are a lot of people who end up here looking for information when they do have a problem. I think there are enough reports now that we can compile a list of those that seem to be most common.

    Fortunately even those are often minor (like some of the bizzare stuff that happen when the 12v goes bad). But we have seen a couple of HV failures...when people see extreme swings in battery SOC that they'd never seen before that's often a symptom. We've seen several with throttle body issues, we've seen a couple where people couldn't turn off the car.

    Just think it would be helpful to compile those in one easy to peruse location as a sticky or in the Knowledge base.
     
    #3 efusco, Feb 22, 2009
  4. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    and then the noobs will think i'm a jerk for replying with a link to the post they should be looking at... ha... been there once already! :lol:

    i'm not sure i can personally swing this right now, DH is still long-distance and i'm still working 7 days a week. in 2 weeks i might be a little less piled-upon.
     
    #4 galaxee, Feb 22, 2009
  5. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    If that were to happen to Yours Truly, then Yours Truly would reply with a comment that rhymes with "duck shoe." But I'm just that sort of guy
     
    #5 jayman, Feb 22, 2009
  6. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Well, I've already put together some helpful maintenance items over at the FJ Cruiser forum. Will think about it, eg TB cleaning, MAF cleaning (May have already covered this one here), etc etc

    I'm sure in grattitude somebody will buy me a bottle of gin. Hint: Bombay, Tanqueray, etc. Gift wrapped would be very thoughtful too
     
    #6 jayman, Feb 22, 2009
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Evan,

    I would be pleased to cooperate with Jay and Galaxee on this in a couple of weeks (currently on vacation.) In the meantime though, Art's Automotive and Luscious Garage websites are quite helpful as they focus on topics that those Prius repair specialists find interesting and unusual.

    Hybrids
    Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists | Blog | Home of Prius Repair

    Regarding the topic of Prius no-start, this can be hard to write about without seeing the car. A minority of owners appear to be less than diligent about vehicle maintenance, with the result that you can't make any assumptions about the vehicle's condition. Therefore the list of things to check can become quite long.
     
    #7 Patrick Wong, Feb 22, 2009
  8. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Patrick

    I'll say. A lot of good hints and information there

    jay
     
    #8 jayman, Feb 22, 2009
  9. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Interesting idea; one problem is that even when people report
    on what happens in the forums we never really get ALL the details
    and final resolution. Sometimes their dealers parts-swap the
    problem away and never really know what went wrong. Sometimes
    we never hear from the posters again. Carolyn and the folks
    at Art's might have a more end-to-end view of the fixit process,
    but possibly not the same take as some of us have on causes.
    Also a lot of people don't *notice* stuff, especially if they
    don't have the appropriate instrumentation but sometimes a funny
    noise can start happening and they just don't pay attention
    until whatever it is mushrooms into a real problem.
    .
    Me, I'm hawking my battery condition pretty hard but the one or
    two SoC odd jumps I saw in really cold weather was probably just
    due to high internal resistance. I keep my throttle body lubed.
    I clean out underneath every Spring and wiggle lots of connectors.
    So I'm not even sure how much of a test case my own '04 will be. I am
    considering going after some of the major fluids this year as
    I just topped 100K and maybe it's time.
    .
    I probably haven't answered the question, though..
    .
    _H*
     
    #9 hobbit, Feb 22, 2009
  10. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    That's OK, I'm trying to kind of plant the seed Hobbit. I think there have to be a handful of fairly easy to outline diagnoses. some of the obscure stuff will remain that way, but it seems like we could provide a nice service to those desperate new subscribers who's car just quit on them.
     
    #10 efusco, Feb 22, 2009
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