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Car Don’t start - Mechanic says it’s needs new transmission

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Lorenzo Covarrubias, Jun 7, 2019.

  1. Lorenzo Covarrubias

    Lorenzo Covarrubias New Member

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    2009 Prius
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    Long story short - my brakes where having problems and was told it was the abs pump. The dealership wanted to charge $2900 for the fix. I have a friend who owns a Prius who recommended a mechanic who said we can buy the part on eBay ($330) and that he could replace it for $250, that it would take him like 4 hours. I get the part delivered and drop of the car.

    2 days pass with no word. Then my friend tells me he talks to him and their is a bigger problem. I went to his shop and now the car doesn’t start at all. When trying to start it makes a click-clacking sound and the engine jumps. The mechanic says the Prius doesn’t have a starter like normal cars that it’s a part of the transmission and that the full transmission needs replacement. The car has the ! With red triangle light on. Mechanic says the brakes are good now but this is a separate problem.

    I’m not sure what to do as I believe he caused the problem because it always worked perfect before. Plus neither the dealership nor himself mentioned any red flag with the transmission beforehand.

    If anyone has experience with the please help!!!
     
  2. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Well, he's right that the new issue isn't brake related. How does he know it's the transmission transaxle? What codes did he get? Without codes, it's a million to one guessing game.

    If there is a transaxle problem, I don't see how he would have caused it working on the ABS pump. My first guess would be that he ran the car in neutral too long and ran the traction battery too low to start the engine.
     
  3. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I think this is an excellent guess as to what the problem really IS.

    Hopefully he didn't completely kill the HV battery and if HE pays to tow it to a Toyota dealer, they have a HV battery charger that can get you back up and running.

    Good luck.
     
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Wonder how many miles on the car?
     
  5. Dxta

    Dxta Senior Member

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    Might be a coincidence though.
    But the none start is a different issue.
    Your HV battery may have being run down, or the doors were left opened, and the door lights drained the 12V battery.
     
  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Any chance the mechanic moved the inverter for access to the brake actuator?

    There was a recent thread about somebody having the inverter off and getting the three-phase wires to one of the MGs swapped around when putting it back. Swapping any two leads to a three-phase motor reverses it, so you end up seeing the car getting confused thinking "want to start engine ... ok, spin ... no not that way ... wth?".

    I don't know if cars actually think "wth?", but if I were a car in that situation, I'm pretty sure I would.
     
    strawbrad and jerrymildred like this.
  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I hadn't thought of that. You're right on about swapping two three-phase wires making the motor run the other way. I had one of the inverter connectors off one time, but never noticed if they were keyed to prevent that or not. The curve of the cable might make it hard to mess it up, but ya never know. Stranger things have happened. And, as you said, that has happened before.