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car dying on me

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tkeller, Jun 13, 2008.

  1. tkeller

    tkeller New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2008
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    Location:
    MI
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    I've been dreading this day, my 01 Prius is having some troubles. It had been showing a check engine light, which was the mass air sensor. I cleaned it, but came back later. Also, the air conditioner would blink out every now and then. I have been just driving it like that for a couple of weeks.
    Then one day it just died on the road. It would start back up and go a few miles and die again. The mfd would blink and just go white, especially with the brake on. So, I figured it was my 12v battery. I put an Optima in it and everything was fine a couple days. Just died on me again today. At idle I'm reading 13.5 volts to the battery, so I assume it's charging. But is there something else I can check? Could all these things be related somehow?
    Thank You for your thoughts.
     
    #1 tkeller, Jun 13, 2008
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Location:
    Green Valley, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I am wondering how you know that the CEL was due to the mass air sensor. How did you clean the sensor?

    If you are using an accurate digital multimeter, 13.5V seems a bit on the low side, 13.8V would be more like it. After the car has been IG-OFF for a few hours, what is the battery voltage?

    I suggest that you retrieve all stored DTCs, so that you can see what codes exist. Your car may have several problems.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Jun 13, 2008
  3. tkeller

    tkeller New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2008
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    Location:
    MI
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    I have a code 3130. Inverter cooling. Everything seems to run and work fine until it dies. my battery voltage is 13.8 and after a couple hours 11.5. Any ideas or should I get out my wallet?
     
    #3 tkeller, Jun 14, 2008
  4. donee

    donee New Member

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    Aug 15, 2005
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    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Hi tk,

    You may be in luck. That could mean all that is wrong is the inverter coolant pump. Which is electric, and relatively cheap. But it could be even cheaper. Do you see any coolant leaking? In which case it might only be a leaky hose.
     
    #4 donee, Jun 14, 2008
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Green Valley, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Your inverter coolant pump likely has failed. It is also possible that the inverter is bad. See the attached TSB for more info and also compare the part number on your inverter with the current number which is
    G9200–47071.

    Can you do a DIY repair? If so, you may find the subscription website techinfo.toyota.com helpful as you can download relevant repair manual pages. The process to purge air out of the coolant loop is difficult and time-consuming.

    The coolant pump is covered under the powertrain warranty (which by now has expired) while the inverter is covered under the hybrid system warranty (which is still in effect if you have less than 100K miles on the odometer.) My guess is that the dealer repair will cost around $400 or so; assuming that the coolant pump is bad. If the inverter has failed and is out of warranty, the repair cost will be ~$4,000.
     

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    #5 Patrick Wong, Jun 14, 2008
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