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Loss of power to wheels, traction light, main engine light, power steering light. Help please!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Sarah Hudson, Jan 5, 2019.

  1. Sarah Hudson

    Sarah Hudson New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2019
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    Stillwater, OK
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I bought a 2012 Toyota Prius with quite a few miles on it (about 140,000) about 2 months ago. Everything was going fine until this week. I was driving in the mountains in Colorado and I hit a patch of ice, I lost traction for a few seconds and the engine cut all power to the wheels. Next several lights came on including the check engine light, power steering and traction light. The car went into neutral and refused to switch gears. I turned it off and then back on, it worked normally after that but the check engine light stayed on. I thought it was a fluke so I reset the light.

    The next day, the same thing happened. I took it to a mechanic and had them read the codes, but they could find any despite the light being on. So they reset it, and told me I should be fine.

    This happened a few more times (about once a day) but always with a slight loss of traction, and it always drove fine afterwards.

    Then, the other day it happened multiple times within a few minutes (no loss of traction to instigate it). I realized I could no longer drive the car and parked it. I’ve done some research and think it might be the inverter coolant pump. Any thoughts on if this is the issue, and what I should do? I’m on a tight budget and worried this will cost a lot. The car is Breckenridge because I was traveling. Anyone know a good mechanic near there that could work on it?

    Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!!
     
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    23,323
    15,110
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I take it the mechanic was not at a Toyota dealer?

    Retrieving the codes will probably help a lot, so it's worthwhile to find a mechanic whose equipment really can read all the codes from a Prius. The surest way might be to get the car to a Toyota dealer, though they might charge $75 or so for doing it.