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Oil pump replacement and following.problems

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by xrep, Aug 12, 2021.

  1. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    With the low road clearance of our '16 Prius, it's not hard to hit objects in the road. We hit a rock. Nothing was leaking out so we continued our trip. When we got home I had the oil changed at a local Midas shop. They showed me my crunched oil pan and wanted $500 to replace it. I took it to my regular repair shop for this simple repair. I got oil pan and a gasket on eBay. He was going to charge $190 to replace the pan and change the oil. When he dropped the pan, he found the oil pump pick-up was was broken and in 4 pieces. He told me the oil pump replacement was about a 20 hour job. Checking up with Mr T, they said replacement was $3250 for labor alone. I gave go ahead for my independent guy to do the work as the car wasn't drivable ($1500 labor). When he had it repaired, he backed it out of his shop and after he shut it off and tried to start it again, it wouldn't start. Now, when the power button is pressed, two warnings cycle across the display, "Hybrid System Malfunction" and "Braking Power Low". The system doesn't/won't start. The brake feels very spongy. The headlights come on, horn works. There is a C1259 code. Anybody know what next step should be? My mechanic is not a Prius Pro, he's an honest guy but this is something he has never faced.
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    What sort of insurance do you have?
     
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  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    C1259 is the brake ECU being helpful and telling you there are trouble codes you need to know about in the hybrid system ECUs. If the mechanic is using a scan tool that doesn't show what those other trouble codes are, somebody needs to use one that does, because those are the codes that will reveal what's at issue.
     
  4. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    I met the GEICO rep yesterday. My check will be forthcoming.
     
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  5. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I agree with @ChapmanF. They need to use a code reader that talks to all the ECUs in the Prius.
     
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  6. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    What type of scanner would that be? I really know nothing about such things.
     
  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Oh my. We must have about 900 threads here on scanner comparisons. Techstream is the best since it's what Toyota uses. But that'll require installation on a Windows laptop and getting the cracked software and a connector from Amazon or eBay. Then again, if you have an old Windows laptop available, it's really inexpensive. Or there are numerous apps for your phone on the App Store or Google Play that will let you talk to the car with an assortment of Bluetooth or wifi OBDII adapters.

    The OBDLink LX scanner is about the best one out there, but it's pricier than most others. However, it'll handle anything a Gen 4 Prius or a Prime can throw at it.

    The generic ELM27 readers will handle most stuff, but not all of them are very good.

    If you have an iPhone, your choices are a little more limited than Android, but I like the OBD Fusion app. There's an extra fee ($10?) to get the codes for the Prius. Torque Pro is popular among the Android crowd.
     
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  8. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    Thank you so much for your help. I apologize for asking that question about the scanner. I'm not a frequent user of this forum but I should have known there would be oodles of information about something like that. I'll engage my brain before I push the reply tab.
     
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  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Jerry is that a stand-alone scanner, not Techstream? Sounds interesting.
     
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  10. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    No, not for Techstream afaik. I've never tried Techstream with BT or wifi. Only used the USB dongle. Hybrid Assistant recommends it because it's one of the few that's fast enough to keep up with the data rate their app demands.
     
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  11. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    Just sent you a PM to your inbox
     
    #11 douglasjre, Aug 16, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2021
  12. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    Del.
     
    #12 douglasjre, Aug 16, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2021
  13. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    Because my mechanic couldn't figure out what was wrong, he gave me a $350 deduction from his very reasonable charges to help offset for my inconvenience and possible future charges. I had it towed to Mr T' house of backside pain. $150 diagnostic charge sounded reasonable enough to me. After a couple phone calls over several days and increased troubleshooting labor, we're up to $6000 to get it fixed. They told me the timing chain was put on incorrectly and there's the possibility a valve might be bent. If we don't take the head off and just put it back together, if there is a bent valve, they will have to go through all the labor accumulated so far to fix the possible bent valve. I'm wondering if the use of a full synthetic oil might take away just some of this discomfort. I really hate to be facing this type of expenses that wasn't really my fault but also hate to seek damages from my little Vietnamese mechanic. Any thoughts?
     
  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Ouch.

    Just a little background info needed:

    What country are you in?
    How many miles on your 2016?
    What sort of insurance did you have, and could it apply to this?
    What's your shoe size?*













    * Just kidding, that last one. :)
     
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  15. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    We live in San Diego. We only have about 55,000 miles on it. Never had any problems before this. We have Geico insurance and I already have a check that covered my first repair charges, covered under the collision portion of coverage, less deductible. It seems to me that this part of the repair shouldn't be the insurance company's responsibility. They have already paid for the repair once. The damage done now was the result of mistakes made by the first mechanic.
     
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  16. CooCooCaChoo

    CooCooCaChoo Active Member

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    No oil, synthetic or regular, is gonna fix a bent valve.

    As for the timing chain, the only way it could've been installed incorrectly is if its not of the right tension and/or the cams were not top dead center. If the cams were not TDP, you'd have a myriad of other problems as well though.
     
  17. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    The oil was not for my car's discomfort but for mine. You know, the usual discomfort one could feel after Mr T has had his way with you.

    As for the timing chain, they said something about it being 3 teeth off. (I wasn't aware the timing chain drove the oil pump) I was in shock during the last guestamate conversation and not sure how to process all that. And if it was indeed off like that there is a risk of a bent valve or valves. Most prudent approach is to take off the head and check the valves prior to re assembly.
     
  18. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    There is a separate chain that drives the oil pump. It's behind the timing chain. And it, too, has timing marks. I'm sure I don't know why it has timing marks.

    (Well, there's yer problem, buddy! Yer oil timing was off!)
     
  19. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    No need to remove the head to check for a bent valve stem. Take out the sparkplugs, put a pressure gauge in one of the sparkplug holes and turn the engine by hand. Move on to the next one. A cylinder with a bent valve stem will have either no compression or low and brief compression.
     
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  20. xrep

    xrep Junior Member

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    I thought the same thing and mentioned it to the service writer. He did the hard sell with the threat of "what if" they put it back together and they had missed a problem, they would have to repeat the entire repair. It sounded prudent to do this one more thing as insurance.
     
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