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Stolen Catylitic Converter replaced and now Prius wont turn on

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by SlimeballCruz, Aug 26, 2022.

  1. SlimeballCruz

    SlimeballCruz Junior Member

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    ----USA----
    I'm going to start this off with I'm very uninformed on vehicles. this was my first vehicle in 8 years and i had it for less than a month. So as you can imagine, I'm feeling down and stressed about this. It took a lot for me to get a vehicle.

    I had my catalytic converter stolen on my 2007 Toyota Prius 100k miles. I bought a new one and had it replaced. The mechanic said grab an O2 sensor and bring it back soon, and they will put it on.

    After i picked it up i drove it for an a little bit, and then the next day a bunch of signals popped up on my Prius when i was sitting in it. it shows it has no battery life, the gas meter is blinking from "full bars" to "empty bars" (i had half a tank) and the car stalled as I was driving, then later had zero power at all.

    I took the 12v battery out and took it to auto zone. They tried charging it and labeled my battery as bad, so i bought a new 12v battery and installed it into my car.

    After installing the battery, my car kicked on (although all the dashboard signals were still on), but it still wont accelerate.

    I ended up borrowing a OBD reader and it pulled the code U0100.

    What did the thieves who stole my catalytic do to my car? How can I fix this?

    20220820_145050.jpg 20220820_145054.jpg
     
    #1 SlimeballCruz, Aug 26, 2022
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2022
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    We've got to get past the u100 code type readings if you go get or can borrow an Innova scanner it's a light blue red and white logo stuff advance Auto and maybe Menards I don't know out west sell it that will pull your ABS and all of your generic trouble codes from the Toyota it does a real good job actually before I had tec stream which I still rarely plug up. Innova did a great job. And was inexp. You've only had this car for a month you probably driven the He double out of it too No problem realize the factory battery even if it's rebuilt or refurbished is about 20 years old as is the rest of the car so we're expecting the hybrid battery to fail any minute so get ready for that your first car the car doesn't know it's your first car it doesn't know that you don't know anything about cars so you're in the right place to bone up a little bit A real hybrid battery replacement if you do it right and you're going to commit and keep the car just the battery alone is going to be about $1,400 bucks or you can cheap out and do something with any of the refurbishes for about $700 just realize the 700 is going to get you about two or three years. And then it's time to do it all over again. You get a factory battery and you might make another 20 years like your car just did. It will all be the choices you make. Or maybe it's better for you to go to all gas . Or the little Ford hybrid thingy I can't remember what they're called they kind of look like a hammered on Prius I can't I just can't remember the name of them a friend of mine has had one had good luck with it treats it like crap doesn't know anything about vehicles doesn't care to know All he wants to do is drive when he does. So these kinds of cars spend lots of time in the driveway until the light bulb goes off it says they need to do something and then they might get around to doing it so the car spend a lot of time sitting not real good for a hybrid setup actually.
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    iow, you need a prius aware scanner: tech stream
     
  4. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    This is likely to happen if the car is in neutral. NEVER EVER just sit with the car on and in neutral. The air conditioner and other stuff will run down the hybrid battery because it doesn't charge in neutral.

    If the car will start and run, you might get away with starting it up and sitting in Park while it brings the hybrid battery back up to at least two bars. At one bar, you'l have almost no power for driving because it's trying to get energy into the battery and protect it. Once it's up to at least three bars, it's going to feel better about letting the battery start taking its share of the load.

    If the car will not start and run, don't keep trying it. As others said, get a Prius literate code reader and find out what it says. Matched with a decent quality bluetooth OBDII dongle, several phone apps will talk to your car. I have Carista, OBD Fusion, Engine Link, Car Scanner, and Dr. Prius. Some are free, some cost a couple dollars. Not all have all the Prius codes built in, so depending on which one you select, you might need to add them.

    Or, as @bisco said, there's Techstream. It's the gold standard, but you'll need to install it on a Window$ laptop.
     
  5. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    What did the mechanic do with O2 sensor wires when they replaced the cat before they installed the O2 sensor? It's possible that mechanic failed to secure those wires and they shorted out to the frame of the car, which fried the ECU. Alternatively, the mechanic isn't responsible and those loose wires shorted out the ECU before mechanic worked on it, but because those dash lights didn't come on till later, I'd hold the mechanics feet to the fire on this and get them to swap out the ECU with a used one to see if that fixes it and no charge to you because they didn't insulate those wires so they wouldn't fry...
     
  6. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Hello & welcome to Priuschat!

    First of all, take a few deep breaths and chillax .

    Now what can happen- when the cat is cut out, they cut the wires to the downstream Oxygen sensor. One of those wires is an ignition power feed to the sensor heater. If that wire shorts to metal around it, then the EFI fuse in the underhood fuseblock will blow. Then the engine ECM won't turn on & you have all the problems you listed.

    The 4-wire connector for the sensor is inside the passenger compartment, right side , under the carpet under the dashboard. If not done unplug that & check the fuse. It is possible that the ECM was damaged if the wrong wires short together, but check things first.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Looks to me like the hybrid battery has failed which is extremely common on this car. The car is now in limp mode.

    It has the red car icon alert in the upper left corner of the mfd.

    The fact that it has such low miles does not bode well for that battery it means it was not driven alot. A healthy hybrid battery is one that is driven everyday.
     
  8. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    I have to update my response. (didn't notice some details)

    The OP likely had the EFI fuse blow, then he kept driving without the gasoline engine, and now the HV battery is discharged.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    PriusCamper likes this.
  9. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    yep that's about right.