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Triangle-of-Death, crosspost+pearl

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ammiels, Apr 22, 2005.

  1. ammiels

    ammiels New Member

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    Well, after over 30k mi and 18mo of essentially flawless running I got mine too.I had just stopped to post a letter, did not shut down engine and 45 sec later while coasting downhill the red triangle and check engine and loss of power. was able to reboot and get power back but still triangle. Pulled over inserted fob into dash and reboot with no triangle but still check engine. Drove directly to dealer (did not pass GO did not collect...)because I wanted fault to remain in computer. Thanks to these forums I was able to tell them exactly what trouble was and need to reflash EPROM. They said it would be 1/2 hr. Three hours later they had discovered *what I forgot to tell them*.
    The little battery needs to be fully charged for flash to take, and they had run it down while they were still in diagnostic mode, and had to recharge it before it would take. I hope they have not damaged 12v battery. I beleive diagnosis code was P3191. Peace, Ammiel
     
    #1 ammiels, Apr 22, 2005
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

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    2004 Prius
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    Ammiel,
    See:
    http://priuschat.com/forums/computer-flash...html?highlight=

    and
    http://priuschat.com/forums/beware-of-deal...html?highlight=

    And my comments about your dealer's service dept. The 12v is supposed to be put on a charger during the flash. If it dies during the flash you could have a dead ECU. I'd be very wary of a service tech who doesn't pay attention to the little details, particularly when they are very clearly defined in the TSB.

    (see step #3 in the attached TSB EG047-04)
     
    #2 efusco, Apr 22, 2005
  3. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor New Member

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    Evan,

    What we need is a worksheet that has some information on it to help detirmine which dealership to take a Prius to, that is, to find the finest hybrid tech that is avaliable. I have one local and several 30 miles away or less choices. Perhaps a tech feedback forum? dealership service for Prius forum? Just suggestions, act upon them as you will. I'm open to any methodology to find out where that best tech is.

    The continuing horror stories about overfill from dealerships do not lend themselves to a general warm and fuzzy, but give me a steady feeling of dread when some serious service comes.
     
    #3 Robert Taylor, Apr 22, 2005
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

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    That's a pretty good idea Robert. We'd just need some means of separating the wheat from the chaff. IOW, there's a difference b/w a service dept. that has issues with oil overfills when the Prius Service Tech probably hasn't done an oil change in 2 years. The fact that a place routinely overfills oil or doesn't check tire pressures probably represents a generally poorly managed service dept. it may not necessarily mean that the Prius Service there would not be good...maybe the best Prius Tech in the country works there and would do a stellar job on your Prius specific service.

    Danny,
    I can see this as a sub forum under the Dealers and Pricing section...kinda break it up like the mods into electrical mods and appearance mods is sub sectioned.

    Maybe sub-section 1 could be the current content and titled "Sales Dept." and the other sub-section would be "Service Dept."
     
    #4 efusco, Apr 22, 2005
  5. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    3 hour wait? Since the reprogramming only takes 1/2 hour, all they had to do if the ECU was still good was hook up a tender and try again. 1 to 1-1/2 max total.

    I wonder if they DID blow the ECU and took one they happened to have in stock, or took it out of another prius. Poor guy who gets that cannibalized prius as new....
     
    #5 DanMan32, Apr 22, 2005
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