Hi! New here. I got into a situation on the expressway last night where I had to floor it from a dead stop and keep it floored. I was reaching about 70 MPH when I heard a faint "pop". The exclamation point came on, the check engine light came on and the car immediately started slowing down. I switched to the screen where it shows if the motor is running and it wasn't. I thought I blew the engine. I got to an exit on battery only and shut it down. Opened the hood and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary and no oil under the car either. Also checked the oil and it was fine. I got back in, tried it and the motor started but the exclamation point and check engine light are still on. Now I'm scared of it. Does anyone have any ideas??? I hate taking it to the dealer and getting ripped a new one. It's got 110,000 miles on it and bought it used. Thanks!!!
My idea is that since the check engine light is on, that shows the engine ECU has logged a DTC. You need to have the DTC retrieved to have a clue about what is wrong.
I just went to Advance Auto Parts. They put an OBD meter on and got the following code: p0a90 (those are zero's) and it said Drive Motor A Performance The guy did not reset it but on the way back home from there the exclamation point and the check engine light went off. Go figure!!!
p0a90 has several different causes. It is necessary to use an actual Prius compatible reader that can read the freeze frame data, to determine the more complete info about the DTC. For instance, it might be p0a90-241, which means the torque limiter slipped. That would not be something to worry much about. But other causes would be more serious.
This points to a fault in the transaxle. Since the fault is intermittent it might be a high voltage ground fault which is starting. Or it might be a fault developing in the MG2 stator windings. If you can refrain from frequent full-throttle acceleration you might get more life out of the transaxle. If not - then start looking around for a replacement transaxle from a salvage yard. Those aren't too expensive.
My friend has an OBD reader and he cleared the code. Going to drive it this weekend to see if it comes back when we try it again on Monday. If it does I'll take it into a dealer to have them do a diagnostic on it to see what the culprit is and then decide what to do. Thanks for the help!
Have you checked the condition of the transmission fluid? If its dirty (black instead of red) , I'd change it.
Like he said take it an Indie and dump the trans fluid. Buy 4 quarts of Toyota WS fluid first. Millions of posts here how to do this. Most of change the trans fluid every 30,000 miles. Ay 110,000 your way overdue. Examine the fluid closely for pieces of debris and pay attention to the smell. Check the magnet on the dump bolt for metal bits. Hole shots are very hard on this car as it creates instant high power load on the Inverter and really high torque load on the electric motor. This negative effect is greatly exacerbated by either extra weight load in the car and or going up a hill. The electric motor windings get really hot because of power demand and the coating/insulation on the windings may fail creating high voltage leaking from the windings. This is not repairable. Lots of You Tubes about winding failure btw. And please see lusciousgarage.com
