So the gas engine shut off (I filled up the tank yesterday) when I was on the highway and the engine light came on, the triangle ! light came on and the hybrid system light came on on the GPS screen. I pulled over and turned it off, check the oil, which was a little low, but there is some in there and eventually the gas engine started up again, but it didn't sound very healthy. ANY ideas on what's going on? I need to get to work tomorrow morning...it's at the mechanics and I trust him, but if it's something stupid and silly, maybe I can just do it myself and not get charged for any diagnostics. Thanks!
Could be any number of things. When is the last time the throttle body was cleaned? How many miles on her now? The mechanic should be able to give you a better idea that what we could based on the information you have shared so far. Ron (dorunron)
Was the engine air cleaner cover opened for any reason recently? The reason I ask is that debris collecting around the edge of the air cleaner cover can fall into the clean side of the air cleaner housing, and eventually make its way into the Mass Air Flow sensor. Any debris in the MAF sensor will disrupt the airflow through the sensor and prevent the Engine Control Module from delivering the correct amount of fuel. A stall from this may not even set a trouble code. Also note that repeated unsuccessful starting attempts can discharge the Hybrid Battery to a point that the engine cannot be started. I believe the minimum is about 20% state of charge.
Hmm...well, now that you mention it, I haven't changed the air filter in quite some time. The engine went back on but the lights are still on and it doesn't sound good. I'm scared this is going to be expensive...ugh.
Oil was low but "some in there" is not good. Your Prius is probably eating engine oil as most do at higher miles (never stated miles) and your never checking the oil. Guaranteed method to lunch the motor on a Prius. It's probably the throttle body was never cleaned and is hopelessly corroded and requiring replacement. Its good you have a mechanic but its also really important that you know what DTC codes were thrown. All codes including there subsequent 3 digit suffix: XXXX-XXX If your mechanic is unable to pull these codes as he lacks the proper OBDII Scanner he may not really be qualified to work on this car as thats the first thing you need to know before you lift the hood. Ask him. You can waste alot of money (yours) chasing a Prius issue unless you know the codes. It sometimes becomes a guessing game of parts replacement on your dime. If you knew the codes we can almost certainly tell you pretty close what the actual issue is. Sometimes better than your mechanic as we all have alot of experience with this platform. In the meantime good luck but hopefully you can get those codes and run it by us.
How many miles on your car? What maintenance have you done to it? If you run out of options, I'm in the Los Angeles area and I can read the codes for you. I don't think the autozone stores in CA will read the codes for you. Some private mechanics don't have the proper code reader to the Prius either.
UPDATE...turns out, the oil was down to a quart and it's leaking just a little out of the valve cover. It's not enough to replace the valve cover gasket yet, so I'll just add as needed and replace that in a bit. It also needed a coolant flush and a new filter...but overall, the reason is because of the oil that it did this whole shut down of the engine. Interesting, consider every Toyota I've ever had engine oil light only comes on when there is no oil and there is no oil pressure anymore. Kind of amazing that they have the whole thing shut down if there is any danger of engine damage anymore. Thanks for your help guys!
Oh, and there is 98k miles on it. I'm thinking about trading it in for a CT200...but I'm not sure about that yet.
If you were that low on oil, I suspect you will now have pretty high oil consumption from this point on. You likely did some damage. This is the pattern we've seen here over and over: someone doesn't check their oil regularly and gets intermittent red triangle of death and/or low oil pressure light. Finds it out it's low oil but it's already too late...
Well, when I took the dipstick out, there was oil on it and it wasn't black...so there's that. Do you think I should get rid of it ASAP?
Well that "engine" light that came on was mostly likely in response to low oil pressure. That is, it actually is the oil light (along with other functions). A lot of people do have problems with the fact there isn't a *specific* oil light on the dash, they see the "engine light" come on but fail to realize the seriousness of it. I am told however that there is a specific oil warning icon on the multifunction display, though you might not have noticed it. I suspect that you probably were dangerously low on oil. Low enough to increase heat and friction to the point where the engine was not producing sufficient power, leading to other errors. This will have caused at least some degree of permanent wear and damage to the engine. Oil consumption may increase at this point. Roughly how far below the "low" mark on dipstick was it?
There is no low oil shutdown mechanism. It only monitors oil pressure. It did not shut off from low oil unless the oil was so low the engine seized up momentarily. We'll never know because of the no codes read thing. Now you get to play a guessing game.
It was right at the low mark. Also, my mechanic did read the codes and didn't mention anything about seizing. Just low oil and that the coolant needed to be flushed.
that's not very low, you probably have another problem that will show up again. hopefully not in an emergency situation.
Exactly at the low mark is 2.5 qts left. Not even close to the danger point. Curious, earlier you said it had just 1 qt. How did you make this assessment?
I'm suspecting your car overheated. The coolant might be low in addition to the oil being low. The water pump in the car is known to seep coolant and if seeping long enough, the coolant would become low. Did you ever do the recall on the inverter pump? That can overheat as well if pump is failing SM-N900P ?
