Hello, I have a 2007 Prius with 230,000 miles on it. Recently, I had a warning light pop up (car with an exclamation point). It went away. Two days later, while driving, my Prius shifted into neutral and shut down. I was able to pull onto a gravel road. It then went into park and would not restart. We had to drag it onto the trailer. I have let it sit for 4 days, and still will not start. It's not the 12v. We have checked and made sure its ok. Does anyone have any ideas on what might be wrong? Is it fixable?
The only way to know is read the codes. Taking a guess though: There is no "neutral" gear or "shifting". If the car doesn't go anymore then usually that is because the engine did not start or cannot start. And the electric is low. Did the gear indicator that shows PRNDB actually show "N"? That should only happen when it is shifted there. The shifter itself could be bad and preventing you from going into P. The engine won't start if the car is not in PRDB. In N, no go.
Open the reservoir under the hood and look for slight turbulence in the fluid. It will be movement, but nothing like a roaring river. If it is perfectly still, then the pump is not working. As another arm-chair mechanic, I don't think I agree that it is the inverter coolant pump. When the inverter coolant pump fails, the inverter gets hot. When the car gets hot, it throws a code and refuses to move. However, if you let it sit and cool down over many hours, it should start right back up until it overheats again and shuts itself down. Have you pulled the 12v, let it sit for a bit, then reconnected and checked to see if it starts and goes?
@2k1Toaster gave you good advice in post #2, to read out the trouble codes that tell you why your car is choosing not to do what you ask. You may be able to make it forget the problem by disconnecting the battery, long enough to start up again and drive you into a worse situation when it recurs. If you're going to try that, you'll be doing yourself a favor to at least read the codes now, before you clear them in the process and deprive yourself of the best information on what's going on with your car. -Chap
I think you blew the AM2 fuse, from a short in the inverter pump. Have you done the recall on your car? You can check the fuse which is located in the engine compartment fuses
