Engine shut off and wont turn on after rough idle, sulfur smell, and poor acceleration

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by thiswhomps, May 16, 2019.

  1. thiswhomps

    thiswhomps New Member

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    2005 Prius
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    Before its said yes I know its my fault most likely. I just want ideas on what it could be.

    The other day the car started shaking a lot. Eventually the engine shut off and I had to tow it.

    Had bad sulfur smell at high speeds ornwhile accelerating beyond 25. Bunch of lights came on but all save check engine went away after resting for several hours. It could drive for a few minutes if I stayed around 20 mph. Tried to test it today. Same issues. Only now the engine wont turn on at all.

    Battery diagnostic said 12v was at 11.7v. I mean to check the spark plugs when i get home before i take it into the garage tomorrow. Not sure what it would take to get the engine to start. I replaced the HV battery last March. Nothing else had really been replaced. It's at 169k miles.
     

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    #1 thiswhomps, May 16, 2019
  2. thiswhomps

    thiswhomps New Member

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    I say it's my fault because I've driven it about 5 miles since this has happened.
     
    #2 thiswhomps, May 16, 2019
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome!
    you need the trouble codes. sulphur is usually the cat iirc.
     
    #3 bisco, May 16, 2019
    landspeed and Hokie-Dave like this.
  4. landspeed

    landspeed Active Member

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    Get trouble codes! Some other things to consider would be; whether the cat is actually blocked. I once had a blocked cat on an old carburettor car I had, and it must have taken ages to block, but only at the end did it impact the car. The engine developed a 'top speed' which got less and less over a few miles, and then the engine wouldn't start at all. The 'top speed' was higher in 5th gear than 4th etc, since the car was more efficient in higher gears. The sulphur smell also points to the cat.

    Also, check for turbulence in the inverter coolant reservoir, just in case the problem is the inverter pump going.

    I would add that the car uses a fair amount of battery power to start the engine, and actually uses the motors to help the engine while it is running for quite some time. As you have no way to charge the high voltage battery (since the engine won't start), don't try to start it any more until you figure out what is wrong.

    Do read the codes, and do fix it as soon as possible. If you do decide to try and start the engine again (which probably is a bad idea until you get the codes and do further tests), you could see if you can feel gas coming out of the exhaust. The engine starts burning fuel very quickly when trying to start, so you should feel exhaust gases unless it is blocked.
     
    #4 landspeed, May 18, 2019
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