car acceleration problems

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by scatprius, Apr 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM.

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  1. scatprius

    scatprius New Member

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    sorry if theres extra on here im just copy and pasting this from reddit


    i have a 05 2nd gen with almost 174 miles on it and i need input on codes because all of my research hasnt really got me any answers.
    i got the car in march after someone totaled my 04. for the first month it drove fine, but a couple weeks ago it stopped in the middle of traffic. it wouldnt start back up so i took the 12v to autozone to test it. it tested fine and i topped off the oil and coolant. i also bought the am2 fuse and changed it. it turned back on briefly but turned off again. i called aaa and got it towed. we werent able to put the car in neutral unfortunately so he put it on the flatbed all while it was in park.
    we get it towed to my house and i change the inverter pump. i think everythings fine so i drive it like normal after that. it leaks coolant from the passenger side??? i constantly fill it with coolant cause im scared its gonna overheat or some bs whenever im driving. so it leaks more and i stop filling it as much because it just stays at the same level in both the radiator and the hybrid cooling reservoirs. one day when im driving the red triangle pops up and it shows the coolant icon on the little screen. the acceleration is very sluggish and it feels like that its only going about half throttle even though im flooring it. the code that popped up was P1121. when i searched it up it showed throttle position sensor circuit high voltage or whatever. but on priuschat and stuff people said that it really is supposed to be the 3 way valve for the cooling system. i just had to change the inverter pump so i thought i might as well change that because it mightve went with the old pump. i change that and after its still leaking coolant and is still showing that code and driving like shit because i can only go about 45 before it red triangles and freaks out and starts acting slow. the red triangle is intermittent and comes on randomly and turns off randomly. i ignore all the codes for a while because other than being sluggish it drives fine. it only revs to about 2500 RPM whenever its acting up. i keep checking the codes with my obd reader every day and it starts to show codes P1150, P1116, and C1242. i dont change anything because every time i research the codes it suggests that i change the inverter pump. i keep driving it and while accelerating it starts making a crackling noise. it sounds kind of similar to this video but it only makes the noise whenever its at a certain rpm. i see that it might be the heat shield but i havent got the chance to look at it yet. i put a quart of oil in it today just in case i might be low on oil (it is a 20 year old car i expect it to burn it) and i also put uv dye in the both coolant systems to see where the hell it could be leaking from because i have no idea looking at cooling system diagrams online. i drive around town and after getting in the car and starting it, it started really rough it almost sounded like it was going to throw a rod. i went and looked under the hood and the uv dye was showing up in the engine bay. it looked like it had sprayed from the radiator cap and a little of it went on the radiator support bracket. there was also some uv dye in my wheel well. the front right wheel of the car was parked on an incline and the rest of the car was flat. i also parked with the wheels almost turned all the way to the right. i drive it like normal after i let it warm up for 5 minutes and it drove fine. i went to the park and fished for about an hour before starting it back up. i measured the rpms while i started it, but this time it started up just fine. it didnt sound like it was gonna explode. i check the codes on it and as of right now the only codes are P0117, P1150, and P2601. it sometimes sounds like its misfiring at low rpms but it hasnt thrown a code at all for that. please let me know if you have any suggestions or advice because i JUST got this car and i havent told my parents of all the problems with it because i dont want them to think i got a piece of shit and i shouldve just got a "normal" car instead of another prius. ive done everything to it myself and i want to try to keep it that way. please let me know if you have any suggestions or advice PLEASEEEEE thanks

    i forgot to add i havent changed the oil since about the 171 mark
    OH and i forgot to add the ac and heating doesnt work. i did fill it with refrigerant and it worked so good for like an hour and then it stopped working after that. so im pretty sure i have an ac leak but i didnt know if it was relevant because coolant


    UPDATE it just threw itself in neutral and left me stranded after i turned it on and rode for a bit. it threw a P3190 code when it happened but i cant do anything about it rn cause im at an event
    UPDATE 2 it did turn back on, but we still got it towed home.
    UPDATE 3 had someone come out and look at it. i didnt really look that well and i feel stupid for not looking but the engine water pump was leaking and was leaking on the belt. it was throwing the coolant up on the radiator support frame. changed that pump and the lower radiator hose as well. also changed the spark plugs on it just to feel better about it. it drove fine that night i changed everything, it didnt even throw any codes that night and was very responsive compared to before. it threw p1151 and p1150 a day after and its starting to be a bitch again, only going to about 2500 rpm so thats where im at now.

    please help me i just need my prius to work normal again
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Here is a thing that's worth knowing:

    Trouble codes are in SAE-standardized ranges and manufacturer-defined ranges:

    [​IMG]

    All codes in the P1 range are manufacturer-defined. They can mean one thing on a Toyota and a totally different thing on something else. Toyota could even have them mean different things in different Toyota models if they wanted.

    Things on the internet will say P1121 is throttle position something something because it is throttle position something something—in somebody else's completely different car. People on PriusChat will tell you it means the coolant control valve because that's what it means in a Prius.

    Doing generic internet searches for manufacturer-defined trouble codes is a recipe for confusion like that.

    There is a place to look for the right information for a Prius so that doesn't happen:

    Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat
     
  4. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    When they changed the mechanical water pump did they bleed the coolant system afterwards? If there is air in that system you might see codes along those lines. It is a bit of a process to bleed this car. Once it gets "close" to having all the air out one can just keep an eye on the level in the overflow tank (use a sharpie to put a mark at the half way point). If the next day/after it has cooled off the coolant is below the line add enough to the overflow tank to bring it up to the line. However, initially coolant may also need to be added into the radiator neck. Once you can check the radiator neck and see it is full to the top, that is "close".

    See these two videos for a thorough explanation of how to bleed the ICE coolant system: