P3190 & P0A0F advice needed.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Shapechanger, May 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM.

  1. Shapechanger

    Shapechanger Junior Member

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    So, bought my daughter a car. It ran well. 2004 Prius. I had to change the cat and find the evap leak for title and registration. Those went fine and were the only codes.

    While I was at it I did some other things. I haven't worked on cars much, and don't know a lot.

    I changed the exhaust manifold gasket and the air fuel ratio sensor down there (denso) when I was doing the cat. I also changed the head gasket, pcv valve, and cleaned the throttle body and intake manifold. I replaced the spark plugs (denso platinum tt) and coils, and put in remanufactured fuel injectors (denso by aurus), a bit of fuel came out of the metal bar they attach to.

    There was tons of oil-gummed gravel and sand embedded onto the top of the engine and it took forever to clean to prevent it from falling into the spark plug shaft, or fuel injector wells. A little might have fallen in but very little like a few grains of sand.

    Anyways,

    The main 202v battery has only one purple bar of energy left, which alarms me as the car uses it after start but is shutting down prior to charging it.

    The car runs very rough. Knocking. I thought it was air in the fuel bar above the injectors, or a bad vacuum seal since it sounds like that.

    And after running a few times it knocks and knocks and then after 5-8 secs of knocking it runs smoothly like no issue for 10 seconds then while running smooth it instantly shuts down with a red triangle.

    Where can I start backtracking and looking for my mistake?


    But in reading on what I did wrong I didn't gap the spark plugs. I didn't know to do that.
    It's at half a tank of gas. On this repair segment I did run smoke (baby oil) in the fuel line to find the leak.
    But there might be other things too, so I'm hopeful you guys who knows so much more can make suggestions.
     
    #1 Shapechanger, May 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
    Last edited: May 1, 2025 at 1:09 AM
  2. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Do you mean the valve cover gasket? I can't imagine that with your stated experience level, you would have delved into replacing the head gasket. ;)
    Your car did not start. The engine is turned over at (I think) 1100 - 1200 RPM by one of the electric motor/generators (MG), and that sounds very much like the engine is running, when it isn't.

    The codes you posted at the top reflect this. P3190 - Poor Engine Power and P0A0F - Engine Failed to Start. The first code has 5 subcode (INF codes) that could norrow down the problem area.
    Possible areas causing trouble code P3190:
    • Air induction system - Throttle body
    • Fuel pressure
    • Engine
    • Air flow meter
    • Lack of fuel
    • Engine coolant temperature sensor - Crankshaft position sensor
    • Camshaft position sensor
    • ECM
    (Emphasis mine).
    A good start would be to read the codes with a Prius-capable scanner. This thread reviews a few Bluetooth dongle/app combinations that are affordable. Read the first two (or so) pages and then skip to the cliff notes in post #37.

    The fuel rail should not leak any fuel after replacing the injectors, so at the very least that should be persued to ensure all injectors are sealed.
    If you got the correct ones (Denso SK16R11, NGK IFR5A11), they are gapped at the correct gap (1.0 to 1.1 mm (0.039 to 0.043 in.)) from the factory.
     
    #2 dolj, May 1, 2025 at 1:35 AM
    Last edited: May 1, 2025 at 2:47 AM
    Shapechanger, Brian1954 and MAX2 like this.
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Has the car ever run normally since the head gasket job?
     
    Shapechanger likes this.
  4. Shapechanger

    Shapechanger Junior Member

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    •Yes it was the valve cover gasket, my apologies.

    •I was using CarScanner and Veepeak2 ble+ that is compatible with elm327 V2.2, purchased nov'24.

    •Thank you, that is quite a thorough thread on the app review.
    -I'll download DrPrius, HA, and OBD Fusion, and see if it's effective (I'm on Android but only recently, still figuring it out) with the veepeak2, it appears to be based on some searches, but if not I'll follow the Dr Prius page recommended one modules (isn't listed there)

    •Hybrid Assistant has pretty cool realtime battery and fuel information.

    •DrPrius gives only the generic engine code. I'll read further in the recommended thread and see if this app does give engine sub codes.

    •Frustratingly I cannot use OBDFusion yet, as I've been an Apple user for 15 years, and my Google profile is outdated after my marriage name change, and they have locked my payment account while they work that out. Who knows how long.
     
    #4 Shapechanger, May 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
    Last edited: May 1, 2025 at 12:54 PM
  5. Shapechanger

    Shapechanger Junior Member

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    No, and unfortunately I confused the names - it was the valve cover gasket