After driving about 10 miles on the freeway with the temp around zero fahrenheit, I tried to accelerate, but the gas engine cut out completely. Only when I let up on the accelerator did the gas engine start running again. I could not go over 45 mph, really quite scary. Anyone know the problem? Prius is a 2004.
Absolutely not normal. Interesting that both you and your 'friend' are having problems with your Prius.
That's the kind of thing that ought to throw a light show and a code if it's actually a problem with HSD. The only thing I can think of that might not throw a code is a bad sensor in the accelerator. Could be that there's a dead zone, though I don't know how they work so it's hard to say if it's possible. To the dealer you must go...
I've experienced something similar on a couple of occasions under very cold (-20C and below) conditions. Hard acceleration caused extreme surging (it felt like the ICE died momentarily and then kicked in again). It is a scary feeling! When this happened, gentle application of the throttle prevented further surging. My experience differed from yours in that I had no problem exceeding 45 mph (72 km/h) when the surging stopped.
What is the condition like in WI? Is it snowing? Are you driving on slippery surface? Do you see the Traction Control light come on? If No then it doesn't sound normal.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Mar 6 2007, 11:28 AM) [snapback]400942[/snapback]</div> Can't be that. All gasoline here contains 10% ethanol.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wauwis @ Mar 6 2007, 11:28 AM) [snapback]401040[/snapback]</div> same here and IF everything was always as it should be, i would never think that you got a bad batch of gas that had excessive water in it
