2003 Gen 1 Prius with 160 k wife's car While driving it after dropping a friend off,, it stalled out while making a turn small warning (triangle) came on and steering got hard, she realized it had shut off She did not try to start it up, just called me She called and I told her to take the battery terminal off then put it back on In retrospect maybe I should have told her turn key on and off 3 times to reset (?) Car started up fine and ran okay and has been doing running good no check engine,no problems, no triangle Been driving it around good so far.... this was month ago. I'm going to have her take it to pep boys to read the code if there is one, hopefully though I did not clear it out by telling her to remove the battery terminal and put it back on. I'm just thinking that the car stalled out and just would have started okay normally she was going slow when it happened just turning around in a parking lot. Plan to:: Get the codes read *(if they are still stored after removing the battery cable) Take off the throttle body do a good cleaning and new gasket just to be safe My options are dealer or find a shop in Pomona Ontario areas Previously I had just serviced the car and ran fine for about 5 months or more Cleaned throttle body on the car changed spark plugs changed oil, air filter changed transmission fluid and cleaned pan new gen 2 cells in traction battery all replaced w 09 cells 5 months ago Installed used gas tank (from previous fuel pump failure used junkyard prius had 110 k) Goodyear here installed two new front tires and did a front end alignment **I did read that after the front end alignment that you have to re-set the steering to zero on the computer Not sure if they did that or if was important I will update you when they get some codes PS I have a VCI scanner xp techstream Toyota manual ect ect... but not home to scan anything 2003 Gen 1 Follow up for car would not start Thanks for the help everyone to follow up on the previous post "engine starts then rattles and shuts down" My problem was no fuel, the engine sounded like it was starting but actually it was the motor turning over, no fuel... Turned out to be a fuel pump failure , installed the used tank from another junkyard car with 110k and car ran fine.
Hind sight is correct but you helped her get the car rolling again and that was the important thing. The only other option might be to get a Scangauge II, the ISO-9141 cable (or modified) and program XGAUGES to read out the codes. Mount it so it is easily reachable. Should (or when) the problem reoccurs, have the wife take cell phone pictures of the XGAUGEs that report the error codes and other interesting metrics. Off hand, a slow-speed turn could put a heavy load on the 12V battery supply. It may make sense to have the 12V battery surveyed with the car off: 12.2-12.85V - no problem 11.85-12.2V - hummm, check 3-6 months 11.85V and below - shop for a replacement, 10.5V - dead cell, replace ASAP Bob Wilson
Thanks Bob, you know I would have never thought of the turning putting an extra load that makes sense too. She took it to the local Toyota dealership here in Claremont, Claremont Toyota 601 auto center drive, Claremont CA They took the car in and found that the inverter cooling pump was failing and replaced the pump, new belts and some other parts now its running. They also did some other work that was under warranty which was good too Apparently the light was coming on then the engine shut off due to sensor reading high inverter temp(?) After she re-set it , it took a week for the light to come back I am very satisfied with the service department there they were honest and straightforward with us about the repairs and did some extra repairs under Toyota recall that needed to be done, just getting the car back this week Thanks for the help
Thank you! Finding a good service center is not that rare and needs to be rewarded. I used their contact form to point to your posting. But I would like to suggest a personal letter addressed to the dealership would help, possibly a copy sent to Toyota USA. The same is true with our independent shops like Paul, Eric, and others. Send a copy of the 'thank you' note to the local Chamber of Commerce and any other referral service. We want these guys to do good and prosper. I keep my private list of 'good people' and have no problem with recommending them to newbies. But let's not be cheap with our praise. Word-of-mouth from customers works and has 10x the value of commercial advertising. Bob Wilson
