Possible Causes Not Maintaining Fuel Pressure

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by LibraryMom, Jul 13, 2022.

  1. LibraryMom

    LibraryMom Junior Member

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    A couple of weeks ago, my husband was driving when the car started shaking and he noticed a burn kind of smell. We got it to a mechanic and were told that one of the ignition coils was bad. They replaced it, but are now telling us the fuel system is not maintaining pressure consistently. The car is currently about 150 miles away as he was visiting family when it began having problems.

    What are some possible causes for it not maintaining pressure and are they things we could check if we could get it here? Neither of us has much mechanic knowledge, but we did replace the hybrid battery cells a few years ago so as long as it isn't harder than that, I am game. Could it be safely driven that far? They said it will work fine for a bit, then act up, then back to fine. Given it's age (2005) and mileage (240,000) we are trying to decide if it is worth it to continue repairs.

    My husband hit a deer a few days before his trip which broke the headlight and squashed up the front driver's side. We replaced the headlight assembly and wired the panels back on, but the hood doesn't sit quite right so there may be more body issues than we realize. The mechanic said the accident isn't related to the ignition coil, but I wonder if it knocked something loose? We did find this piece under the hood while we were working on it, but didn't see anywhere obvious it was meant to go.
     
    #1 LibraryMom, Jul 13, 2022
  2. LibraryMom

    LibraryMom Junior Member

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    #2 LibraryMom, Jul 13, 2022
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i think you should cut your losses.

    could be a bad fuel pump, or anything in the delivery system up to the injectors. even an ecu issue
     
    #3 bisco, Jul 13, 2022
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Two hoses or something go into that notice there's a filter up in the top of it that in case there's anything coming through that air it might trap it or something to that effect that may not have anything to do with the car and they have been just laying under the hood from somebody sitting it down from doing something else anything's possible on an '04 like this I agree the cut your losses unless you can do all this work yourself given the fact of the hitting the deer. And having all the panels wired back on. You can buy another one of these that the batteries died on for $500 generally or similar you have to look
     
    #4 Tombukt2, Jul 13, 2022
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Well...

    Having an old high mileage prius when you have to pay someone else to keep it running is a costly proposition. What's your "car" budget?

    Since I don't know exactly what the issue is I can't even guess if the car can go several hours home.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 mr_guy_mann, Jul 15, 2022
  6. robert mencl

    robert mencl Member

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    Dont be afraid to change your fuel pump. My gen2 stopped dead last week, it is a very well behaved car, does all ots breakdowns at home.
    I called the local junkyards, had no problem finding one nearby for $175. I have never changed a fuel tank before, but I got the old one out and the new one in alone, without a lift, in under 4 hours, and I am a senior citizen.
    You can test pump pressure on your replacement tank tank before you buy it if you bring some 2 foot wire jumper leads with you when you go to buy. It's not that bad, always cheaper to work with what you have. Good lucK!
     
    #6 robert mencl, Jul 17, 2022
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