[joedvil]

Hi,

I have a 2004 Prius w/ ~6000 miles. Yesterday, the check engine light came on and the red triangle w/ exclamation point. The gas engine stoped working. I limped off the highway on electric power only and just after I exited (~1/2 mile later) the battery was pretty run down and the car stopped. Then, it turned off and wouldn't turn on. After about 15 min of waiting for the tow truck the car started again but the check engine light was still on but I could move to the side of the exit ramp. Then, 5 min later the check engine light was off and everything was fine. I've driven about 80 miles since then and everything is normal. I guess I should mention it was raining.

I'm taking it to a dealer today but I suspect they will tell me nothing...

Any ideas??

Thanks a lot,
Joe

 

[Jonnycat26]

Hi,

I guess I should mention it was raining.


Any ideas??

You may have a problem I've seen on edmunds a few times where one of the connectors (M5 I believe, not sure) can short out when it gets wet. If it was raining, this may have been your problem. Just a guess, may not be the issue....

 

[joedvil]

The dealer hooked it up to the scan tool and found a code. Apparently, Toyota just issued a TSB saying that for this code, the car needs... get this, a software upgrade!!! Fascinating -- next they'll be telling me my hard drive crashed....

 

[Jonnycat26]

The dealer hooked it up to the scan tool and found a code. Apparently, Toyota just issued a TSB saying that for this code, the car needs... get this, a software upgrade!!! Fascinating -- next they'll be telling me my hard drive crashed....

Be careful. There's a software upgrade that lets the scan tool understand the codes the prius is throwing (because before the upgrade, it can throw bad/wrong codes). So they may not know what the problem is, only that the codes are bad.

 

[Victor]

The dealer hooked it up to the scan tool and found a code. Apparently, Toyota just issued a TSB saying that for this code, the car needs... get this, a software upgrade!!! Fascinating -- next they'll be telling me my hard drive crashed....

Just be greatful the car wasnt programmed by a certain software company in Redmond :wink:

 

[BIF]

...Just be greatful the car wasnt programmed by a certain software company in Redmond :wink:

Hmmmm, do you know for a fact it wasn't? :shock:

Well, at least I have never received the "blue screen of death." The last thing I need on the freeway is an "illegal operation" message! :x

 

[Kenlee2]

I have a 04 Prius with exactly the same problem and have been corresponding with darthy who also has it. The car is now in the shop in Beaverton, OR where they tell me they are going to put in new software that was issued yeterday. It seems to me that there are enough out there that it should be a general recall. This could be extremely dangerous. Yet the Service manager says it is not a recall and referred me to Toyota. As a suspicious kind of guy you wonder if they really have a fix or are telling me about software as kind of a “kiss off.”
Ken

 

[AgentElrond]

Well, at least I have never received the "blue screen of death." The last thing I need on the freeway is an "illegal operation" message! :x

heh... if I see any messages like "can't allocate swap", I'm outta here. :wink:

 

[Kenlee2]

About the 04 Prius. Got my car back at 3:00 pm 7/16. They reference a new TSB.
This is what the invoice says.
Software upgrade per Toyota technical
TSB EG027-04
Reprogram the ECU.
Code 3191
Reprogram OP EG009 . 8 OFP 89661-47070
8A/99.
Whatever that all means.
We are headed off to Vancouver BC in the morning. I will Post
when we get back, especially if we have any trouble.
Ken

 

[mrv]

If you can manage to get a copy of the TSB from the dealer to share, that would be great!

 

[bradca21]

LOOKING ONLY AT THE TITLE, I STARTED TO WONDER....

Does this mean the car is equal to/better than Jesus?

:wink:

Oh come on, I can't POSSIBLY be the only one that thought that

 

[rdrast]

...Just be greatful the car wasnt programmed by a certain software company in Redmond :wink:

Hmmmm, do you know for a fact it wasn't? :shock:

Well, at least I have never received the "blue screen of death." The last thing I need on the freeway is an "illegal operation" message! :x

Well, I'd guess that Toyota really wanted to steer clear of that association, since they changed the main switch from being labelled "Start" to being labelled "Power".

 

[dieseler]

raining..loss of power

Hey Joe.. very similar thing happened to my wife's 2004 Prius at 4600 miles. Difference is, we could not shut down the system after we pulled over. While waiting for the tow truck, I fiddled with the ignition slot and suddenly the thing turned off.
Had the thing towed in to dealer.. was told there is nothing wrong with it. Got the usual.."you must be imagining things" treatment, which I resent.

This is worrisome to me as a sudden loss of power in an interstate situation is a safety hazard. I'm curious as to whether the problem will repeat itself and if so, what Toyota's response will be.

Meanwhile I have filed a complaint at the NHTSA website, after seeing another similar complaint from a 2004 owner. I urge you to do the same. This helps Toyota realize there is a problem and take action to solve it.
Still love the Prius.. for now.

 

[palo alto pinto]

3100 mile power glitches!!!!

Here's my saga which begins with my 2004 Prius, picked up in June but not driven til July, total miles a mere 3100. I was driving home at around 9:30 p.m. from downtown San Fran, and was on 19th avenue, high speed tight corners, dark and no place to turn off the road...none! I got a yellow warning light, check engine status warning, which I responded to by touch screen where I noticed the gas engine had shut off and I was on battery power only. The battery was already near the last bar, so I had no choice but to immediately pull to the right and shut it down. The weather that night was dry and cool, not humid, not wet. I was lucky enough to get a tow truck after an hour of nerve wracking, cringeing prayer. The dealer kept my car for 8 days, put over 80 miles on the engine, reset the system and gave it back to me. Since then, my gas mileage has decreased by 8-10 mpg, and I now have erratic throttle moments. I am not happy! Toyota headquarters has my case on file and Im expecting word back tomorrow from corporate. :?:

 

[brian lym]

car died also

the same thing happened to me yesterday w/2004 new Prius. after only 1600 miles, car died suddenly while driving in the city. check engine light came on,
also the exlamation point icon. car started to work fine after 1hr.
dealer couldn't diagnose anything except that that start was malfunctioning from me pressing start button too many times after car died.

 

[Pebble Beach]

Exact same thing just happened to me.

A very rainy day. Get on the highway and the car "dies". Same red light that everyone else got. Pull over to the side of the road.Have zero bars charged on the power. I turn the car off and then restart. Get power and able to drive and get the power bars up to normal. Car seems fine, no more red light but the the check hybrid system light remained on. Just dropped it off at the dealer. Will post the result. Glad to see I am not alone

 

[volvowagon1991]

YTOD - (Yellow Triangle of Death)

I just had a similar thing happen to me a couple days ago. Driving on the freeway at 65 on a nice Indian summer day and every light, bell and whistle started going off as I suddenly lost power. I made my way over to the shoulder while realizing that the ICE had shut down. I was able to go a couple hundred yards uphill to a safe spot (luckily) and there I waited for the tow truck. The first couple times I tried to restart, after 15 minutes and a half hour, all the lights still came on. Then a half hour after that they didn't and the car seemed fine. Nonetheless, after reading the manual, I still had them tow the car to the dealer and check it out. After checking the error codes, the dealer told me that the car thought it had run out of gas, so it shut down! (It had about 3/4 of a tank). They recalibrated the ECU and told me that they had heard of no repeats after this was done. I will definitely keep you posted, because this seems like a HUGE safety issue to me, and I think Toyota should take it seriously. Good luck! -Paul

Test codes they found were:
P0A08--B2799--B1207--B1271--P3191

 

[LacieBird]

Same problem as y'all

Yesterday was the first real big rainstorm for my Prius. After a 25 minute drive, the master warning light started flashing. I noticed the car became sluggish (I now know the gas engine must've shut off). I was able to drive it .5 mile to my home. After 20 minutes off, I drove it again on city streets for another 20 minutes. This morning I drove to the dealership on city streets. They said they found code P3191 and performed ECM Calibration per EG027-04 TSB. Car seems okay. I have driven it 20 miles since getting my car back.

 

[RSR100]

software upgrade

The same thing happened to me and I was driving on electric only.
Local Toyota told me their was a bulletin, and all they had to do was upload new softwre.

SINCE THEN MY AVERAGE MILEAGE HAS GONE DOWN 10-15%

I USED AVERAGE 44-50 MPG, NOW AM IN THE 37-42 RANGE!
ANYONE HAVE THE SAME EXPERIENCE????

ON HIGHWAY I HAD NO PROBLEM GETTING 49 MPG, NOW MAYBE 42

I AM HEADING BACK TO TOYOTA

ANY HELP?


L O W E R M I L E A G E P R I U S!
----------------------------------------------------
Unhappy in Connecticut.
Robert

 

[rwb1977]

One thing to consider is that your mileage will decrease as the temperature decreases and the ICE has to run longer periods of time to maintain high temperature for low emissions. I have an '04 Prius in Alaska and this summer I averaged 53 mpg, since Oct started I have dropped to 47 mpg.