[Rick Reece]

This week I was in Virginia and while stopped at a light the VSC, HYbrid, Info, Check Engine light, and ((I)) light all came on. The hybrid side did not function the car had very little torque available to get the car rolling. It also sounded as if the gear ratio was fixed as the engine rpm was much higher for 30 mph. Took it to the closest Toyota Dealership in Williamsburg (Cassey Toyota). Good dealerhisp in that they determined that the ECU had failed and ordered the part and set me up with a vehicle to use until the repair was completed. (Note there were 46 on order nationally so perhaps their are more of these failing). Took 3 days to get the part from Japan (around 650 for the ECU). Dealership installed and the car is working fine now. The car is a 2004 Prius with 27K miles. Have fun, Rick

 

[efusco]

Hey Rick, sorry to hear about the problems. Do have a couple questions/things to clarify.

1)I'm not sure what "the hybrid side failed" means...AFAIK there is no 'hybrid side'...the entire system is hybrid. If one part fails the entire thing fails. It sounds as if you may have entered the 'limp home' mode so familiar to those of us who exprienced the 'loss of power' issue prior to the SSC 50P (?) recall/fix.

2)Which ECU was replaced? The HV ECU? What codes were pulled and what part did they give you?

 

[hyperion]

Because of the high rpm mentioned it sounds as if he got to a dealership under the ICE alone with no electrical enhancement. Hence the "electrical computer module." Sad to hear that parts like this have to be ordered from Japan. But I guess nobody uses warehouses anymore.

 

[Rick Reece]

By hybrid side I mean no output from the electric motor. Battery neither charged/discharged, no regen. The hybrid light on the MFD was on as well. The car is really slow without the electric torque to get you going. I did not have my scanner with me to get a code and only asked the cost of the part which was handled under warranty. I was surprised by the number of the computers on order nationally. Have fun, Rick

 

[DanMan32]

Interesting. 50P should have taken care of the rest of these problems.

Without MG1 working, there's really no way to get torqe to transfer to the wheels. I suppose if the ICE RPM were high enough, even with MG1 in freerun, there might be enough intert friction to get some torque to the wheels, but I find that unlikely.