Toyota Prius Forum banner

ENGINE STARTS THEN SHUTS DOWN/TRIANGEL OF DEATH

200 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Rick 432
I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY ASSISTANCE! :) I have a 07 with 71,000. The car has been running great. Today I left the house and drove less than a mile and I felt a nudge like when the engine shuts down at a traffic light. As I approached an intersection, the engine went off and the red triangle appeared along with a few other lights. I turned around and drove home. I was driving totally on battery power as the engine did not engage. When I got home I shut the car down and restarted it. The engine came on for approximately 7 seconds and then went off. Any time I start the car now, the engine "does start" but it then shuts down after about 7 seconds. I checked the 12v battery with a battery tester said it was in good condition but it needed a charge as it was at 48%. I recharged the 12v battery and then turned on the car. All the warning lights were off and the car seemed to run normally. As I backed out of the garage, the engine shut down again and the triangle and the other lights appeared. I used Dr. Prius app which showed my hybrid battery at 30% charged. NOTE; I did a Dr. Prius battery test a month ago and the test came back in "new condition at 93%." My code reader showed code P3190 & P3191. It is a cheap code reader so my guess is there may be more codes stored. This issue came out of nowhere. The car was filled with gas two days ago and I drove it without an issue.

Attachments

See less See more
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY ASSISTANCE! :) I have a 07 with 71,000. The car has been running great. Today I left the house and drove less than a mile and I felt a nudge like when the engine shuts down at a traffic light. As I approached an intersection, the engine went off and the red triangle appeared along with a few other lights. I turned around and drove home. I was driving totally on battery power as the engine did not engage. When I got home I shut the car down and restarted it. The engine came on for approximately 7 seconds and then went off. Any time I start the car now, the engine "does start" but it then shuts down after about 7 seconds. I checked the 12v battery with a battery tester said it was in good condition but it needed a charge as it was at 48%. I recharged the 12v battery and then turned on the car. All the warning lights were off and the car seemed to run normally. As I backed out of the garage, the engine shut down again and the triangle and the other lights appeared. I used Dr. Prius app which showed my hybrid battery at 30% charged. NOTE; I did a Dr. Prius battery test a month ago and the test came back in "new condition at 93%." My code reader showed code P3190 & P3191. It is a cheap code reader so my guess is there may be more codes stored. This issue came out of nowhere. The car was filled with gas two days ago and I drove it without an issue.
I'm curious, how often do you drive this car? That seems like very low mileage.
I hope you get this figured out. Keep us posted.
I'm curious, how often do you drive this car? That seems like very low mileage.
I hope you get this figured out. Keep us posted.
Good evening, I was able to get the car fixed thanks to many on a different Toyota Prius site. What happened is the MAT sensor was extremely dirty. One of the posts I read spoke of this sensor and how to clean it. It is located at the intake and is held on by two threaded nuts and has a wire harness. I took it off and found it was black. I doubt if it was ever cleaned. I purchased some CRC Mass Air Flow sensor cleaner. If you used carburetor cleaner the sensor will be ruined. I cleaned the sensor as directed, let it dry and reinstalled it. THAT WAS IT! The car runs great again! :) I also cleaned the intake while I was there. Thanks for the inquiry. Good luck!
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
Top