I feel like I am going crazy but it feels like when driving up long steep 6-7% grades if I set the cruise control for 65 I can go 65 the whole way. If however I just use the gas peddle the car bogs and slows enough to get passed by semis (maybe not that bad but it feels like it). Is there a rational explanation for this behavior?
View 2 RepliesI recently bought a 2004 Prius with 104,000 miles on it. When I try to go up into the mountains I only get a few miles or up to 1,000 to 2,000 ft. elevation (from 300 ft. starting) and the battery level gradually drops from 6 bars to 1 bar. The red triangle light and check engine light comes on and the car speed gradually begins to drop even if I continue to press on the gas pedal. I have only gotten down to about 35 MPH from 60-65 mph before stopping and turning around. Within a few miles of turning around the light goes off and the battery goes back up to 6 bars and works good going down hill. The dealer I bought the car from has been working with me to figure out the problem but so far we have not figured it out. He has replaced the main battery as well as the inverter/converter. The mechanic was with me on a test drive to the mountains and had his car computer plugged in while we drove and experienced the same thing. It gave the code for the catalytic converter so we changed the entire CC/muffler (one long piece) and still got the same code. The battery indicator on this car has never shown more than 6 bars. I'm not a Prius mechanic but I personally think it has a bad "Gas Engine" or something wrong with the gas engine. How do I tell if the gas engine is bad or has a problem?
View 1 RepliesMine just quit on me. Nearly 180K. 2008 Gen 2. I watched that youtube video, they were working on a Corolla. Seems easy enough, it's a pricey part though. It's called an airbag clock spring. I don't think it's the stalk. The button feels the same as it ever did.
View 3 RepliesVery very odd thing happened. Driving up from Houston to Colorado yesterday. Snow tires mounted in preparation for the snow in NM and CO. Around 300 mi into the trip, the CEL (check engine light) came on. I was on cruise control, I did not notice the lack of power. Checking the battery, it was in the purple. I first opened the gas cap and screwed it back in. I figured the change in elevation or temperature may have had something to do with the CEL. Nothing. Gas tank was a quarter full.
At Lubbock, I pulled over and filled up. I played with the rubber gasket on the gas cap but decided it was going to be more trouble than I was prepared to deal with, without any tools. CEL stayed on for another 30minutes or so while I navigated through the city, covering another 20 miles or so. After a pitstop to pick up OJ, I started the car and the CEL was off.
Here are the variables:
Elevation delta - +3000 ft
Temp delta - -10F
The only thing I can think of is that the hybrid battery is getting long in the tooth (2008 MY, 103k mi), the wind in the high plains chewed through the battery power, and the long length of being in low charge got the ECU to confuse itself into thinking that the hybrid battery has bad cells, which it probably has a few weak cells.
My Prius is a 2009 with 30,000 miles.
Have just begun to have an intermittent problem with the cruise control (has happened twice in past month -- never happened before).
Turn cruise control on, but it will not set. Turning off cruise control and turning it back on didn't solve the problem. However, stopping and turning the vehicle completely off and turning it back on did solve the problem. The second time this occurred (this morning), the engine sounded like it was revving and seemed somewhat sluggish (not what you'd expect if the engine was revving). Not revving real fast, but noticeable.
I noticed today that my cruise control quit working. Car has about 58K miles, the "cruise" light comes on when the button on the end of the switch is pushed in, but the device itself doesn't work.
View 7 RepliesIn the last 5,000 miles or so, my 2007 Prius has been really burning oil and intermittently the cruise control stops working. No warning lights. Car sounds and feels as usual. 235,000 miles on it. Water pump, thermostat and drive belt replaced 3/2013. Check engine light has been on since about then and diagnosed then as either catalytic converter and/or oxygen sensors and I chose not to fix those as was told not necessary until.
View 3 RepliesI bought a 2008 Prius with 1800 miles, no carfax trouble history On the way home from purchasing the car,as is, 180 mile trip, the red triangle, check engine, VSC and other symbol came on and the cruise control shut off Took it to a Toyota dealer the next day and the scan showed no codes. They could not explain it but said not to worry. Now that its warm weather, when this happens, the AC shuts off also I am at a loss for what to do, obvioulsy something is wrong. BTW, I replaced the 12 V battery and notice that the duct fromthe hybid battery was missing. Could this contribute to the problem?
View 8 RepliesI can't seem to activate cruise control on my 05 Prius. I went to the dealership and they checked the car out and said it's all good, cruise works and everything is fine, but I can't seem to activate it.
View 11 RepliesI think my cruise control switch is bad. Is there a simple way to remove it without taking of the steering wheel.
View 4 RepliesI had the cruise control set on the speed limit going up a hill. Half way up, the cruise control dropped as did my speed from 70 to 56. There were no warning lights but the battery meter was in the one bar pink range. I managed to continue up the hill at 56 mph by flooring the accelerator. When I got to the top and started to regenerate power to the battery, I regained power and speed. I am discussing a 2008 Prius with 89k miles. What the issue may be ( like battery pack declining efficiency)?
View 15 RepliesAbout 2 months ago ('06 Prius - 386K) 12v battery was replaced - red triangle disappeared and everything has been fine. ( I have driven the car about 7K since replacement).
Now on my 2800 mile trip, the following is happening. With Cruise Control on and functioning - freeway traffic comes to an almost halt (5-8 mph) after traffic picks up Cruise Control light on dash is flashing and will not function. (Pull over and re-boot the Win95 machine - and everything is back to working until next slow down).
I am now driving on a service road to my hotel at approx. 25mph and as I go over every patch in the asphalt my Traction Control light comes on and then off and it makes the car act like it is on ice ( and yes the Cruise Control light is back to flashing).
On my journey on this 5 miles of access road then my stereo volume starts going up and down all on its own. If I try turning the volume knob nothing happens. I push the knob in and then push on the knob to come back out and then the volume knob works and then the volume control on the steering wheel starts to work as well.
I just returned from a 4K trip through 7 states and my cruise control will go batty and make you pull over and re-boot the car. Basically I am cruising down the interstate with cruise control on. When I come into a town I will either pull the cruise lever forward or step on the brakes to disengage it.
The traffic comes to a stop or slows to a crawl for a short period of time. Once the traffic starts to move again and we are back to highway speeds I can no longer use the cruise control because it is intermittently flashing on the dash as a malfunction. The only time it doesn't do this is when I am slowing down if I turn the power off to the cruise control system.
I stopped in the middle of my trip at two different dealers and there were no codes stored. One dealer charged me a diagnostic the second didn't after I showed him my receipt from the day prior from the other dealer but then he wanted to sell me a brand NEW MFD.
My 2005 Toyota Prius gave me confidence. Here's what happened:
I was driving on the Interstate with the cruise control set at 70 mph. Seeing traffic stopped ahead, I applied the brakes for a moment to slow, then released the brake to coast. Much to my surprise, the cruise control was still engaged and the car accelerated. I applied the brakes again, manually turned off the cruise control, then was able to coast. I drove for another half-hour without incident until the following afternoon when I drove again, experiencing a much more serious problem.
I had just turned left, and was straightening the wheels when I heard, and felt, a loud "snap" in the steering wheel, immediately upon which I knew the steering wheel was disconnected and I could no longer steer the car. Very, very fortunately, and only because I was already nearly stopped, I was able to stop the vehicle without incident.
However, I immediately recognized that, had this happened in almost any other scenario than being nearly parked, the outcome would have been markedly different. The steering wheel is completely loose, not controlling anything, and all the many steering wheel controls are equally disconnected, including the driver's air bag (SRS), something that I would have needed, but wouldn't have worked, had I crashed into oncoming traffic or an Interstate median.
I recently changed my oil, transmission fluid, and both coolant systems. I have a 2008 Prius, and I can hear this noise coming from the engine when I accelerate between 50-70 MPH or have the cruise control on.
I had low coolant in the ICE system earlier (didn't know there were two separate systems) and I had the red triangle light up for a moment and "Problem" appear on the LCD screen followed by an orange thermometer. I pulled over and let it cool down, and babied it home and added coolant.
My wife and I are on a 2400 mile cross country road trip road trip and we just got a check engine light about 12 hours away from home. The check engine light, VSC, and tons of other lights appeared. Shortly after our cruise control disengaged and then A/C stopped blowing cold air. We were cruising along in 100F degree weather at about 75-80mph climbing a 10-mile incline with the AC on full blast.
We got to a Toyota dealership but they are closed until Monday so we'd have to wait 2 days for them to check it out. We went to pep boys and they found the code to be "Drive Motor B" which they said should be fixed by Toyota dealership (but he said he didn't really know what the issue is).
I did a quick search and found this might be the inverter coolant pump. Like another poster, I found the car seems to work okay when the AC is off.
I have a 2004 Pruis. Lately I have been noticing a problem with the cruise control. Often when I press the button to turn on the CC it will not come on, but if I turn the steering wheel to the left a bit I am able to turn on the cruise, sometimes when I turn the wheel back it will continue to work and other times it will not. I tried to search and found others posts about prius CC but couldn't find anything that included all of my symptoms.
View 6 RepliesMy steering wheel controls on the lower half quit working last year , then the cruise control quit intermittently last month , then the air bag light starts appearing last week. Deciding this means a failed clock spring / spiral cable , I took apart my spiral cable housing, and found two obvious breaks in the electrical wiring . I first bought a salvage unit on Ebay, to find it arrived bound, didn't turn freely (and no returns from seller). I then bought one from the dealer and installed it last week and very happily have all symptoms fixed!
The replacement was easier than I expected, the steering wheel was not actually very tight, I doubt I needed the steering wheel puller I 'borrowed' from the parts store , could have just loosed the main nut, wiggled and tugged it loose. Just a note be sure to remove 12 volt power from the car, and mark the steering wheel center shaft to the steering wheel for reinstall .
As a rural mail carrier I deliver mail out of my prius with the window down, traveling about 5 hours a day on dusty ,sand roads in Kansas. The car interior gets dusty and this caused the failure of the spiral cable.
Pic's of the old failed unit, the new one comes with some lubricant, white perhaps lithium grease for the ribbons/ wheels, mine had dryed up patches of grease, some I cleaned off the ribbons before the pictures where taken. I'll check the new one in a year, may regrease , cleaning it out to try to prevent this from happening again. I did add some plastic under the airbag to improvise a dust shield for the new spiral cable. Car has 197k bought it with 106k , now has around 60 k from driving on the route.
My cruise control doesn't work anymore. There is no blinking/cruise icon on the dash--period. Is this the result of the button being worn out or a relay/fuse? My little tank has 231k, so it has been used. BTW, I can't seem to find a write up for replacing the switch. Is there one?
View 16 RepliesWe drive a 2012 Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) 5 with a little under 20,000 miles. This is the situation:
Yesterday afternoon we were driving and the dynamic cruise control went out. The "PCS" indicator is now flashing, and the error code "E3" popped up where the cruise light used to be. If I turn cruise control off and then on again the E3 code will show up after a second or two.
I discovered later that if I turn the car off, turn cruise on right away, and switch to regular cruise that I can use regular cruise. The PCS indicator still flashes though. The interesting thing is that when the E3 code is up, I am unable to use either type of cruise control unless I turn the car off and switch to regular cruise right away. I am not really sure what happened or what to do next.
Is there a limit of cruise speed at 117KM/H on Prius v models ?Can it be unlocked ?
View 6 Replies