Prius (Gen 2) :: Car Suddenly Died At Idle When At A Red Light
Aug 13, 2012
I have a 2004 Prius @ 150k miles that randomly shut down today at idle.
My girlfriend was driving the car at the time and I received a call saying that the car would not start and she was stuck under a bridge. Apparently she was at a red light when the car died and it wouldn't start, so some people pushed the car out of the intersection. When I got there, the car started up fine, but I did notice that the traction battery was just about fully drained.
She mentioned that the car felt like it was in limp mode and that when she braked the whole car shook. After the car died, she tried to start it but it would just click, and it showed the red triangle. I've been driving the car for a few miles on and off the highway and no problems now and the red triangle never reappeared.
Past history of the car is just a P0420 CEL which is either the sensors or probably the cat. I just had the CEL re-read and its now showing in addition P0171 and P0121. I'm not sure when the P0171 and P0121 came up, but I did clean the MAF less than 10k miles ago.
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I recently purchased a 01 1.8t GTi with a blown timing belt. I got the car rebuilt, did all maintenance work like brakes , hub/bearings, bushings, oil and all the good stuff that goes into getting the car back up and running. I've finally started driving it and I'm having a weird issue.
Yesterday , I stopped at a red light and the car randomly died on me. Pushed it off the road and checked things out but I couldn't see if there was anything wrong but about 10 minutes later , I was able to restart the car and drive home. Now today , on my way home from work the car starts back firing and I lost all power and rolled to the side of the road where he car would just continue to crank. I was able to get it restarted but it cut out again a couple seconds after. I don't have my code scanner but I know I do have one lean code for something. Maybe cause I have a leak between turbo and dp. I don't have access to vagcom unfortunately..
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Went out to start my 2007 at 5:10am and it was as dead as a doornail. (Well, almost...I pushed the button for the cabin light and it barely lit). I panicked. Pulled out the manual and figured out that the 12v was dead. Woke up DH (who was not happy) and then we followed the instructions for the jump - which worked. (Hooray!) Didn't quite understand the "hold the pedal lightly for 2000 rpm before starting the car when there was no engine running " part...but I did sit there with my foot on the pedal pressing it down a bit. (Yes, I follow directions)
The car has about 60k miles. I drive 35 miles each way to work Monday through Friday. Weekends I only drive it around town a few miles. It may sit one of those days. I do keep the headlights on all of the time, in fact I have never turned them off. I thought that once I powered it off, everything was off? (Except that little security thing). The car is the basic model.
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Ford Ranger 20012.5LManual Transmission4 Cylinder Engine4x2 Drivetrain~160K Miles
While driving home tonight, my truck suddenly lost power, as if I turned the key to turn off the motor. There was a beep, the one that goes off whenever I open the door while the key is in or the light is on, then the "Check Gauge" light came on (the one that warns me when my gas tank is near empty), following that the yellow Battery light came on and finally the orange "Check Engine" light came on.
I pulled out into an empty dirt lot, but that was pretty difficult as the power steering was gone (since the truck was off). After parking the truck, I turned the key to the actual "Off" position, pulled the key out and gave the truck a few moments. I put the key back in and tried to get my truck running again. Of course, it didn't work, but I figured it wasn't the battery because it lacked the sputtering motor turn. There's that and the battery is under two years old. The truck seemed like it really wanted to turn and start, but it lacked a certain something to get it up and over that last hill to vehicular movement. I don't think I was lacking gas, since it should have given me the red "Check Gauge" light and even if I was, I know I have another 5 miles before I have to fuel up (I would know since I've tested it to see how far it would go on that light). I was pretty low on gas when this happened, so the thought came to me that maybe my gauge was starting to get a bit wonky. Then a more realistic thought came to mind.
I've had this bad habit for a while, where I fill my gas tank to only about a quarter or a half at the most. Part of it stems from a paranoia of having somebody siphon gas out of my truck at night; yes, I could have fixed this by installing a lock on the gas cap (albeit, my counter-argument is that it's better to have them take the little bit of gas than have hundreds of dollars of body damage from an aggressive thief). Anyway, I've heard that this habit of filling the tank below half can speed up fuel pump failures. Despite this, I've had no other symptoms of a fuel pump failure coming, as I haven't experienced any issues with surging/bucking.
So here are my questions:
1) Am I right in assuming it's a fuel pump failure?
2) Are these instructions to fuel pump replacement accurate? (Yes, I know the DIY Matrix provides every reason on why I should avoid doing this myself, but my wallet I'm itching for a project.
3) If it's not a fuel pump failure, what could it be?
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Well, since I had to fix the traction battery. The car I bought was a salvage vehicle that had been rebuilt.
On pesky problem was found after I'd had the car for about 4 months. I let it sit for three days. When I went to start it nothing happened. The 12 vdc Aux battery died. It tried charging it and it wouldn't charge. I bought a new aftermarket battery at WalMart and installed it. Merrily being led down the garden path I figured I'd not see that pesky problem again.
I was wrong. It continued. About the time I was going to tackle it, I moved and that took the next 4 months and the Prius sat idle when the HV Traction battery error cropped up.
This week I figured since all the carpets and shrouds were out of the trunk for the battery repair I'd look at the luggage courtesy light, it was the most obvious cause of an error. Sure enough the lamp would not shut off even though it seemed to operate correctly. It pulls up ground and turns on the light.
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I drove the truck a night before and all was well. 24 hours later no sign of power, completely dead. I jumped the battery last night and the truck started. I drove it around and came home started right up, this morning started without an issue.
What happened here, all doors were closed and dome was off. It is an Exide battery, I don't know how old the battery is, PO changed it.
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Traveling approximately 40-45 MPH and my engine just quits. I was able to turn(very hard without power) to get off the road. I tried to restart the vehicle and it wouldn't crank over. After calling roadside assistance and the PD, I tried again and it stated. On the same day, I was driving home from appointment and it happened again, this time while accelerating from a stop and making a left turn. Same scenario, only this time the truck turned over a lot quicker than the first time. A couple days later, it happens again while accelerating after a stop and making a left hand turn. Now I call the mechanics and ask if this could have something to do with the module they replaced for my AC. They check out the truck and get a new module to install, which they did under warranty. We also left the truck with them to drive to see if it did it to them, it didn't. So DH takes truck and he drives it and it does it to him. Now though, with me and with him, the truck seems to start back up quicker than the first and subsequent times. We are going away for a bit and plan to leave the truck with the mechanics to drive to see if it does it to them since they still haven't had it happen while they've had it. I'm stumped. They were able to fix the ac very reasonably and a few other things have popped up, but this truck has been really good to me and I'm trying to drive it into the ground, so to speak, as it still has very low mileage for its age. Of course, the thought of it just conking out while driving is very disconcerting. I wait until the roads are completely clear to do u-turns and such, but in the back of my mind, I know it can shut off anytime.
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I have a 2001 Volvo S80 with about 200,000 miles and it died on me while driving. The battery is about 6 months old. The shop I took it to said the timing chain slipped and might have caused damage to the piston and head. Does this seem reasonable as the cause?
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Driving home tonight went to take an exit and was over come with great surprise when my car didn't move haha. The power steering has seem to have gone. I got home and opened the hood, but due to the antarctic temps couldn't use my fingers to open the fluid cap. The little black box with the fluid seems to have a tick ticking every few minutes. Any thoughts as to what it could be. How bad is it to drive it like this till Thursday when I can make an appt..
I plan on bringing it to a mineke on break just to see if they can narrow it down.
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Factory fog lights worked fine, had body off for the head studs recently, they worked fine after. One day they just don't work. Fog light indicator light still comes on. Fuse is good. High beam indicator still works. Where to troubleshoot next?
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Once again back to the ol' 92 GMC C1500 V6. Had my Ford Escort air assembly disassembled to clean something and received an emergency phone call, the truck seems to start just fine so I took it to get where I needed to go. Ran fine no issues even took it on the highway, ran just like she used to. On the way back I stopped at a gas station, when I went to start it she wouldn't start (towed it home again).
Checked ignition system and it was fine, removed the top of air filter housing and filter and looked down into the fuel injection system and had a person crank the engine and once again no fuel was squirting out. Took out the injectors and they both tested good and the same, 1.7 ohms each, going out to rent noid light again but doubting it will do any good to test again but who knows at this point.
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So here's the scenario: Driving home. Traffic is pretty heavy, I'm not traveling more than 20 MPH. When I go to change lanes the engine suddenly dies; I have no more power and can barely steer the car off the highway. I had enough momentum to roll to the shoulder. Try to restart the car, but all I hear is a high-pitched whine.
Get towed to the dealer. The mechanic took a look and said the timing belt snapped and bent the valves. But he also thinks there might be additional damage to the engine. We're gonna get a better assessment of what's going on on Monday when the service department's boss comes back from vacation.
My question is: if the car is indeed dead, can I expect to get anything from VW? Will they reimburse me the value of the car towards a new car? Should I see how much to get the car fixed? (They say a new engine might be needed.)
Specifics on the car: 1999 Passat, 1.8 turbo, a little over 86k miles. Car is in great condition, aside from what just happened.
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Some guy I know was driving his 99 Mercury Sable Le about 30 mph when the speedometer suddenly died. Why did the speedometer suddenly die? The car continued to run albeit a bit sluggishly. He then stopped and turned off the ignition. He had been driving the car for only 5 minutes and the heat gauge was at the normal midpoint where it remained for almost an hour before declining. Why did the heat gauge take so long to decline? There also is a precedent to this puzzle. A couple weeks ago, he was driving the car 55 mph when the speedometer fluctuated wildly from 0 to 55. He stopped and after 10 minutes resumed driving without a hitch. Now he's had the 30 mph speedometer problem. In neither instance did the engine repair light appear. What's going on with the speedometer and the heat gauge? Where are those Magliozzi brothers when you need them?
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2000 Silverado ... 5.3 ... 260k miles ...
A while back the truck died on me driving down the road. It just stumbled a few times and then shut off. Acted like it was out of fuel. Drug it home and still would not start. Put fuel pressure gauge on, 0 fuel pressure. Bled gauge then cycled key to prime pump. Gauge read 40 psi, low but its something. Try to start truck and it fires right up. Assuming fuel pump is bad I go ahead and change the pump. All is good ~50 psi of fuel pressure.
Fast forward about 6 months and 10k miles to today. Same symptoms. Shuts off going down the road. Will not restart. Figure i would see if there is fuel pressure before I bother dragging it home again so I open the schrader valve with a small screwdriver and get a trickle of gas and a pssst. Try to restart truck, fires right up and drove it home. When I got home I put a FP gauge on it and fuel pressure is good. Ran fine all the way home.
Truck gives no codes/ warning lights. It does occasionally buck a little when trying to accelerate at low RPMs. (for example when in overdrive at ~45-50 and try to accelerate it will buck slightly) It's been doing that for years so I'm not sure if its related. Otherwise it runs good.
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2003 Toyota Matrix w/126,000 miles on it. Manual transmission just died suddenly while on the highway. I hear that this is common. This is not my first manual tranny, and car has been treated well. Web check & call to Toyota toll-free number reveal no recall. Toyota denies any knowledge of such a problem. They foisted me off, "Contact a local dealer for assistance." I await an estimate from a transmission shop. No longer trust Toyota. Will a rebuild solve this? Or should I seek new tranny? Are replacements any better? Or do they still use same lousy bearings/parts that made the original fail? Besides a new clutch, is there anything else one should repair/replace while car is taken apart? About how much should this cost, at most? Car is otherwise OK, do I repair & hope for another 75k miles, or do I junk the car? A friend suggests a 6-speed tranny.
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I own a 2009 Elantra Touring and it has treated me very well up until this past Saturday. Everything on the passenger side of the car (headlights, blinkers, mirrors, windows, locks, lights inside, break lights, tail lights, and reverse lights). What has happened, all I know is that when I turned my car on nothing worked on that side. I have checked the fuses that are inside on my drivers side and they all look just fine. I think I read somewhere that there may be fuses under the hood.
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My '93 Ford Ranger suddenly died while I was driving, no sputtering or bucking, it was just as though I had turned the key off. When i tried to restart, the engine would turn over but not engage. It's as though the engine is either getting no gas and/or spark. My shade-tree mechanic says he got a diagnostic code that was #539 followed by #1 seven times at two second intervals. he says he ran the test 6 times and got the same result every time. What this means?
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My car suddenly make a screeching noise and just died on the road. It sounded like I drove over some garbage thrown on the road, like a cardboard box or something. I have a 2003 Subaru Forester with 147010 miles. I have had it for one and half years. The seller had the transmission job done two years ago. It has a new water pump, spark plugs, tune up. The only thing that is not working is my driver side window. I was going to get it replaced this weekend.
I am not sure what happened. I am up to date on oil change, maintenance, and all the essentials. The car engine seemed slightly loud when I started it this after noon. I went to the grocer store, turned the A/c on and was on my way home. I was driving on the main road and the car stalled. I checked and made sure the fluids are full, Tried to start the car to drive it out of the main road, no luck. The police officer felt that it is a hazard to wait for the toe truck on the main road, hence ordered her tow truck.
The car is in my parking lot now. When i tried to start it, the check engine and the battery lights are on and the engine is making a hell of scratchy noise and the engine seems to be accelerating on its own.
I love my car and do take a good care of.Could not reach the mechanic due to the long weekend. Will tow it to the garage on Tuesday. I want to know what exactly do you think has happened. All I can say is we are going through a heat wave in CT. I park the car outside in the parking lot.
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My 2001 2.5 manual suddenly died. The starter turns the engine over, but I don't get a) fuel (changed the fuel pump) b) spark c) Engine check light. When I plug the OBDII reader in, it simply says "ERROR". No codes, no other language.
While trying to figure it out this morning, after trying to start it 50 times, it actually fired for a few seconds, but then died again.
I checked relays and fuses and nothing seemed bad. I swapped relays around too.
I unplugged the battery, then the computer, but nothing got it to fire again.
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My Father in Law's 95 Ranger, 4 Cylinder, 5 Speed has started acting strange. It has, in the past 3 weeks just died suddenly, and won't restart. No action at all when you turn the key, as if the battery is disconnected. Wait for 45 minutes to an hour, and it starts back up again.
He has had it to a local shop twice, and the only thing they have done is let it idle for 5 hours at the shop. Of course, it never stopped.
Now they are saying it is the clutch, and depending on the type of clutch, (big or small).
I've been working on cars most of my life, and even had an 87 Ranger, and I've gotta call BS on this. He says it happens mostly when coming to a stop.
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I am a cummins owner who just got a 2002 7.3 last week. It drove great for 200 miles then suddenly died last night going 60 mph. It sat overnight then started up and drove 10 miles then died again. I changed the cps and still no start. I changed the oil and let it sit overnight and it started this morning and idled for 5 minutes then died again. I have tried unplugging the ipc and still same no start situation. I plan to check the hpop level today to verify it is full. I also checked the nut on the ipr and it's electrical connection.
I am just a shade tree at best and would love some direction on where to look. I don't have any scan equipment to check pressures. Am I correct in thinking it is a bad ipr?
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