The engine is fairly hot after driving 2 miles in hot weather. Waiting a minute or longer for green light. No A/C or fan. Battery is 3/4 full (judging by number of bars). Windows fully open to cool the cabin. My foot is on the brake. The ICE suddenly starts and turns off at the same time. I had the car for near 3 years and this is the first time.
View 6 Replies Wife found and purchased a 1989 Celica GT...everything is mechanically sound...except that when we took the car into service place to get a/c service done, they charged the system and said that it is fine...(was a few ounces low on freon), but that our condenser fan doesn't seem to kick on when the a/c button is activated on the dash We have the "Push Button" style Automatic a/c. Manual trans, 3sfe 2.0 liter. I have checked voltage at the condenser fan...it is present....jumpered the ground wire to a ground and the fan runs...I swapped the relay out with the regular engine fan relay, which seems to work fine....no good, so I don't think it is a relay issue.
The compressor seems to kick in and work, cycling on and off as usual. Get nice cold air as long as car is moving above 30 mph. I have the tools, no real fear of taking stuff apart, but even though I have a schematic of the a/c system...I find it confusing and daunting. My service place mentioned either the a/c controller or the a/c amplifier may be the culprit. He also mentioned that those parts are no longer available from Toyota.....said there was a way around it to get the condenser fan to fire when the button is pushed on....but wanted $300 for the "no more than 30 minutes to do the wiring". He seemed rather "sharkish" to me....like instead of charging for time, he put a "what's it worth to you to have a/c" hijack price on it.
Here's an interesting problem our B5 (2001 1.8T) has experienced recently -- When backing up and then applying the brakes there's very little effective braking occurring, sometimes to the point of the pedal traveling almost to the floor. I've recently had the brake pads and rotors checked -- all rotors are OK and the front pads are "almost new" condition. The rear pads were showing significant wear and I had those replaced, but we're still seeing the same problem.
I can also tell that braking action driving forward feels less than optimal, although not nearly as troubling as when attempting to stop in reverse. I'm suspicious of a problem with the vacuum assist unit, either a bad hose or possibly a defect in the boost unit itself. Can the VW shop definitively test the appropriate vacuum line(s) to the booster and the booster unit itself for a problem?
I have a 2014 Accent (standard) and I have been noticing a noise when ever the GDI pump is in action. Noise was much louder in winter as if a hard plastic piece was transmitting vibration, this is very annoying. Dealer's technician confirms its from GDI but tells me its normal, I do not remember earing that noise in the car I test drove before buying. This is the only downside to my new car but a big one for me.
View 5 RepliesSons saturn will not go into gear after a hard braking action. The shifter will move, the car just acts like it is in nuetral, engine revs with gas, no movement in any gear or reverse. After waiting for a few minutes he can put it in gear and go as if nothing happened. I have checked the fluid, its nice pink and clear and full. He says it has happened 3 times in the past week, has driven it for over a year with no major problems. He is 17, but seems decent with a manual.
I have tried to replicate but can not the car drive good, no shifting problems on normal driving and no check engine lights.
I have a 2010 VW GT with the 6 speed manuaI. The shift action feels longer and sloppier than the action was on the five speed from my much missed 2002 VW Passat wagon (only option the v6 engine). I'm considering a short throw shifter and would like to understand the pros and cons, and which shifter would be the best one for my car.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2002 Accent GS. Their is fuel flow out of the fuel filter. I've changed out the spark plugs and sprayed starting fluid into the cylinders, and still will not start. So there is no electricity to the spark plugs. Replaced all of the ECU fuses in the engine compartment and under the dash, and still will not start.
Don't think it is the coil pack, because I can't imagine both coils failing at same time. Think it is a relay or sensor. Which relay or sensor would also prevent power from going to the instrument panel gauges but still allow the instrument panel warning lights? Main relay? Crankshaft position sensor? Throttle position sensor?
I have noticed a serious bump steer or a violent jerking action when hitting a bump in the road. Just over a year ago I replaced ball joints,tie rods, sway bar links (2nd set since cutting off original). I used MOOG components. I was shocked to see the sway bar links loose once again. Is there a certain way to tighten them or is there a better product available. Mostly stock 1999 'ploder with fire wires and scremin demon coil pack.
View 3 RepliesI own a 2003 Toyota Camry SE four cylinder sedan with only 46,000 miles. The car has four wheel disc brakes and an anti-skid braking system. About a year ago, I started to notice that there was excessive travel in the brake pedal. That is, the pedal will travel an excessive distance before there is any braking action. I have tried to correct the problem by pumping the brakes as I back out of my driveway to engage the self-adjusting mechanism; doesn't work. I have also gotten in the habit now of pumping the brake pedal; that works a little, but it's not a solution. Being an old chap who always maintained my car myself, and diagnosed and repaired most problems, I concluded that the problem was the master cylinder because when stopped at a light, the brake pedal would continue to go down. Incidentally, there has been no loss of brake fluid since I bought the car new in 2003. Recently, I had the master cylinder replaced and learned that I'm not as car-smart as I thought. There is no improvement in the pedal travel problem.
View 3 RepliesMy head lights will not go on, yet the tail lights and parking lights work fine. Even the turn signals work.
View 3 RepliesHere is my problem. In the mornings when I turn on the car and begin to drive away, it operates as if it is in EV mode even though the ECO or PWR light is on. The motor (ICE) turns on as part of the initial warm up but it does not power the car on acceleration. I continue to accelerate enough so that it should ordinarily kick in the motor, but it is only electric powering my car and the battery quickly drains before I even reach the end of my block. I've tried warming up the car, pushing all the EV, PWR, ECO buttons randomly but the only way I've found to fix the problem is to floor it completely which finally starts the motor. Then the problem doesn't happen again until I start the car to go home after work. The problem is most evident in PWR mode where I can clearly tell that the motor (ICE) is not powering the fast acceleration.
View 19 RepliesI understand that the ICE comes on to warm up the coolant and recharge the battery if low. However, in the middle of summer and with a full battery, my ICE still comes on even if I have just parked for a short while. Is that normal? I have heard that it doesn't come on for some people if the battery is not lower than 2 bars and the coolant should stay warm for a couple of days.
View 19 RepliesI'm relatively new to owning a Prius (just over a month now) and am loving it so far. I've also been lurking these forums for a while and love reading over the technical explanations of how the Prius works and all that stuff. There something that I've been curious about recently
As we all know, unless it's already been running/warmed up recently the ICE has to start up around 7 seconds after turning on the ignition (unless in EV mode). When it does, fuel consumption figures go through the roof (10-15L/100km - which equates to around 20mpg) which is obviously very high.
Now, I leave my Prius in the underground garage of my apartment complex which is basically about 20 degrees celsius (70 fahrenheit) year round, which is pretty warm. So I'm curious about a few things:
1) Why the engine has to warm up when it is stored in a warm environment anyway (a regular ICE car doesn't need to warm up - you can turn it on a drive off).
2) Why fuel consumption is so high when the engine presumably isn't actually doing anything other than idling (or is it??)
3) To improve fuel consumption, would it be better to start off in EV mode, and only switch to normal/ECO when I know I'm actually going to need the ICE such as when I enter the actual roadway (so the engine is never in use when it is not actually powering the car)? I know fuel consumption will still be higher than normal as with any car when it is first started, but wouldn't this at least save it turning on unnecessarily?
4) If it is better to do this, why does it need to 'warm up' at all?
Rule one of key fobs: Never run them through the washer! they are never that dirty. Although if one contemplates the dirt factor of money, fobs can't be that far behind. The odds of all these years of electronic hardware in the pockets finally caught up to me. It happened.
Now my fob has lost its mind. It is randomly issuing "lock the doors" commands to the car, which makes it entertaining to travel with. Just for fun there are random intervals of behaving itself. This winter I leashed my fob in my parka. Couldn't risk losing that thing out in the fields.
Still working on the ac problem, both fans are blowing in towards the motor with the AC on max, inside fan on high.(blower was replaced by dealer 5/13). Still no cold air.
View 7 RepliesI left home and got 1/2 mile down the road when the ABS, VSC and the Dreaded Red Triangle came on. I've cleaned the battery cooling fan (Big Dogs) recently and the dealer changed the Inverter cooling pump a few weeks ago. It is working as I see fluid moving in the reservoir. When I power up the car, the Battery cooling fan comes on within 30 seconds high speed. I've never heard it run on high speed before. When I put my hand in front of the cooling outlet I feel hot air.
The car has 182K miles on it. The charge screen shows the battery about 1/2 full.
The starting battery is original but has never been a problem.
I turn the car off and 1 of 3 things happen.
Nothing and everything is fine.
It restarts itself instantly and everything is reset ( radio stations, gas gauge, MPG info )
I shut the door and start to walk away and it restarts ( and everything in 2 )
Just like number 2, everything just resets ( it looses it's memory) but it doesn't restart.
Or I get in the car and nothing happens at all. I sit there push the power button NOTHING, no lights, no panel lights, no response whatsoever. At this point I usually just wait and keep pushing it until it finally starts. Sometimes if I shut the door hard it will come back to life, but not always. My first thought was the 12v battery, but I ran the checker on the car and it seems fine, I also had it checked at and they said that it was fine.
I feel like the car is possessed or something. It doesn't always happen but today it happened 8 times, and that's just effing annoying.
Went to turn on the AC on our 2011 Prius and its blowing out nothing but hot air . The AC lights light up as if it's on and operates as if it's on but it feels like the heater .
View 13 RepliesI bought the OEM-quality fog lights from the site's Prius store a while ago and had them installed. Two days ago, I was walking down my drive in the middle of the night to get the newspaper. My car was parked right outside the garage with the doors locked. I was startled to see that my fog lights were on,even though my car was off. My car had been sitting outside for 2 days due to a brief cold snap we had here (I had filled all 3 of the garage parking spots with thousands of my super-tropical plants so they wouldn't be hurt by the cold).
Thinking back, this was the first time in a really long time that I have even seen my car in a nighttime/dark setting, so no telling how long my fog lights have been going without ever shutting off. I only drive my Prius about once every two or three weeks, so it usually is sitting in my garage. Anyway, I have turned it on/off, locked/unlocked it manually and with the remote, driven it up and down the street, turned the lights and the fog lights on/off in every possible combination, etc., and the fog lights simply will NOT go off. Nothing happens when I push the fog light button on the dash. When the car is powered off, the fog lights dim down to approximately the output of a 7w household nightlight. They brighten on up to their normal intensity/output once the car is powered on.
I know NOTHING at all about car wiring, so I don't have a clue what might be wrong. I replaced the Prius battery with a more powerful one a while back; otherwise the car battery would definitely be dead by now.
The abs and vsc lights have been going on and off for a few weeks. I waited until the lights were on and stayed on so the dealer could get any codes because they have said they can't read them if the lights are off. So they come back after 20 minutes and tell me that the lights are on but their computer says there is no problem.
That means to them there is some communication problem and they need at least 2 hours to figure out the communication problem. Then they can start figuring out why the abs and vsc lights are.
Is there a way to tell whether my 2004 Prius has factory DIB headlight?
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