Noticed after long trips of a couple hours, the Prius rattles and creaks even when cruising in a parking lot at 5mph. I think it's kinda funny. That is, unless it doesn't happen to anyone else and there's actually something wrong with my car.
View 5 RepliesHow do I diagnose if I have an upper control arm problem?? hmr 1979 did a great job of reporting in great detail with pics, on how to replace a control arm.
My car is making creaky, creaky, sounds when I hit a bump on the passenger front corner. I have been thinking that the "top hat" mount to the strut was bad, but now hmr 1979 has me thinking that my upper control arm has a bad bushing. My front struts are originals with 91K on the odo. However, the struts still seem to perform well. Is there any sure fire way to learn if I have a bad bushing on the upper control arm??
Have had the following happen 3 times to me during longer (1-2 hrs) drives where I'm driving straight through, no stops, highway driving.
Running along fine when out of the blue, the A/C temp remains strong and cold, but the airflow drops dramatically to the equivalent of 1 or 2 bars on the fan dial. However, the fan dial remains at 5,6 or higher. Upping the fan dial does little to increase the speed of airflow. Adjusting the air source intake buttons changes nothing.
Only thing to correct this is to stop the car and let it sit, off, for about 20-30 minutes, or more. Re-start the car and it's all back to normal.
Searched the forums and can't find anything on Elantra, altho some Tuscon's seem to have had similar issue on older models, although their descriptions were more dramatic, w/the A/C going out w/in 20-30 minutes.
I have a base model 2009 Corolla and I find that on long drives (anything over an hour) the seats become incredibly uncomfortable. I have developed back pain I did not have before I bought the car. My wife drives an 05 corolla and I have no problems with it (even on 5 hour drives) so I can only assume that Toyota cheap out on the newer generation's seats. I have tried many different cushions, lumbar supports, and seat heaters, but none of them work all that well. Adjusting the seating position does not work either. I installed cruise control and while that worked a bit, it was no solution.
View 14 RepliesI have a 1999 chevy silverado 5.3 4wd w/ tow package. I bough it with 30,000 mi. It has always had a hard shifting/clunk after long drives or sometimes short ones that involve a lot of elevation. Oddly, if I stop and shut the car off for a minute or two the hard shifting stops, but eventually starts again. The truck now has 160,000...still with the shifting issue. What is this and with this many miles is it serious?
View 4 RepliesThis is one of the strangest things I have ever encountered. when i start my car the climate control system works perfectly and it never has any issues driving around town. however for the past year or so every time i take a long drive over an hour and a half the force of the air coming out of the vents starts to diminish to the point where the only circulation i am getting is from the outside vent.
The strange thing is i can hear the fan blowing behind the dashboard and when i hold my hand to the vent the air coming out if very cold / hot depending on where i set the dial so it doesn't appear to be an issue with the AC or heater core .
I am thinking there might be some type of obstruction but that doesn't explain why the symptoms occur like clockwork on long drives.
I've taken on repairing my mother in laws '07 Prius after a drive-shaft broke and once at the dealers the quote was heading towards £2k with the worn discs/pads and leaking water pump added on. The discs and pads were a breeze and a drive shaft should be with me on Monday (it broke off in the outer cv, probably due to being hammered into the hub after a backstreet garage changed the spit boot) but the water pump or should i say coolant is proving tricky. I drained coolant from the rad and back of the petrol engine block and got about 2.5l or 3 quarts. I then removed the leaking pump, virtually no coolant came out of the pump housing and I fitted the new pump.
To refill the system I open the breather on the rad and slowly replaced all the fluid. I also refilled the petrol engine reservoir and put a drop in the inverter reservoir but that had not drained out. I reckon near enough the same amount went back in as came out. I read a post by Pat Wong and started the petrol engine in inspection mode and it seemed to run fine but just cut out after around 4-5 mins.
All along the VSC, ABS, yellow exclamation mark in circle and yellow square with sliding car in warning lights were on but not the big red triangle or yellow engine light. Also, the red exclamation in circle (handbrake?) will not go off. The inspection mode procedure still works but there seems a long delay with chirping sounds before the engine fires. It still runs fine but again cuts out after a few mins. Could it be shutting off due to brake/driveshaft issues or has air crept into the inverter? Maybe disconnecting the battery for five mins will reset the lights?
I was playing around with my Prius the other day and discovered something disturbing...
Do the following:
Get in the car
Start it
Take the keys out and put them inside
get in the car
drive away.
I did this yesterday and drove away without the keys and the car never turned off.
After washing my car this morning, I pulled it into the garage, pushed the park button, then the power button and got out of the car. Shortly after entering my house from the garage the horn started sounding very loudly. I grabbed the keys and ran back out to the garage to see what was wrong. I pushed the power button again but it just went to the accessory setting, then I powered up and checked to be sure I was in park, brake set, no door open. When I pushed the power button again, the horn stopped and everything seemed to be normal. I checked some other threads but they seemed to be about a horn alarm. I have not had an alarm activated that I know about.
View 4 RepliesLast night, I was cruising at 35mph and the car suddenly stalled. All the lights popped up (red triangle, CEL and PROBLEM on the the center display) and I pulled over to a stop. I tried restarting it immediately, but the car would not go into ignition mode. The car was driving fine up to that point. No maintenance or work was performed on the car recently. When in accessory mode, all the lights, radio, etc. worked. I disconnected the 12v battery for 5 minutes but it had no affect. I searched the forum, but did not find a thread about this occurrence. I rented a OBDII scanner but it needs to get into the IGN mode to read the codes! What is the problem? A simple faulty switch or relay?
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On my way home from work today I could not believe my eyes when the Hybrid Warning Light came on…yes, the RED TRIANGLE! I was just cruising down the highway and I heard a relay click and then I saw the warning light illuminate. Also I noticed the A/C air started warming up, the fan stayed on though, so I am guessing the computer shut off the compressor?
View 15 RepliesLeaving parking lights on. How long will it take to drain the battery enought that you cant start the car? Is there any type of auto-shut off in there?
Here is why I am asking:
It recently snowed up here in NY and I park on the street. I was thinking about leaving my parking lights on overnight so nobody (namely a plow) mistook my car for a snow drift. For those who dont know, the parking lights are left on by simply turning on the headlights and removing the key.
Having issue with E-Brake when car has been park for a long time. Mine makes noise every time I leave my car park for a long time, like as if the brakes are stuck on the rotor. It would make a noise as if my rotors were rusty, and would diminish after the car has been driven around town for quite some time, but does not completely go away.
View 12 RepliesI meant to ask a while ago if other people hear it too, it's right after you park and turn off your car you step out and can hear the metal ticking/clanking/tapping sounds from all over the car. I hear it all seasons, cold or hot days.
Is this just steel parts like the exhaust tubes cooling down? I never heard this much on other cars I've had so that's why it seems strange to me.
My Lexus SC430 parking sensor alarm sounds intermittently while I am driving. (No, I do not tailgate the car in front.)
It has happened several times, all but once when it was raining. On that one occasion, the sun was shining. It happened again today while it was raining, and continued to sound after the rain had stopped, but the road was still wet.
What could be causing this to happen, and how can it be prevented. I have decided to fit an ON-OFF switch, if the problem cannot be solved conventionally.
I have a problem with my car I notice 2 time when I was driving from city to province about 270km distance and speed 102km/h my car was appear red check engine sign I don't know what is the problem. Last time it was disappear by its self after 2 days ...
View 3 RepliesPrius has taken on a new habit. When making turns at any respectable speed, there's a very noticeable knocking sound. I've had the windows rolled down and can't tell whether it's coming from the right side or the left. I'm pretty sure it's coming from the front.
I just put him up on blocks and rolled under to check out the front suspension, turning mechanism and anything else I can see. It wasn't long before I realized what I'm looking at nor am I likely to recognize any problems if I saw it. Having said that, nothing looked broken or dangling.
He's due for a 100,000 mile check-up. Since I'm heading to the dealership, it would be easy for me to have them look at it.
I have an opportunity to get a high voltage battery from a salvage Prius. I don't need a replacement now but thought having an extra battery would be a good idea. How long can the battery be stored? Maybe switch them out every few months to keep both charged?
View 3 RepliesI go over a mountain pass, to and from work. It is about a two mile up and down incline/decline. On several occasions while going up the pass,the gas motor has rapidly accelerated at a high rpm. I back off the gas pedal and check the 'battery indicator bars' and there are none. I then drive very slowly to the top of the pass and the batteries quickly recharge on the decline to a color of all light green bars, indicating a full charge. Same experience coming home. Once I do normal town driving, the bars settle around 'four or five blue bars.' Local dealer says there is on problem. I am driving at 55 mph when this happens.
View 4 Replies2008 Prius gen ll.. I had to take an unplanned out of state trip this week. For most of the highway time (2 days each way at +/- 65mph) the hybrid battery was almost always fully charged(green bars). The arrow every few seconds pointed towards the battery indicating charging even though the battery showed all green bars. Every now and then, several times per minute it would out pulse a short blast of energy to the system but not enough to bring it down to blue bars.
MPG was down about 10% . P>G didn't seem to except when I was in town. Taking my foot off the gas pedal didn't always result in the 99.9 indication unless I was going down an incline. I went from Northern Michigan to South Louisiana so temperature wasn't the culprit. The only thing different is that my 12v ignition battery failed just before leaving and the dealership replaced it.
At normal speeds, when I pulled off the interstate for gas/food/sleep the system worked OK, blue bars charging and discharging and good gas mileage. P&G worked normally. I've had this car for 5 years now and only a few times over that period have I noticed the hybrid battery fully green.
I have a 2008 fully loaded Prius.
Keyless entry. it will not lock but pressing the black nubs or via either set keys. It some times beeps or does nothing.
I verified all doors are closed and there is no door open light on the dash. Every time I exit the car the car gives 3 beeps and the key light on the dash flashes.