Let us all give thanks to the Internet

[TodFitch]

Our “new” car is a 2004 Prius which we took delivery on in the fall of 2003 and we now have nearly 190K miles on. Until recently it has been very trouble free with only scheduled service and new tires needed.

Last February on the way home from an errand the engine fault light came on, so I stopped at the dealer (happened to be on the way home) and found that the inverter coolant control valve had failed. Not a super expensive repair but still a repair.

Last November a bunch of fault lights came on, but by then I had acquired a ODBII Bluetooth dongle and an app for my smart phone. Lots of error codes but the top of the list said one of the motor generators had failed. An Internet search indicated that this might mean I'd need a whole new transmission at a cost higher than the value of the car. It was not drivable but I figured I might was well see what the dealer had to say about it. Turns out the top error code was wrong: The problem was with the crank position sensor. That kept the gasoline engine from starting which had the side effect of having one of the computers deciding that the electric motor that starts the engine was bad. Turns out it was a $70 part and a huge bill for labor and diagnostics.

On New Year's Eve on the way back to the hotel I noticed the outside temperature wasn't showing on the center “multi-function display” (MFD). The next day, filling the tank, the trip and mileage information on the MFD did not show up. And on the way home the radio and climate control systems started acting weird.

So on to the Internet where I find that this is/was a pretty common problem with my era Prius and that Toyota actually had a unannounced (now lapsed) policy of replacing the MFD with one that has slight manufacturing changes. But if you did not get yours for free, they wanted something like $4000 for one back in 2007. That is more than the current Blue Book value of my car. Yikes! A quick look on ePay shows a number of them, in unknown condition, at prices around $200 to $300, a much more reasonable price.

But more to the point, way back in 2005 someone with more electrical chops than I dug into one of the MFD failures and found it had to do with a bad solder joint on a connector joining two boards together. The best part is he posted his findings and it seems that others have taken it from there and found that many/most of the failures are due to a bad solder joint on one of two pins on that connector.

And there are also detailed instructions on how to remove the MFD (you have to take the whole dash apart). A process that is not obvious just looking at the car. If your are curious, instructions can be found at http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/chris-dragon-dash.pdf Seeing a YouTube video showing a young fellow swapping out a MFD in two minutes indicated the removal and install might be fairly easy.

I have a soldering iron and while my hand is not as steady as it once was and my eyes are not as sharp this is starting to sound like a project I might be able to do. 

So about 10:00 this morning I went on out to rip the car apart and see if my problem could be fixed. I was done in 1.5 hours with zero cost in parts or material (I used an insignificant amount of solder from my stock) and my initial testing suggests the problem is fixed. At least it was not working before I ripped into it and it is working now. How long it will last is another question.

I had to use a magnifying glass, a steady rest for my wrist and a little copper wire held on to the tip of my soldering iron to reduce the size of the tip: The leads on that connector are tiny and very close together. And I only had one unexplained screw and snap tab thingy left over.

Hurrah for the Internet: I'd never have attempted this without detailed instructions.

Unfortunately, this is the third failure on this car in the last year which is getting me worried about how reliable it will be going forward. I was hoping for another 20K to 30K more miles before I retired it. That is beginning to seem a little optimistic.

[Flatie46]

Glad you were able to sort it out without having to get a 2nd mortgage. On the newer cars the "service engine soon" light should be a dollar sign and as the problem gets more serious it progressively adds more dollar signs.  I like reading this kind of info, never know when it may come in handy.  I remember when my son had just got his license several years back, he inherited a 99 Dodge 4x4 from his papaw. He called me and said the transmission had went out. I was thinking boy this is going to be expensive. Diagnosed it through the internet and it was just a corroded battery cable causing the issue.

 Good luck with that car, hope you get plenty more miles from it.

[ggdad1951]

17 hours ago, Flatie46 said:

Glad you were able to sort it out without having to get a 2nd mortgage. On the newer cars the "service engine soon" light should be a dollar sign and as the problem gets more serious it progressively adds more dollar signs.  I like reading this kind of info, never know when it may come in handy.  I remember when my son had just got his license several years back, he inherited a 99 Dodge 4x4 from his papaw. He called me and said the transmission had went out. I was thinking boy this is going to be expensive. Diagnosed it through the internet and it was just a corroded battery cable causing the issue.

 Good luck with that car, hope you get plenty more miles from it.

A piece of black electrical tape to cover the light is CHEAP!

[Dennis_MN]

I recently had the "check engine" light go on on my 2012 Chev Cruze, so I took it in to my normal  oil Change place and they read the codes.  Cam cover, intake manifold, and a sensor, all told with labor was $1193 and change.  The worse thing was the $400 for the intake manifold.  It has a sensor built in so if it goes bad, the whole thing gets changed.  So I took it back to the dealer and discovered that it was covered under the 5 year 100,000 mile power train warranty.  That made me happy but also sad because that is one complicated system that will break the bank in the future.  Black tape will need to be involked.  

[TodFitch]

I don't know about that black tape bit: With my car, in both cases were the fault light came either the car would not run (bad crank sensor) or would have sustained very expensive damage (inverter coolant control failure leading to total heat related failure of the drive electrics) had it not been attended to. Black tape does not sound like an option for either of these.

Having a sensor (I assume, all things considered, a fairly failure prone part) built in to a manifold (a fairly expensive part) sounds like a bad design to me. But I guess that type of thing is pretty common nowadays with all the electrical stuff on cars. A bit curious about why a cam cover. . . Unless there was a failed sensor in it or something what is to go wrong with one of those?

[Young Ed]

You can do some wonderful things. About 2 months ago my wifes van got rear ended and the shoved into a couple more cars. About 2 weeks later we were out to dinner and the alarm started going off. Like someone had pushed the panic alarm. We don't even own the fob for the van. Didn't happen again so I just figured maybe interference from something in the area. That is until Christmas Eve at the inlaws when it happened 2 more times almost back to back. Quick google search says these are notorious for the hood switch failing. Told me where to look and sure enough in about a minute I had it unplugged. So far hasn't happened again. 

[JBNeal]

I thought my 20+ year old garage door opener had bit he dust, did some net research and spent 20 bucks on a new transmitter and receiver, problem solved...friend had problems with her opener, more research and a sawbuck for a new sprocket, problem solved...the 1976 Maytag was having probs, research gets me a part number that the local service ppl could not find, ironically enough the $20 part was sitting on the shelf behind the counter and that washing machine is still humming along...thought I needed a new starter for The Blue Bomber, did some research and Geno's had a repair kit for a fraction of the replacement starter that took minutes to install...the Outback blew a headgasket and I thought it was the end of the road for that buggy, did some research and found that it is possible to fix without pulling the engine or needing special tools, also found the non-chinese factory reman.part# for replacement half shafts that the dealer could not find, kept that buggy on the road for half the cost of original estimates for another 2 yrs before trading it in...and best of all, Dad bought a KenTool small tire changer years ago that had no instructions with the assortment of parts that came with it, we cussed at it a ton but could not figure the thing out so it sat in the corner of the barn for a decade, we need to put new tires on big mowers that we plan on keeping so I do research and find a factory how-to video on YouTube that demonstrates the usage of each part that came with it, I have since used that changer several dozen times for mowers, golf carts, ATVs, for ourselves and our neighbors, with very little colorful metaphors...that Al Gore sure did a good job with that internet that he invented

[Don Coatney]

Watching my big Visio flat screen TV about 10 years ago and it popped that sounded like a shotgun going off and went black. I dug it out of the cabinet and put it on the dining room table. Disassembled it looking for any obvious problems. Found burn marks on the power supply board. Went to the net and searched. Found only 3 power supply cards available and bought one. Installed it and the TV is still working. Gotta love the internet.

[Dennis_MN]

5 hours ago, TodFitch said:

A bit curious about why a cam cover. . . Unless there was a failed sensor in it or something what is to go wrong with one of those?

My Cruze has a turbo, so I assume that the cam cover has a fair amount of pressure that can leak. In fact the check  engine light went on again after a mile and the dealer put on another cam cover.  Said the first one was warped.  My 49 Dodge was a whole lot simpler!

[Jeff Balazs]

From it's inception my Pilothouse daily driver project was built as way to avoid just the sort of electronics nonsense you guy's are talking about here. And I have to say so far so good. Thanks for helping me achieve my goal.

Jeff

[DonaldSmith]

Internet-guided repairs:

Panasonic microwave, replaced the fuse, hardware store cheap.  Honey, I fixed the microwave.

Computer flat screen monitor, replaced condensers per internet kit.  Still going strong.

Neighbor's Odessey van, helped neighbor replace sliding door rollers each side, 30 bucks each, vs $350 dealer charge, per door.

Retired my HP Laserjet printer, memory problem.  (The computer's memory, not mine.) Baked the circuit board in the oven, per internet suggestion. I still have to connect the printer to a second computer to tee if it worked; worth a shot.   

[Dennis_MN]

A couple of weeks ago my HP laser jet 6500 all in one quit feeding paper.  A guy on the internet said the problem was a broken feed gear that was slipping on the drive gear. He said to get a mirror an place it in the paper supply and look up. Slide the gear to the left, apply some JB weld on the drive gear, then slide the broken gear back over and let it sit for 24 hours.  Bingo, it works again, instead of hitting the trash.  Yeah Internet!

[iowa51]

On 1/5/2017 at 5:06 PM, Don Coatney said:

Watching my big Visio flat screen TV about 10 years ago and it popped that sounded like a shotgun going off and went black. I dug it out of the cabinet and put it on the dining room table. Disassembled it looking for any obvious problems. Found burn marks on the power supply board. Went to the net and searched. Found only 3 power supply cards available and bought one. Installed it and the TV is still working. Gotta love the internet.

I had a Visio big screen also that popped and smoked when I was walking by it one day in my basement when it was shut off. Was used only for gaming as the remote didn't work and the button to change channels on the TV would either not work at all or keep changing channels until it was unplugged. Didn't want to burn the house down so took it out to my dads and the kids used it for target practice. Not as much fun as the 1st shot at a tube type TV.

The power sliding door on my wife's 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan quit working. Dealership said the motors are known to go bad and it was an $800.00 estimate to get fixed as they had to remove the door. Searched the internet and found a common problem was a wire in the bundle of the flexible track would stretch and break. Mine was broke in the same exact spot as the video. 1/2 hour of my time and some wire/black tape/connectors and problem was fixed. Wonder how many "motors" this dealership replaced when it was actually a broken wire. The dealership is no longer in business. Brother-in-law had a 2003 with the same problem. Showed him what I did to our van and he fixed his.