Estima Hybrid AHR20 Engine Died.

[Jeffa]

Hi Everyone thought I'd share this.

I have been driving my Toyoto Estima Hybrid AHR20 with no problem since purchasing in June, up until last Friday on the school run in a line of traffic the engine seemed to shudder with a powerful clunk  and died, limping along in a line of heavy traffic on Battery, I was hoping I could make it to a side road which I did luckily. I tried re-starting but the engine light was on and the engine wouldn't restart for long and seemed to rattle itself to die. Not having breakdown cover (I meant to take one out) I called the AA and for £99 for that days callout and £81 for cover per year. They put it on a truck and took me home. I checked with an OBD tester and found fault code P3190 -Powertrain, I disconnected  the 12v Aux Battery for some mins to reset the ECU and retried, the engine started and seemed to run fine for some seconds then shuddered to a noisy clunking stop. Looking on line that fault code could be the MAF unit. So looking for the MAF unit I took the air filter out only to find evidence of mice, with a hole in the air filter and bits of air filter all around. I replaced the air filter but again seemed to start ok but within seconds it shuddered, engine light on, resetting by leaving the aux Battery off I tried again but to no avail. There may be some dirt on the MAF unit or even in the inlet manifold clogging up, but difficult to see, I guess it's to the right of and behind the filter not easy for me to get to, so I'll have to call out a mechanic this week, hope It's not to expensive. Any mobile toyota hybrid engineers in the Brentwood Essex area?. Also I meant say there was a strong smell of petrol as flooding occured I guess.

Edited December 6, 2020 by Jeffa
Extra info.

[flash22]

Do you have enough petrol in the car ? Have you filled up recently ?

It could be any number of issues from fuel to cam/crank sensor issues- it may even be a bad fuel pump

edit. That filter looks like it's been eaten by a mouse if the engine has sucked in anything it may cause issues

pull the filter and vacuum the intake (with a vacuum cleaner) and see what it sucks up

[Jeffa]

Yes thanks for that, I filled up last Monday, the gauge says 3 Quarters of a tank, I've only done 90 miles since. The engine starts and seems to run fine for about 5 seconds before it starts juddering and I have to stop it from tearing itself to bits, with a strong smell of petrol. I don't know if any of the filter material went into the inlet manifold, could this cause the ECU to increase petrol but lack of air intake makes the engine over rich and stop.I can't see into the inlet manifold or check the MAF, it's so far into the engine compartment. Thanks again.

[Jeffa]

Thanks for that, just tried vacuuming as best I can may have got something out but not cured, difficult to get to the manifold. I probably need a better diagnostic to try and pinpoint the exact problem. Thanks for the help.

[Jeffa]

I decided to phone a local mobile mechanic to seee if he could help, although he said he wasn't familiar with Hybrids, he came out to have a look, after a bit of testing and looking he told me to try and start the car while he sprayed engine start into the air inlet, this seemed to keep the engine running, but after looking at fault codes he suggested that the hybrid Battery was low and gave me the number of his mate who does deal with reconditioning hybrid batteries, he charged £75 for the hour or so he was here. I still thought it was something to do with the MAF or filter stuff in the inlet manifold. The problem is that the MAF unit is tucked away facing the far side of the engine and with the plastic grille cover across the bottom of the windscreen and underneath that a sheet metal plate across the car that carries the windscreen wiper motor and mechanism. I decided to try and remove the plastic grille cover and cross plate because I needed to test the MAF and try to look into the inlet manifold. The plastic grille came away fairly easy being clipped in with plastic push fasteners each side and in the middle, and wiggle it away from the windscreen. Next came the sheet metal plate which had 4x M10 bolts up under the windscreen and 3 x M10 bolts either side, there are 4 bolts on the left hand side holding the window wiper gear, these don't need removing. Undoing the bolts and carefully pulling the plate away from the car with bulky wiper motor and gear, with  the plate removed access is greatly improved, and I managed to take the plastic air filter housing out and disconnecting the MAF. Looking into the rubber gaiter of the inlet manifold I couldn't see any problem (using an endoscope £30 from Amazon), so because I had read that if you disconnect the MAF the ECU will resort to default values I tried starting the engine and to my relief it started and continued running and sounded fine except for the slight occasional hesitation, but I kept it going to charge up the hybrid Battery a bit. Looking into the MAF there was a bit of filter fibre across two of the elements, after cleaning I put it back in to try it, but the engine still wouldn't run so I've ordered a new MAF unit.
I wonder why the ECU wasn't programmed to run on default settings with a faulty out of limits MAF so as to limp home instead of just stalling the engine.

[flash22]

Have you checked the 12v Battery ? if its low in will not pull it the contactor in the hybrid Battery

[Jeffa]

Thanks for that, yes I bought a new 12v Battery 5 months ago (the correct type £186 off EBay) and an AGM charger and charged the Battery overnight. As I say the engine starts fine now without the faulty MAF sensor attached, I've been waiting a week for a new MAF sensor, I'll let you know when I've successfully fitted it.

Cheers.

[Jeffa]

Finally I received a new MAF sensor Thursday morning (a few days late) in the mail, I started installing it in the plastic filter housing and fitting the plastic filter housing back into the car, a bit fiddley but managed to fit it onto the inlet manifold rubber hose  and bolted it down to the rocker cover. Reconnected the plug to the MF sensor and put a new air filter in and refitted the front air intake. I tested the new MAF and the engine started OK, I reset the error codes (which showed up with no MAF sensor attached and no air filter assembly) using Dr Prius (seems to work ok) on android  tablet. I refitted the wiper motor plate across under the windscreen and fitted the plastic trim across and under the windscreen and re-fitted the wiper blade arms and re-fitted the rest of the plastic trim, took about 1.5 hours. I've done a couple of miles and everything seems fine.
By the way anyone know what the 2 closed chambers are for on the air inlet tubing?.

[flash22]

The chambers are resonators it simply tunes the sound of the intake and allows the manufacture to tune any dead spots in the intake

 

Glad you got it sorted, and it wasn't too catastrophic

[Jeffa]

Due to having a slight aversion to breaking down again in the fast lane of the M1, I wonder why the ECU wasn't programmed to run on default settings with a faulty out of limits MAF so as to limp home instead of just stalling the engine.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Hi, Could I ask which OBD2 dongle you are using. Is it a cheap Chinese one, or an espensive one. Also, did you have to set it up as a JOBD in the software? Thanks

[flash22]

Generic obd2 works fine, OBD2 tools can vary greatly from your basic ELM327 USB/BT/WiFi for <£10 right up to £15K

The Vgate icar pro isn't bad, but there are fakes floating about

if you want Toyota level diagnostics, you can get the Mini VCI (Techstream clone) cheaply, but it does require a PC

[Kevilas]

BAFX 34t5 bluetooth scanner is also cheap and easy to use. It is also used in android and windows os systems. Read and clear diagnostic trouble codes. If you think your needs, then you can check it also.

[Iby]

My father's car is having same problem, Driving on main road, engine management light came on and car just turned off itself. When i turn car on it turns on and then cuts out itself after 10 seconds. Only error code am getting is p0102, mass or volume airflow a circuit low. 

Cars just stuck at home.

Any help would be welcome please.

Thanks