I serviced it on Saturday, ran fine after that. This morning... climbing out of my street the engine/PSD sounded like it was exploding and ripping itself to shreds.

The car shook so violently it almost caused loss of control.

I limped it back down the hill, now with Master Warnings and the entire dash lit up "CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM" as a hard DTC.

Waiting for Triple A now.

Anyone???

 

OUCH! How many miles? I know you will keep us informed as to the extent of the repairs.

 

Who did the service, you or a dealership, and what did the servicing entail?

 

Well it's at John Elway's Crown Toyota now.

The tow truck driver says this happens "all the time". He even described the failure mode pretty accurately.

The Toyota Service Writer thinks he's full of crap... but she was pretty evasive with me too, so whatever.

Gosh I *REALLY* hope they don't try to get cute becuase I do my own service.

Stay Tuned.

 

So, what does the driver think it is?

 

The driver used colorful, yet simplistic words to describe things he didn't understand very well. The kind of dissertation where 4-letter words are used as verbs, pronouns and terms of endearment all at once.

While I dismissed his analytical prowess I thought it was interesting that his imitation of an engine shaking apart was exactly the same sound my car was making. That and the claim that he drags more than a few Toyota Hybrids off the road with this same issue... that got my attention.

 

Just an oil change and an air filter, done by me, as I have 5 or 6 times already. Mobil One 5w-20, Fram 4386 and 8360. New CAF too. I skipped the wheel rotation because they are new tires.

It ran fine for a day after the service. I double checked everything, like the AMM plug on the air housing, the box itself, etc.

I used to work for Volvo as a Dealer Technician and I have wrenched on cars for 30 years, since I was 10. I checked all the dumb stuff, this is something else.

 

Did you do the last service yourself?

 

Yes I did.

 

Tom,

I wouldn't worry about the service that you did to the car. As long as the engine is running (you were able to limp home) the engine should be OK. From what you have described, I would lean toward the PSD stripping a gear. The planetary gearset that is driven by the engine or the sun gear attached to MG2 is what this is sounding like. Either way, they should fix it on Toyota's nickel.