This first occurred when the car was almost exactly a year old, less than 5000 miles, when it died on me , in traffic, and displayed "Charging System Failure". I pulled over and the car started right back up. I took it to the dealer where I bought and was told that they couldn't find anything. It occurred a couple more times, but I thought it might have been that it was just wet since it was raining. The same failure and occurred 3 weeks ago, also raining ,so I decided to take it to a different dealer since my warrantee would expire in less that a year off. I told the new service guy that I had been to his competitor, and that I was going to give him a shot at the problem. The new guy ran a diagnostic and found errors PO1603,1604,1605, p219a. I left the car overnight so they could do an "extended diagnostic" and a couple days later they called and told me that with the help of the regional Toyota team, that the car's canister was saturated with gas. They said the regional guy said to replace both the gas tank and the carbon canister. I got the car back 3 weeks later due to having to order the parts. When I went to pick the car up, I ask the service guy why the error codes didn't show up as "Check Engine, and was told they the failures weren't severe enough to bring up the check engine. Then when asked if the " Charging System Failure" would display from just the engine dying, he said yes. This seems confusing to me, but these new cars? Another note about the carbon canister. I have never filled my tank past the first click at the gas pump, and since I live on a hill, I always park with the nose of the higher the the rear. The canister is in front of the gas tank. I don't know if the fix the dealer did will fix the problem, but I sure hope so.
Update from Mar 28, 2021: Well, the gas tank and carbon filter didn't fix the problem. I think that it may have to do with the problem occurring when it is raining in colder weather with the wipers, defroster, lights, and radio all activated, since the trouble doesn't exist in fair weather. I plan on trying to recreate the problem in the driveway. If I can it may help the dealer fix the damn thing.
Update from Sep 21, 2022: This info. might be of interest to those that are having similiar problems.
After owning this car for 4 years, I believe that I have the root of the problem. I live in an area where hills are common, and my driveway has a slope of around 15 to 20 degrees.
If I park with the nose of my car downhill and have anywhere near a full tank of gas then the gas ends up in the intake manifold which ends up getting to the computer as rich mixture. The computer tries to compensate but many times ends up stalling. Most times it shows "Charging System Failure " and sometimes has a trouble code of P0172.
My dealer says that anytime the engine dies that "Charging System Failure" will be displayed.
I think the problem lies in a bad gas tank design is the problem.
I have never overfilled my gas tank, but I think doing that would cause the same failure.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This first occurred when the car was almost exactly a year old, less than 5000 miles, when it died on me , in traffic, and displayed "Charging System Failure". I pulled over and the car started right back up. I took it to the dealer where I bought and was told that they couldn't find anything. It occurred a couple more times, but I thought it might have been that it was just wet since it was raining. The same failure and occurred 3 weeks ago, also raining ,so I decided to take it to a different dealer since my warrantee would expire in less that a year off. I told the new service guy that I had been to his competitor, and that I was going to give him a shot at the problem. The new guy ran a diagnostic and found errors PO1603,1604,1605, p219a. I left the car overnight so they could do an "extended diagnostic" and a couple days later they called and told me that with the help of the regional Toyota team, that the car's canister was saturated with gas. They said the regional guy said to replace both the gas tank and the carbon canister. I got the car back 3 weeks later due to having to order the parts. When I went to pick the car up, I ask the service guy why the error codes didn't show up as "Check Engine, and was told they the failures weren't severe enough to bring up the check engine. Then when asked if the " Charging System Failure" would display from just the engine dying, he said yes. This seems confusing to me, but these new cars? Another note about the carbon canister. I have never filled my tank past the first click at the gas pump, and since I live on a hill, I always park with the nose of the higher the the rear. The canister is in front of the gas tank. I don't know if the fix the dealer did will fix the problem, but I sure hope so.
Update from Mar 28, 2021: Well, the gas tank and carbon filter didn't fix the problem. I think that it may have to do with the problem occurring when it is raining in colder weather with the wipers, defroster, lights, and radio all activated, since the trouble doesn't exist in fair weather. I plan on trying to recreate the problem in the driveway. If I can it may help the dealer fix the damn thing.
Update from Sep 21, 2022: This info. might be of interest to those that are having similiar problems. After owning this car for 4 years, I believe that I have the root of the problem. I live in an area where hills are common, and my driveway has a slope of around 15 to 20 degrees. If I park with the nose of my car downhill and have anywhere near a full tank of gas then the gas ends up in the intake manifold which ends up getting to the computer as rich mixture. The computer tries to compensate but many times ends up stalling. Most times it shows "Charging System Failure " and sometimes has a trouble code of P0172.
My dealer says that anytime the engine dies that "Charging System Failure" will be displayed. I think the problem lies in a bad gas tank design is the problem. I have never overfilled my gas tank, but I think doing that would cause the same failure.
- Ted L., Charleston, WV, US