Red Triangle and check engine light no code yet

2004 Prius, 149,000 miles. Driving on a highway when suddenly it felt like a headwind was bearing down on me, and a minute later, the red triangle of death and all the other lights came on. Did not totally lose power. Pulled to the shoulder and while waiting for the tow truck, started and turned the car off several times. After the first few times, the red triangle did not light up, but the check engine icon remained on. The tow truck driver had a very difficult time getting the car into neutral to pull onto the flatbed, and then when he took the car off the truck to park it at the dealership, he said it shifted "hard" into drive.

So it's Sunday and I don't have a code since I don't own a reader and the service dept. is not open. Obviously I hope to hear from them tomorrow. Any ideas what this might be? I really, really hope it's not the traction battery needing replacement. I have no training to replace single cells, as another thread discussed, though I'd love to keep the repair affordable. This dealership certainly does not have a reputation for watching out for the economy of its customers, to put it politely.

Thanks for any ideas you can offer.

 

Thanks. Just had an oil change a couple weeks ago. I'll ask dealership to look at the level.

Also, the battery graphic on the energy screen looked perfectly fine - 7 blue bars.

 

Wish I'd thought if checking the oil before dropping the car off at the dealership. Too late now since I'm home.

 

Actually it's outside the ten years. Car went into service March 2004. Sigh.

 

JC91006, I thought perhaps the check engine light indicated an engine issue, not a hybrid issue, and was glad to see you confirmed my thinking!

So the dealership called to say the code came up "loss of power." Nice and specific, right? Well, at least it's not the traction battery. Now, I just had an oil change in August and a major servicing in December. So brand new spark plugs, new air filter. Dealership mechanic tells me the spark plugs look like they are original to the car and must be replaced. Also tells me that the air filter, though it looks pretty new, is missing or has a defective gasket, which allowed dirt to enter the mass air flow sensor and the throttle body. He wants to clean those items and replace the PVC valve which he says is gummed up. Also there's a hole in the exhaust system. All this comes to close to $900. OK, I said, do everything but the exhaust, even though I'm pretty sure the spark plugs are new. In the meantime, I asked them to save all replaced parts so I can go back to the shop who does the regular maintenance with them and get the story on the air filter gasket.

About an hour later, after a cup of coffee, I called my regular shop and filled them in. I'm not suspecting the shop of doing anything wrong since they've worked on the car for over 100,000 miles and always done a great job and I've never felt ripped off, as opposed to what goes on at this dealership. The shop mechanic spoke to the dealership mechanic two or three times and sincerely feels that I'm getting ripped off, but frankly says that since he doesn't have the car in front of him he can't say for sure what's going on. The loss of power should not have come from these items, and he's never seen an air filter without the proper gasket. And obviously, the "original spark plugs" claim is a dead giveaway. He said he'd replace the spark plugs for free if they needed it. Several phone calls later, I told the dealership not to change the plugs, but do the PVC, air sensor and throttle body clean out, and air filter, save all parts, and let me know when to pick it up.

I got towed to the dealership in the first place to save money (penny wise and pound foolish!!) because it was only 6 miles away, so AAA only charged $15. The tow to the shop would have been much further, costing a lot more. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Bisco and JC91006, points well taken. BTW the $900 included the exhaust repair/replacement, which I didn't have them do. I picked up the car and paid $330 for cleaning out the throttle body, the mass air flow sensor, replacing PVC valve and air filter. Have the valve and filter: NOTHING seems to be wrong with either, and my regular shop looked at the parts and confirmed that. The PVC was not gummed up and the filter gasket was fine. The last thing the dealership tech told me was the crankcase was overfilled, which he had not mentioned earlier, of course, and which could have caused this whole thing.

I was able to drive the car with no scary lights on the dash all the way to the regular shop. If they see the plugs need replacing they'll do that gratis. If the oil is overfilled they'll take care of it and we'll work out some kind of deal that acknowledges their fault in that. I wish I'd have had the car towed to them in the first place. I assumed it was a hybrid system issue which I thought only the dealer could address. Was wrong there, too.