***FIXED*** Just bought my 2004 Prius, some lights on... (Red Triangle, VSC, (!) and Red car with !

Hello guys,

Been wanting to buy a Prius for a while now (I am a freak with gadgets lol ... so like my gadget in cars) Now I got a gadget on wheels lol.

Anyway I bought the car from a physical auction for quite a cheap price (however they declared no faults therefore I need to chase them up tomorrow about that, maybe get a further discount, as per their terms and conditions they should have mentioned it, eitherwise the car should have been sold as seen, which they haven't). So I managed to buy my first Prius for £1350
It is a 2004 (T Spirit UK model, which is the top end of the 3 available versions) with 136.000 miles.
I noticed initially with the car that the remote fob will not unlock the doors, I need to use the blade, to manually unlock. The car does not have the keyless start, so one I put the key in the slot everything is working fine. So I suspect a fault with the remote as when I changed the battery still no light flashing, but when I used a contact cleaner I seen the little red light flashing on the fob.

My main problem is that when I started the car to drive back home 29miles distance. The car had the big red triangle on the speedo, and the little red car with an emphasis ! mark on the sat nav display on the left. It also said the word problem prior to these lights.
I drove about 15 miles and the car has been driving fantastic with great economy, try the EV mode and the cruise control everything perfect. Apart from the lights.

When I covered 20 miles ,the VSC and the (!) Brake light came on as well, now the cruise control stopped working and the EV mode cannot be engadged.
However the car still drives fine, and returns great economy.

My OBDII scanner cannot read the codes, but it can only clear then, however the lights return back as soon as in a few seconds.

Now every time I start the car those lights are on. Triangle, Red car with emphasis mark , VSC, Brake Light (!).
I have been trying to find a solution and it appears that my 12V battery is dying or the coolant pump or something like that I cannot find the post anymore.

Any assistance would be appreciated guys.

Thank you
Vasils.

 

I have just gone outside and did the tests as shown on the video also took pictures of the lights on, etc.


These above are the warning lights I am getting.

Below is the battery voltage with just the MFD being on nothing else. 11.8V


Below is the battery voltage with the ignition being ON (accesory mode I think it is called) Here the voltage jumped up to 13V for a millisecond and then back to 11.5V or so.


Below is the voltage with the engine running 14.0V to 14.1V

 

I plugged in my battery charger and charged the battery up to 14.3V where it said charge complete (took about 45min) ... then took the car out for a drive, keep in mind that it is dark outside now, so I had the heating on and the lights on, so I assume maybe taking a tall on the 12V battery?, the car drove perfect with no lights for about 1.5miles. After that distance the lights came back on, I erased the faults while driving, so lights gone off again for about 500yards then they came back on again.
After that I attempted to erase the faults again, but the lights kept coming on straight away with no delay.
I assume then the 12V battery keeps loosing charge gradualy.

If there was going to be any other problems I assume they would not be affected by me fully charging the battery would they?

 

Sorry Bisco when I first looked your post my browser did not load it properly
I will look first thing tomorrow about the inverter etc.
And I shall go and buy a battery they do not cost much I would think.

Just ordered a mini-VCI cable from ebay. That will do me for our Lexus GS300 too good to have handy.

I was just going through the paperwork of the car and there is a letter from Toyota for a recall on the Toyota Prius Steering Shaft - Electric Water Pump. I need to call them tomorrow and see if this is done

 

Well after I fully charged the AUX battery yesterday and it was showing 14.3V ,on my charger and about 12.7V resting, took it out for a drive of 2miles... and the lights came back on.
I checked the battery again today, and the numbers were exactly the same on the MFD 11.8V , 11.5V and 14.1V when I plugged in my charger today the battery once more showed as 12.1V and 3 out of 5 bars on the charger. And it started charging now.

However I did not manage to drop it under 10V when I had the Ign ON, I did not try to put on any accessories though?

By the way my car does not have SKS, the only button it has under the steering wheel is only to disable the interior car alarm sensor.

 

I changed the AUX battery today, with an AGM model, this now does not drop below 12V no matter what I do to it.
The car drove for about 4 miles... then the lights came on again.
From my experience driving it, it is irrelevant on the speed, battery level etc. the fault comes on when something heats up ...
I am not sure if this is the inverter? or the traction battery or something else?
As the time goes by ... and I keep on driving the petrol (ICE) engine kicks in ... and then will not switch off at all regardless if I am stationary or moving.
The traction battery keeps on being used and charged, as well as the electic motors keep on working. So I take it the hybrid system is working. There are no major movements on the traction battery level either, it moves between the 4-6 bars. But since the petrol engine is running all the time it does not let the battery to be used etc. Also I think the car might lack on power when it gets hot? not sure...

I have read somewhere about the fan on the traction battery? I cannot hear something running from the back of the car... should I? could this be the fault maybe a fan control faulty?

I am waiting for the miniVCI to arrive so I can read the fault codes., but until then I think I need to check things the old fashion way so to use my time contructively I guess.

Any advice appreciated guys.

 

Oh yes sorry I looked that inverter expansion tank and I can see the coolant circulating around. I can see movement in there. So I take it the pump is doing it's bit.

 

I just went out to the car, I started it up (in Ready mode, ICE did not come on) I went to the back, the side where the 12V battery is located I put my ear on that side I cannot hear anything. I put the ear on the vent on the side of the back seat, I cannot hear anything either.
There is a distinct faint smell of "electronic" coming out though. And you can feel some heat come out of the hook eye which is on the side of the vent.

 

I have an ELM327 bluetooth OBDII adapter, it can clear faults but will not read much

 

Yes I bought a mini-VCI from ebay, hopefully it will be here before the end of the week
I just installed several apps on my phone and one of them scanmaster lite managed to scan the ECU with some codes. It lists 3 ECU, 1 is the engine, 1 is CAN3 and 1 is CAN4 what ever they mean.



By the way I already made a deal and I got a partial refund for the car ... so the only way is forward. I was given the option to return it and get a refund. But I prefered to try and fix it.