every light in the house . . . eer prius is on

a few days ago our 2012 Prius V began showing multiple warning lights continuously, from left to right:

BRAKE , READY, glyphic of skid, glyphic of Steering Wheel, Glyphic of Car with a knife through the roof, and ABS

Simultaneously, the speedometer and the energy consumption meter don't operate.

Other than all the warning lights and lack of speedometer, the car seems to operate fine. My wife thinks that maybe the power steering is not up to snuff but I'm suspicious that all these lights would be the result of mild underperformance of the power steering.

One thread suggested checking the health of the 12V battery when spurious indications show up. The battery is at 12.5V after a drive and goes dont to 12.25 V over about 5 or 6 hours after that. No indication of lacking current to boot.

The 12 V circuit doesn't show charging current unless the engine is running. I thought the inverter was supposed to kick in once the computers booted and raise the 12V circuit to around 14V but this only happens once the engine starts in the cycles that I monitored with a tester.

Any knowledge of this multiple light syndrome you have to share would be appreciated.

thanks, brian

 

i've got OBD 2 scanner. but this needs different? I seem to recall you can get a reader to plug into the computer running some kind of toyota program?

its 2012 with 100,000 miles.

 

got it. 2012 V. remind me where the plug is and what reader or combination of computrer program and USB to OBD adapter i will need. thanks

 

Didn't seem right to me either. But I hate it when something won't be all the way broken. Finally, after several more weeks went out yesterday morning and the battery was at 8.5 and wouldn't boot the electronics so the car wouldn't start. Stuck an AGM in there and back in business. Still weighing options for permanent replacement. The AGMs seem to be sealed and only vent in extreme overheat/charging scenarios and as best I can tell the battery compartment is itself vented in addition to the particularized vent hose from the battery. So I'm weighing some XS Power and Interstate AGM options that seem reasonably affordable and powerful and fit the compartment pretty well.

Meanwhile a friend read the codes for me beyond what my standard OBD will read and I get ABS Module failed to communicate with Hybrid Control or something to that effect. A lot of these communication errors appear to originate if the 12V battery voltage drops low so that could indeed be my problem but putting a new battery and having the codes read did not reset or erase them. So I'm back to what OBD/Techstream technology can actually reset or clear codes so I can see if a new battery solves the problem.

thanks for all the replies on techstream alternatives. have been searching for right alternative. looks like the beater laptop and maybe VX Diag is relatively stable and modest in cost, so not the absoluetly cheapest but reasonable cost and utility.. But I can't figure out if the VX Diag implementation is capable of clearing/resetting. It seems to have full reading capabilities. There are apparently some programming functions, e.g. key fob programming and engine control module reprogramming that require an 'account'–assume that is with toyota–but can I clear these faults iwth a VX Diag, or is there another alternative I should look at.

thanks,

brian

 

amazon? which one or is there only one?

assuming this wouldn't apply to my ABS module failed to communicate code but not sure. Is there a thread on this or something on toyota.com that indicates conditions that would lead to a replacement.

multi-meter at battery terminals in rear of car.

 

got that. obviously the quality of the dongle and version of software seems to matter. I'm going to go with the bluetooth phone unit as a first line of offense but it does seem that the VX Diag and whatever techstream they ship or offer for download installed on an XP beater is a good combination if the Dr Prius or Torque software comes up short.

 

I was speaking relative to your point that there is a brake controller recall or modfication. So I was wondering what codes to look for that might trigger that replacement or if that ABS communication code was amongst them but I don't yet have number so I ordered the bluetooth device for starters and i'll see what that can find. Get it on Sunday.

Insofar as clearing codes, it sounds like the car does not keep a history so clearing the fault doesn't leave a history trail that there was such a fault but, assuming it doesn't immediately throw that code again, I was hoping it would turn the speedometer back on and the holiday light display on the dash off. But I will see if I can get a number becasue if there is a chance it points to something the dealer would fix guess i shouldn't clear it, alhtough without clearing it, I don't know how I'll know if it was low voltage from the 12V battery that caused the problem in the first place.

There are no other symptoms on the brake side. In the good old days I could test my ABS by just jamming on the brakes at speed and hearing'feeling it pulse and in theory i guess there is an ABS indicator if it doesn't get some kind of routine signal from one of the sensors but it was a very limited to the ABS and didn't communicate with other systems in the car.

This whole 12V battery boots the system which then kicks in the HV battery to do everything else is, I admit, a new routine to me and I get the general idea but not complete theory of ops. I didn't test amperage flow, I tested as I am used to testing any car's 12V system, car off, test the battery voltage looking for high 12s and then once the car is started and alternator spinning high 13s or low 14s.

I think the voltage reading I got resting had been low 12s (12.25 to 12.5) but jumped to 14 once the engine started (but not to my recollection just once the car booted to on. I will test that again with the new(ish) battery in place.

I never stopped to think if there is a 12V alternator in addition to the inverter since it has such high powered charging capabilities for the HV battery and electric drive train although but i assumed it was an alternator when the engine started and the voltage jumped, although now I wonder if it was slow to boot maybe and I misapprehended that it was fully booted and actually it started the engine once it had booted thus confusing me regarding the inverter or resting "on" in park voltage.

 

thanks for that reminder. that at least doesn't seem to be the problem of the moment. I'm well under 150,000 miles (105,000) and somewhere I have the inservice date, so I think the HV battery is covered for another year and change.

I don't think the inverter would be considered part of the emissions control systems so that is probably out of warranty if that's the problem but I'm glad to be disabused of that notion.

thanks, brian

 

only car I've had that I ever even thought of the dealer because its the only car we ever had that wasn't theoretically an antique when we got it. I hope it runs for another 25 years as have my late 80s and mid 90s camries. but the thought that there are parts that were so widely troublesome and complex that they have elicited support from toyota is new to me. awaiting the bluetooth code reader.

do you favor one program over another given the area of problem i'm confronting. i imagine they all have strengths and weaknesses. and are android adaptations of aspects of the techstream software? i believe you mentioned Dr. Prius, Torque and Car Scanner.

brian

PS-i would say inverter is fine. new battery is 12.6 resting. I powered the car up and couldn't get to the back before the engine started (I'd say notably less than 10 seconds ) but ,as you pointed out the arrangement is dependent on inverter from the HV system which should work regardless of engine I don't think it made any difference that the engine was running. Voltage jumped to 14.76. so i think i can cross that off for now.