Spouse and I were driving for a fun Saturday in Dallas Texas. After getting on the highway, the red triangle of death, the amber ABS and the VSC lights came on, and little exclamation point came on on millage/audio screen, while battery power went down from high blue to one blue bar. Pulled car over to parking lot, and put in park. After putting it in park, the car would not go out of neutral, but the power still worked. Bought car to dealer thanks to a helpful towing company, and have a loaner for the weekend. I really hope this isn't my Hybrid battery, and other posts on Prius Chat makes me think it isn't. But, in the 7 years that I have had this 2004 prius, I've done a lot of tender loving care for the car, and currently have 124K on the car. In 2011 I replaced the inverter water pump, and in Feb 2012 I replaced the engine water pump. Earlier this month I replaced the original 12V battery before another long-hot Texas summer began. Do folks have any thoughts? The dealer was pretty sure it wasn't the hybrid battery, but thought it was the inverter or engine water pumps. If it was one of these two pumps, how long is toyota's work covered on these two items? I had the first replaced 13,000 miles ago, the second, 2,000 miles ago.
It is unlikely that an engine coolant pump failure would cause the warning lights that appeared. It is possible that an inverter coolant pump failure would cause those lights. Typically the warranty on Toyota dealer repairs is one year, unlimited miles on parts and labor. If it turns out that the inverter coolant pump is the problem and that was replaced more than one year ago, I would suggest that you pay the dealer service invoice, then apply to the Toyota Customer Experience Center for reimbursement on the grounds that pump is a known weak point and subject of a recent LSC.
Thanks for the advice Patrick. Any sense that you have that this sort of thing would be a hybrid battery failure? I'm not looking forward to the potential of paying $3,000 for fixing it.
We don't know unless we get the codes. Please supply them. As fo the inverter pump LSC, see http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ump-dealer-letter-technical-instructions.html but you probably already knew that. If it's the HV battery, see Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki. But, please don't jump to conclusions until we have the codes.
I had a similar issue today with my 2006, 116K. I had to drive about 18 miles on a short trip. When I left home I thought the car seemed a bit sluggish but didn't think too much of it. About half way there a bunch of lights on the dash come on and the top of the display in the console screen had a pretty red picture of a car and the top was blank. The lights on the dash were VSC, something orange with an exclamation point, an outline of a car, and a big red triangle with an exclamation point. I don't think the ABS light came on though. The car was going 70 mph and nothing really seemed too out of the ordinary other than a little sluggish. I made it to my destination just fine and noticed the hybrid battery was completely full green which I actually though kind of odd since i was running the air. On the way back the lights were still on and I noticed the sluggishness on the Interstate even though I could get up to 70 mph but it just didn't seem to have the normal power. I checked the hybrid battery on the display and it was in the purple zone down to the last bar. Not out of the ordinary on a hot day but out of the ordinary when going 70 mph plus it was fully green on the trip there with the air on. I shut off the air conditioner and it charged a bit and get to 3 blue bars but then it it went back to two purple bars. Once I got into town and off the Interstate I was actually near the dealer. It went down to 1 purple bar so I pulled in and checked it in since I wasn't sure I would make it all the way home. The service guy said often several of the lights come on when there are other issues. I am hoping nothing too expensive. Does anyone have any idea was is going on?
If you see the traction battery SOC per the MFD move up and down at a very fast rate, that is indicative that the traction battery has a problem. If you report the logged DTC then we can comment further.
Got a call back from the dealer this morning. HV battery and water pumps are just fine. Badly clogged throttle plate body and air sensor were the culprit. Hopefully this solves the problem.
I would take that as very good news -- now Guys, Is that common for those 2 conditions to cause all those "messages"??
Got a call from the service department and they say the codes say failed traction battery and cost is around $3000. They didn't give me the report at this point.
One week update: I've really noticed a jump in my millage since I had my throttle body cleaned; I'm no averaging 46 mpg as opposed to 41. Good times.