What's up when the "Master warning light" comes on ??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by wtfjr36, Aug 21, 2013.

  1. wtfjr36

    wtfjr36 Junior Member

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    Ormond By The Sea FL
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    2006 Prius
    My wife took the 2006 Prius with 40,000 miles on it out today & she had a tough time getting the car home as it would barely run.
    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
    We did have the 12 volt battery replaced in 4/2013.
    Here is her story: I started the car after having been on several errands and noticed that the brake sys warning light, the check engine light and the ABS lights were all on. The car was running fine and I figured I would just drive home. At each stop, the car would kind of buck and then quiet down. It has done this periodically when I'm in a parking lot waiting with the motor running and car is in Park. I didn't think anything about it until there was not acceleration to speak of when the light changes. Car would not go more than 17 to 18 miles and hour. It also sounded like the gears were not changing. The fastest it would go was 37 mph on a straight hwy home. Any & all suggestions and/or replies will be appreciated.
    Thanks.
    PS: is it safe to drive to the dealers ?
    And, the info screen shows only one bottom bar for the battery on that screen.
     
    #1 wtfjr36, Aug 21, 2013
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    are you the original owner?
     
    #2 bisco, Aug 21, 2013
  3. wtfjr36

    wtfjr36 Junior Member

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    Yes we are.
     
    #3 wtfjr36, Aug 21, 2013
  4. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Do you have an OBD code reader? If not, is there an Autozone or Advance Auto Parts near you?

    You need to determine what diagnostic trouble codes are stored. By the sound of it, your Prius is
    very, very ill and probably will require costly repairs that only a Toyota stealership can handle.

    BTW, the Prius doesn't have gears that "change". The Prius has an eCVT.
     
    #4 jadziasman, Aug 21, 2013
  5. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    The first thing to check is the inverter coolant pump. With the car in ready and park, under the hood (bonnet for us in the UK) listen to see if you can hear a pump noise just behind the drivers headlamp. You can also check for coolant turbulence in the white fluid container between the engine and inverter, "the large silver box next to the engine". If no noise can be heard and coolant movement seen the pump has failed. This should have been replaced under a Toyota service campaign and may still be done free of charge.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #5 Britprius, Aug 21, 2013
    bisco likes this.
  6. wtfjr36

    wtfjr36 Junior Member

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    THE FINAL OUTCOME OF OUR PROBLEM DESCRIBED ABOVE is..................

    We took the 2006 Prius to the dealer today, the wife drove it with no real problems getting there, about 20+ miles from home. After waiting about 1.5 hours for the test results, even after having made an appointment, the service adviser came to us and said, your car is going to die !

    "Just kidding", he then said. Our Hybrid battery was bad & we needed a new one & the cost would run about $4,000 & up ----- but we were still under warranty so the repairs would all be paid for by TOYOTA !!

    Great news for us today !!

    Just wanted the board to know the results of the symptoms described above.

    Thanks & later.

    Bill in FL
     
    #6 wtfjr36, Aug 22, 2013
  7. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    From: Resolved !! - when the "Master warning light" comes on ?? | PriusChat
    Wow, hybrid battery failure at only 40k miles! That must be some kind of unfortunate record.

    Glad it's getting fixed though. Let us know how the car drives when you get it back. :)
     
    #7 uart, Aug 25, 2013
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