Oh crap I have the red triangle with exclamation point!

If I had to guess your problem now without a code reader, I would say it's P1121, coolant control valve malfunction.

 

It would need to be replaced.......but you should verify that's the problem.

If it does end up to be p1121, you can refer to this thread for information

P1121 - Coolant Control Valve Replacement (with pics) | PriusChat

 

Yes they can check the coolant, make sure they know the location of the radiator cap, it's under the plastic cover that's in the very front of the engine. Don't just check the coolant reservoir, as that's not a good indicator of the level. Also the coolant has to be a "pink" Asian fluid, preferably Toyota Long Life Coolant. You should not add any other coolant to the car!!!

Most of the time, if the problem gets the code p1121, adding coolant WILL NOT solve the issue. You will most likely need replacement.

 

I don't know if Sears would know the location of the radiator cap. It depends on the experience of the tech. Just make sure he doesn't look at the reservoir with coolant in it, and say "the level is fine". They have to open the radiator cap and look.

The coolant is something they may or may not have. You probably should ask first. If they don't have the coolant, there is no point in having them check the level.

 

Best of luck. Knowledge IS helpful.

I'm really not against you finding out as much as possible "IF" you wish.

That being said? You'll get a diagnosis from Toyota, yes it will cost you. My thought is it won't do you too much good to go through a whole lot of self discovery evaluatory pre-dealership hoops, if you're not prepared to actually do anything that discovering what the codes mean actually would entail.

You can figure out what's going on Before going to the dealership. Or you can find out what's going on by going to the dealership.

If you don't trust your dealership and/or you are willing to do a whole lot of repair on your own? Then by all means gather as much info as possible.

The advice you received from others as to how to hunt down the codes is excellent. Once obtained I'm sure they will have further suggestion. Then yes, you can decide what you want to do. My fear is this all might turn out to be a winding road to the same ultimate destination. But....sometimes winding roads can be good. Learn a lot along the way.

Sincerely best of luck.

 

????

Well, O.K....

Anyway....considering all...since the AutoZone option did not bear fruit. And, you obviously have some issue, I would bite the bullet as some others here have said and go to Toyota.

Seriously, if you find out the "code" you don't seem to be the type to repair this car -- forgive me if I besmirch....

If you want to go ahead and get the Mini scanner from Amazon (or elsewhere), be aware it is a bit fussy to get up and going. If you don't do your own repairs, I don't see much point...

 

?????

 

That's the spirit! Ok, now if you're game to work on making yourself able to do that (which will also make you able to do it for any future concerns you have with your car, and you can get tight focused advice right here on PC), now we need to figure out which option you'd be more comfortable with.

The least money (assuming you already have a laptop) is this thing called a Mini VCI that people seem to be buying for under $40. It works with your laptop so you'll have to go through some steps of installing software onto that. Is that kind of thing in your comfort zone? I should also strongly suggest it's best if you have more than one laptop, where you're using a different one for any important stuff like your banking, and put the software that comes with the mini VCI onto a sort of sacrificial laptop you won't use for other stuff. The reason is the cheap mini VCIs are coming from who-knows-where with who-knows-what mixed in with the software and it's just smart not to take too many chances. (That being said, I haven't seen a lot of reports of people having problems).

Advantage to the mini VCI is that, after you've gone through the fuss of installing it once, it'll be easy to use and give you nice clear screen displays of everything a Toyota tech can see about your car.

If that much fussing with a laptop is out of your comfort zone, there's also a small gadget called a ScanGauge II that you can buy through the Shop right here on PriusChat. It's more money, about $150, but it doesn't need other stuff. Out of the box, it won't read any special Prius info, you have to set it up for that, which is not so much complicated as just annoying. Here on PriusChat you can look up some special gibberish you'll need to key in, which we can point you to. The thing only has four buttons so keying that stuff in is like sending a long text on a really old phone, but after doing that once, you'll have something you can read your codes with any time.

Does either one of those options sound like something you'd be game to try? We're certainly all willing to help out, though of course if you order either device there will be some hurry-up-and-wait time before you get the delivery.

Once you're able to do that, the world becomes better. For example, right here in this thread, around the same time you said you were ready to look at ways of reading the codes, JC91006 posted "if I had to guess your problem now without a code reader, I would say ... coolant valve ..." which is a fair thing to say, making clear it's a guess, but that led to eight whole posts on worrying about the coolant valve when that was never more than a guess without knowing whether that's even the code you really have.

When you're able to read the codes, we're able to spend that same amount of time and effort focused on whatever your issue really is.

Cheers,
-Chap

p.s. so, I haven't emphasized here the other option, if you think both of those would be too far out of your comfort zone, that you can just go to the dealer and say "make my car better". That option is always on the table and it is being adequately recommended here by others. I happen to be the kind of corn flake who always thinks you'd be happier with more ability to inform yourself. But I don't know you. You know you, and you have to take my opinion for whatever you think it's worth.

 

Tracy,
You've gotten some good advice here so far.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions. We Wisconsinites need to stick together.
I'm always happy to help point you in the right direction.

 

Well, remember when I said my first clue is that you don't drive it much, so I would check the 12v -- and you replied the symptoms were not the same as the last time the 12v was bad and I went all poetic about horses and wildflowers....

But, the "symptoms" you had, combined with the lack of much driving, really did lead straight to the 12v -- do not pass go, do not collect $200, etc. And you did not need a fancy Toyota scanner to figure that out.

So, now, you have the new 12v and you got it at a "fair" dealer price. You are fine.

Headlight leveler -- well -- back in the old days cars managed to get along without them, but I will let someone like Patrick Wong or a couple of the other folks on here whom I trust and respect with no question respond to that -- but for me, I would forget about that issue...but that might not be safe or wise...got me.

If you want to watch a movie about the headlight issue, I posted one below.

Throughout this thread, I think ElectricMe and Chapman have posted good solid advice. I understand about the MiniVCI. I have one.

It was more than a pain to get set-up. The Techstream disc sent with the scan tool did not work. The TechStream I downloaded from the Web -- despite getting tons of recs from forum folk did not work (and I think it had something "else" going on with it, which was scary).

I finally did get a working software version, got it all set-up and it gave me some junk codes that, yes, are real codes, but no, are not real problems -- as well as told what I already knew -- unknown engine problem.

That's the thing. Having the code DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS>

Add that, to the fact that you really should set it up on a XP or Windows 7 laptop that you use for basically nothing else -- well -- unless you are prepared to jump into repairing all issues yourself....well, ElectricMe said it better than I can.

BUT, if you do want to start doing your own work, it is invaluable

 

great vid, thanks! all that to sense the angle of the car, then what, motors in the headlights?

 

Not sure, but I think it's only on the LED headlight models, on third gen.

And yeah, I just crawled under there, had a look at ours.