The word, "PROBLEM" displayed

Yesterday, my display beeped and the word, "PROBLEM" was displayed. There was no explanation as to what the PROBLEM might be, and the word went away after a few seconds. A short while later, this happened again, and this time, the Red Triangle of Death came on, but only for a few seconds. I decided to take the car home.

This morning, I hooked up TechStream to the Prius, and could find absolutely nothing abnormal. No codes were displayed, and everything looked to be in order. I especially looked at the HV battery, but all cells were within spec. (all within 0.7 volts and .001 ohms of each other).

I've owned this Prius since it was new (10 years ago), and it has 167,000 miles on it. I did have the HV battery replaced about 2½ years ago, but again, the battery is fine. So is the 12- volt battery.

Has anyone experienced this PROBLEM before? What does it mean??

Dale

 

Wow, I think you guys hit the nail on the head! I checked, and the oil was just touching the stick. Shame on me for not keeping a better eye on it.

Since there was no message other than 'PROBLEM', how did you know it was the oil level?

 

I didn't see anything light up, just the word, PROBLEM. Since the PROBLEM message disappeared within a few seconds, something else could have been on and my wife and I simply didn't see it. I really don't think anything else was lit though.

I changed oil and filter today. I don't think I drained much more than a quart of old oil out of the engine. I've driven the car for about 50 miles, with no recurrence of the 'problem', so I'm going to assume it was "lack of oil" related.