Red Triangle Light On, Thinking its the Inverter Coolant Pump

you should definitely see swirling with the car in ready and the cap off.

 

Run the VIN at Toyota Owners Official Web Site to see if the inverter coolant pump is covered. Just calling the dealer may or may not get you a correct answer depending on how hard that person looks.

Is your gauge capable of reading the inverter temp or the coolant temps?

Until the inverter coolant pump is replaced I would keep driving to an absolute minimum and only in the coolest parts of the day. When the inverter gets too hot it will shut down and you will be calling for a tow from the side of the road.

 

With a P0A93 code, it almost certainly is the HV inverter electric coolant pump which failed. Mine failed at 185K miles. Have driven more than 50K miles since it was.

Not sure if the limited service campaign is still active. Mine was replaced three years ago. Either way, it won't cost you much to replace it if you DIY. The part is less than $200.

Don't drive it that way. Replace it ASAP.

 

I'm wondering, have the inverter coolant reservoirs stopped being see-through on the newer Prii? I keep seeing posts about "take the cap off and look for swirling" when it used to be so easy ... on a Classic the return hose comes into the front of the reservoir, and you can just glance at the reservoir and see the fluid level is higher in front when the pump runs.

-Chap

 

The fluid containers are milky white plastic.

 

can you get there under 20 mph in 50 degree weather?

 

haven't done it myself, but most here say it's pretty simple. bleeding seems to be the laborious part.

 

I am unsure where to post this as I am new to the forum/website. However, about 2 months ago I drove to a store, spent about 2 hours there, and then when I came back it had all sorts of messages on my 2010 Toyota Prius. Mainly, it said check parking system as it is on uneven surface.. .. not quite that language but something about this. I took it to my local dealer and they said the ECU had been fried, my 12v battery was dead and not working, and a fuse had been blown. Ultimately, I had my 12v battery replaced (I had replaced it a year earlier and had a warranty on it yet), replaced my ECU, and replaced the blown fuse.

Then less than one month later I had a "check hybrid system" light come on along with the bright orange triangle caution light, and the check engine light. Ultimately, I took it to the same dealer who said a code P261B came up and a different code regarding my intake engine manifold. The dealer said I needed a new engine water coolant pump and recommended I replace the engine manifold because, as they said, it cannot be cleaned but only replaced. Yesterday, I spent about $800 to replace the electric engine water coolant pump. I did not do the intake engine manifold because that was going to cost another $600, which I do not have. I picked up my car today, no check hybrid system light nor any check engine light. I drive approximately 20 miles and then later tonight the check hybrid system" light come on along with the bright orange triangle caution light, and the check engine light all reappear.

When I got home and parked my car I looked inside my hood and saw my engine inverter coolant level was right at the low level. Could this low level engine inverter coolant cause all of these lights? If not, any recommendations or suggestions? I am, obviously, taking my car back to the dealer tomorrow. This is turning into a three month, >$1,600 ordeal so any help would be appreciated!

 

Jacob, it sounds like you have/are experiencing unrelated problems. My first suspect is a leaking or inoperative inverter coolant pump. If the pump is leaking it will be inoperative. Perhaps you just have a bad hose. Was the recall to flash the ECU performed?

Since you have lights ask for and post the codes behind them before authorizing any work.

 

When the ECU was replaced they performed an update to the ECU which took approximately 6 hours, they said. I would assume that was the flash you are referring to. I had my engine coolant pump replaced, but is that different than the inverter coolant pump? My car still runs, though after a certain amount of miles the check hybrid system lights appear. I would have thought they would check the bad hose before changing the engine coolant pump. Further, I did notice yesterday, both before starting the car and after immediately running the car, that the inverter coolant level was right at the "L" mark. Today they informed me that the main code is P261C for my Toyota Prius 2010, and they are talking to Toyota uppers tomorrow because they "have 48 pages worth of information" and are hoping to have Toyota put forth some work...aka they don't know what is going on. It is a reputable Toyota certified dealership I am taking it to.

 

Yes.

 

Car on and would you see the coolant liquid dramatically swirling or just moving?

 

moving.

 

When turning the car on I can't really see movement but the motor is on so it's kind of moving the liquid.. should it be noticeable that it's moving or should you have to squint to see it?

 

I remember in the Gen 1 reservoir there was a little plastic baffle (don't know if Gen 2 is the same way), so that you could plainly see, just by looking through the milky plastic bottle, that when the pump was running the coolant level in the front of the bottle was about a cm higher than the level in the back. Seemed easier than trying to make judgments between moving and swirling.

-Chap