hey all, The other night, I got the "Christmas tree" red triangle etc. while coming down the last mountain home. I opened the glove box to grab the Mini VCI and our resident Norwegian rats had stuffed the dashboard with chicken food. In the trunk, they'd chewed through the interior felt and backseat and also filled the 12v battery well with chicken food. I suspect there's damage, nests, and food stored everywhere they've been. The car seemed to drive fine and was getting average or better mileage. Here's a list of codes (the car showed zero codes as of its last oil change, 11/27/2017): P3000 POA84 C1310 P1151 C2318 C1256 B1271 B1442 C2179 B1421 B1423 C2124 I've found where the rats were entering (rear air vents) and stuffed the holes they chewed with industrial steel wool as a temporary measure to keep them from causing more damage while I fix these errors. Where should I start looking? My dominant hand is recovering from a torn thumb tendon, so the less disassembly I can do, the easier it'll be for me. The car doesn't have comprehensive coverage, and I don't have the money to have a dealership do repairs. Car: 2008 Prius ("Hermes") w/ Smart Key. 150k miles, transmission replaced at 105k (by yours truly) due to failed MG2 motor, gauge cluster replaced at 135k miles by local dealership.
You really NEED to find the money to buy some "tamper resistant" bait stations and a supply of poison bait blocks to go in them. AND.....if they got into your car that bad, they likely are in your house and other "buildings" too. Even if you haven't seen evidence in your living space, they likely are in the attic or crawl space. Your clean up efforts likely will stir up some dust and other debris, which could carry rat germs. A filter mask and gloves is recommended......as is a good shower afterwards.
if you intend to keep the car long term, and diy, i would get tech stream, and a toyota tech info subscription.
I hope it's just one or two places that are easy to reach and repair, but I fear the worst if they've been at it long enough to build a housing development and set up a home owners' association in your car. I second what @Sam Spade said about checking the rest of your home and being careful.
I just found rat/ rodent droppings under the hood over the inverter and under it. My car was throwing P3012 and P3021 on the VCI so I took the HV battery apart and checked all 28 modules and 48 cells and got 8-7.9 volts under stress. I put the battery pack back together and drove the car for 1 mile then Triangle of death came back with an OBD2 code P3012 and alternates with P3021 and once I erase the code the car runs fine until the next time I restart. Any pointers? I checked the contacts and the cable and the harness and cleaned them just in case but still get the Red Triangle of Death.
At the risk of starting yet another "crap slinging fest", have you checked the voltage of the 12 V aux. battery yet ??
