P261B code

I'm having same issue with 2010 prius 170K miles. It happened 3 times. Car losses power and check hybrid system, check engine, and yellow triangle lights appear. I pull over and then off engine. On another occassion, the overheating light flashed for 5 second and another day overheating light went on for about 5 mins. Eventually car runs and lights disappear. Autozone says code is P261B. I looked online and it could be several remedies in addition to replacing coolant pump. This is not for the hybrid engine. My hybrid tech says to replace engine coolant water pump for $450 but wanted to get anyone's thoughts on this issue before I go and spend this amount. It's strange because the car runs and lights are off.

 

Your tech is likely correct in that with P261b you need an engine water pump. Being that you've had the "check hybrid system" message and have variation in symptoms, I would have your tech verify codes with his hybrid aware scan tool. There is a chance the Autozone scanner only picked up the engine ecu code and doesn't recognize hybrid system ecu codes.