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ANOTHER Red Triangle of Death Post - Catalytic Converter was Also just Replaced -Suggestions?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Prometheus, May 10, 2020.

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  1. Prometheus

    Prometheus New Member

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    First time post, longer time viewer! I have had my 2008 Prius for roughly 11 years and it has 120,000 miles. Like many others, I had my catalytic converter stolen, last month. Luckily I was insured and did not have to pay too much minus the deductible. With all the craziness going on in the world, it took 3 weeks to get fixed. Not even 4 days, then I get the RED TRIANGLE of death. I had a friend use a reader, (I don't have one myself) which I'm not a tech guy, but he got this code:

    I panicked a little but I did not take it back to my mechanic yet. I did the self check and got this for the 12V battery

    When I started my Prius, I got this charge:

    The car runs fine and I don't see anything odd about the car at all. I drove for about 30-40 mins and I didn't see anything wrong with my car. I did notice that my gas went down very quickly from a full tank to half a quarter of a tank, which I thought was sure sign that my hybrid battery was bad. However when I went to put fuel in my car, it only took 2-3 gallons and it was completely full. So I do not know what is happening. I'm not sure what I should do. I'm trying not to panic yet but anxiety is starting to sync in with me since I rely on my car heavily for work.
     
    #1 Prometheus, May 10, 2020
  2. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    you just said it took 3 weeks for to get fixed, probably that’s the reason, Hybrid battery self discharge, and it looks like volts when little to low inside the hybrid battery pack because you didn’t drive the car for that long, you battery can’t hold as when it was new but still good, this will happen probably to anyone with a old hybrid when the car is not drive this long, even new hybrid have a limit of time you can let them without drive without getting into some risk of trouble, the older the hybrid battery pack the shorter the time it take for this to happens, so don’t worry it probably will recharge it self and be fine if not maybe a grip charger can help to rebalance the battery pack.
     
    #2 Frank1234, May 10, 2020
    Last edited: May 10, 2020
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    try charging up the 12v, and see what she holds at.
    then try disconnecting the 12v neg for a minute, then see if the lights come back. if so, you might need tech stream for the proper codes and sub codes
     
    #3 bisco, May 10, 2020
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  4. Prometheus

    Prometheus New Member

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    Wow that seemed to work. I drove for about an hour and then unplugged the 12v for a couple mins and then plugged back and the warning was gone. I drove for an hour and kept waiting for the error light to pop back but it did not appear. I'll try driving again tomorrow and see what happens. If I have to keep my car active every day, I'll do it. Fingers crossed!
     
    #4 Prometheus, May 10, 2020
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you can also get a battery maintainer
     
    #5 bisco, May 11, 2020
  6. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    or can also just leave the 12 volts battery disconnected if you will not drive the car for a long time but that only help with the 12 volts battery and the reading here show replace “hybrid battery” so by disconnecting one minute will clear the code and keeping driving the car will recharge the hybrid battery pack enough to stay code free, I really don’t think you will get a replace hybrid battery code for a bad 12 volts battery, tell me if am wrong.
     
    #6 Frank1234, May 11, 2020
    Last edited: May 11, 2020
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    agreed, you are right. but a bad 12v can cause false readings, so you want to make sure it's healthy.

    once that is established, i wouldn't repair/replace the hybrid battery until i confirmed everything with tech stream
     
    #7 bisco, May 11, 2020
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  8. George0512

    George0512 New Member

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    Sorry wrong topic
     
    #8 George0512, Dec 9, 2020
  9. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Your not paying attention to the hybrid battery behavior on the mfd.

    Better start watching it if it self discharged enough to throw a delta it’s got issues.
    See how often and how quickly it goes to 2 purple bars or worse no bars.
    If mileage is bad and car has poor power your at stage 1 of battery failure
    Which is right on the money for the miles it has.

    Battery failure is extremely common on this site there all failing since no one drives much anymore especially low mile g2s. Start reading all the battery posts to formulate a plan.

    There’s hundreds of battery posts.

    or use search forum link up top and search

    hybrid battery

    And there’s hundreds of YouTube’s on G2 battery issues.
     
    #9 edthefox5, Dec 9, 2020
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