Red triangle after replacing inverter coolant pump

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by garagekoalas, Feb 3, 2025.

  1. garagekoalas

    garagekoalas New Member

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    Hi all, I tried to be a good PriusChat boy and use existing threads to fix a problem before creating a thread of my own, but alas, here we are. In short, red triangle flashed intermittently, I saw very little inverter coolant reservoir turbulence, I replaced the pump, and the triangle went away...until today.

    She is currently at 226K miles and had a full hybrid battery replacement at around 200K. I haven't noticed any decrease in MPG. I got an oil change 500 miles ago. The red triangle and the word 'problem' appeared about a month ago for a few seconds when travelling over 50mph. It would flash and then disappear, and then reappear after a minute or so. A high heat symbol also appeared a couple of times with the triangle.

    I went home and used my OBDII scanner and found no codes, but I am aware that these don't show every code or blink codes. I did some research and saw the inverter coolant pump is a common issue that could cause an inverter to overheat, so I replaced it even though I never had a P0A93 code. There was very little turbulence in the reservoir before the replacement and slightly improved movement after I replaced it with an AISAN pump. I bled the coolant system afterwards.

    All has been well the last two weeks. No triangles, runs well, great MPG, absolutely nothing unusual. Sometimes the fan blowers and heat don't turn on but a couple kicks under glove compartment gets the blower motor groovin again. Today after about 20 minutes of driving the dread-inducing triangle began flashing again, again while I was at high speeds. A couple of times it stayed on longer than the other times and showed a high heat warning (see photo).

    I am fairly novice with reading live data, but today immediately after the high heat warning was on my ECT read 90 degrees celcius, which is within a normal range. Any guidance here would be so welcome.
     

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    #1 garagekoalas, Feb 3, 2025
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Check the coolant level in your radiator and the oil level
     
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  3. garagekoalas

    garagekoalas New Member

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    Both are at a healthy level
     
  4. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    When was the last time you did a coolant change on the ICE side? You also need to check under the radiator cap. Your coolant bottle may be full, but if coolant is low in your radiator, it can't pull coolant out of the bottle. Air gap preventing coolant transfer.
    Also check your ICE water pump and thermostat, it may not be able to move enough coolant - worn out...

    Hope this helps...

    FWIW; you need a better OBD2 scanner, there should be at least pending codes. Your scanner just isn't capable of reading them.
     
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  5. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

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  6. garagekoalas

    garagekoalas New Member

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    thanks for your reply. It does look like I need to add coolant to the radiator. After doing so do I need to bleed the system at all, or can I just let it run and monitor the level?
     
  7. garagekoalas

    garagekoalas New Member

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    I added quite a lot of coolant in the radiator and refilled the reservoir. It is a bit concerning how much coolant was missing. I haven’t seen any leak, smelled any coolant, and my oil looks good. My rad cap doesn’t feel very springy at all so air may not be getting forced out, could that be the culprit?
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You should just change the radiator cap. Missing coolant is never good.
     
  9. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Borrow a radiator tester from Autozone or the like.

    First use it to test the radiator cap. A bad cap can make a lot of coolant disappear without a trace. Do both parts of the test - the cap must hold normal pressure but open at the designated over pressure point. (So the radiator doesn't explode if the car overheats.) If you replace the cap test the new one before installing it. I had a brand new Gates cap for our Accord fail the over pressure test, a new OEM Honda cap passed both. Then use it to test the radiator/coolant system for leaks. If there is an actual leak the pressure will fall and fluid should drip out under the car. Where it comes out might not be very near where it is leaking as it has to get past the plastic shields on the bottom. If pressure isn't maintained and fluid does not appear anywhere under the car there could be a blown head gasket. In that case do not start the car yet! Take out the spark plugs first and verify that the cylinders are not full of coolant. Hydrolock will ruin your day.

    Also get a look at the mechanical water pump and see if there is pink crust at the weep hole.

    Hopefully the problem has been found by that point. If not, add dye to the coolant drive it around some, and then inspect everywhere with a UV light and the special glasses. The car will need to be jacked up and a lot of plastic removed underneath to inspect everything.