Engine screaming and battery draining

You should not have washed under the hood with water. I'm not saying thats the problem but am very worried it is. Good luck to you and keep us posted.

 

:welcome:
Just thinking about the spark plug wells(4-5" deep hole in the top of the block the spark plugs live in), if one of the wells had a leak and filled with water it would tend to short that cylinders spark, 12v battery might be new might not.
I'd error on the side of caution, a dealer might be spot on for diagnosis and after a dealers input using this forum might find someone that also hosed and died or second guess the dealers diagnosis.
I've hosed my '06 twice but I wasn't high pressure and I wasn't allowing lot's of water to stagnate near the spark plugs.
My short experience with a cylinder misfiring produced 30ish mileage but my usual was 53+, so 40 is already inconvenient, back to the 12v, if it's toast your mileage will be lower than it could be, @ 65mph+ high 40's, @55-mph 50's +

 

See the following link, http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...power-red-triangle-hybrid-system-warning.html.

Patrick pointed the problem to inverter coolant pump.

 

1. Try disconnecting the 12V battery negative cable where it bolts to the body for several minutes, then reconnect. The point of this is to give all ECUs a chance to power down and reset.

2. After reconnecting the battery, see if you still have a problem.

3. If you still have a problem and you believe that the problem was provoked by your washing the engine compartment, then I suggest you will have to look at all electrical connectors related to the inverter and transaxle that may have been impacted by your washing effort. Ideally you would remove each connector and inspect for moisture, corrosion etc.

4. I also suggest that you check your 12V battery's voltage after the car has been IG-OFF overnight. Ideally you would measure 12.6V or better. If lower than that and you have a charger, it would be good to fully-charge the battery overnight. After charging the battery and waiting several hours for the surface charge to dissipate, if you don't measure 12.6V or better you may want to replace the battery.

 

Normal behavior in the Prius is to have the ICE rev to high rpm when the traction battery SOC goes below a threshold value. The car's control logic is saying "charge up the traction battery NOW." If you ask for motive power while this event occurs you will notice anemic response, and of course MPG will be poor since the energy is flowing to the battery rather than the driveshaft.

This is usually an uncommon event, and unless you are driving up a long uphill, short-lived.

So that is the "what is going on?" Unanswered is why the traction battery SOC is low in this car, and whether the traction battery is charging. One possibility is a bad traction battery, but the usual symptom is rapid change in the SOC from empty to full, and not staying empty. This sounds more like either an ongoing unexpected drain of the traction battery that requires the ICE to send juice all the time, or a short to the traction battery.

My best advice: follow Patrick Wong's advice!

 

Use the live data feature of your OBD to check ignition advance (about 15) and coolant temperature.

 

I should have mentioned, you need to have been running on the highway for 10+ minutes before checking these values, so make sure that the engine is up to operating temperature, and that the ignition timing is advancing to its most efficient value.

 

Did this car have a salvage title? That can be Bad, there are literally thousands of Prii out there with salvage titles, especially California. Ca is quicker to total and then label the car "Salvage". Before you do any more work on the car "READ the archives!"on the problem area. You never bleed the brakes! It requires a special machine at Toyota. Listen to our tech experts and read the archives! You will probably have to replace that 12V Bat for a start. On cleaning the engine, you can use some engine cleaner and then a very fine mist of water to rinse. I do it often. But NEVER use high pressure. As pointed out those igniter wells and spark plugs are subject to shorting. Have fun :cheer2: