2006 Gen II Prius died while driving, Red Triangle, trac Control and CEL all came on

Probably ran out of gas. The gas meter is not all that accurate. Put in some gas and try again. You might have to dis connect the battery to reset the lights

SM-N900P ?

 

Takes more than one gallon of gas, add at least three more gallons in one session. In other words, don't add just two and think it will be okay. Has to have a minimum of three gallons added in one session before the Prius will again register the fuel and start pumping fuel again. Then unhook the battery and try again.

If that doesn't work, the codes will have to be pulled. Might be the big battery too, but hope it is just out of gas.

Ron (dorunron)

 

Also could be the 12 V battery going dead.

 

1. Add some fuel.
2. If the amount of fuel added is less than 3-4 gallons at one time, then disconnect the 12V battery negative cable where it bolts to the body. Need a 10 mm wrench for this purpose.
3. Wait two minutes, then reconnect the battery negative cable. The purpose of this is to force the Prius to read the new fuel level and to clear existing DTC.
4. Try to make the Prius READY. If it becomes READY, go to the nearest gasoline station and fill the tank.
5. Resolve not to allow the fuel level to drop down to the level previously reached when the car had a problem. Therefore, refuel no later than when the fuel gauge shows 3 bars.
6. If the Prius will not become READY after adding fuel and disconnecting/reconnecting the 12V battery, then the car must be towed for professional assistance.
7. If the car can be made READY, after the car returns home, put a battery charger on the 12V battery overnight and see how long it takes before the charger thinks the 12V battery is fully-charged.

The point of the above is to take care of the fuel level and assess the 12V battery condition, which are two of the likely reasons why the Prius may experience a driveability problem.

 

Yes, your daughter can get a jumpstart but she must be absolutely sure not to reverse battery polarity or else run the risk of damaging the inverter. She will need to get a new 12V battery, regardless of whether she gets a jumpstart or not.

Another purpose of getting the jumpstart now is to confirm whether the car can be driven, or whether some other issue exists.

Your daughter can see what the local Toyota dealer parts dept price is on the 12V battery, tomorrow. If she is lucky it will be <$200 not counting installation labor.

 

yes try to disconnect the battery for 10 seconds, reconnect and start it, if it doesn't start, then jump it.

 

I prefer negative

SM-N900P ?

 

The reason to disconnect the negative side first is that in the event the wrench contacts the body metal, there is no problem. If this happens when the positive cable is being unbolted (while the negative cable is still connected) then this will result in an electrical short which can be very dangerous if the 12V battery is in good condition.

 

If your daughter can take a slightly more complex instruction: have her disconnect the 12V battery as before. Then jumpstart the Prius without the failed 12V battery connected, and see if the car will remain running.

It is possible that the engine is spinning via MG1, without actually powering up. See if the RPM will increase when the accelerator pedal is pressed. If not then you will know the engine is not actually working.

 

MG1 is one of the motor generators within the transaxle. One of its functions is to act as a starter motor when the gasoline engine needs to be started.

Another function is that it will help the gasoline engine to spin at appropriate speeds given accelerator pedal input from the driver and vehicle speed, based upon input from the hybrid vehicle ECU to the inverter.

A third function is that it will develop high voltage three-phase AC electrical power which is routed through the inverter to charge the traction battery.

The DC/DC converter within the inverter plays the role of the alternator as it converts high voltage DC from the traction battery to ~13.8VDC supplying the low voltage electrical accessories on the 12V bus.

If the car can be made READY with the 12V battery disconnected and the car jumpstarted, then disconnect the jumpstart cables and the car can be driven home or wherever. Obviously, once the car is powered down it cannot be powered back up without a good 12V battery or another jumpstart. But at least you will know whether the 12V battery is the only remaining issue or not.

It is possible that the root cause of your daughter's car's problem is low fuel which caused the engine to stop, placing stress on the electrical system when your daughter continued to drive the car, and resulted in the 12V battery failure. An alternative explanation is that the 12V battery just decided to have a shorted cell or two while your daughter was driving which unduly loaded the DC/DC converter and caused the car to stall as voltage to the ECUs dropped below the minimum acceptable level for them to continue their operation.

 

Correct. The jumpstart cables would be connected as follows: the positive cable connects to the Prius battery cable with the red plastic terminal protector; while the negative cable connects to the Prius body metal, someplace which is unpainted and exposed. One good possibility would be the unpainted metal bracket of the brake power supply (the large black rectangular box) which is adjacent to the 12V battery.

Once the Prius is READY, disconnect the jumpstart cables and see if the engine will actually rev up when the accelerator pedal is depressed. If yes, then hopefully the car can be driven. Your daughter should leave the Prius READY until she has reached her final destination for the evening.