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Car won't start, red triangle, no OBD fault code

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by DanGTZ, Aug 30, 2017.

  1. DanGTZ

    DanGTZ Junior Member

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    Hello,

    My 2008 Prius 2 IPA SOL PACK does not start anymore, when I press the ignition button with the foot on the brake, the car car does not come to the "ready" state, and all the lights on the dashboard are ON + the red triangle.

    When I plug in my generic OBD diag tools (Carista, OBDLink ...), I get NO fault code. Which is nevertheless troubling. I have no starting point to understand the problem.

    I already had a problem with the red triangle a few months ago, I had then obtained the fault code of inverter A overheating and this allowed me to found that the water pump of the hybrid system was dead. I replaced it with a Toyota model found on ebay USA, bleeding and draining the coolant and everything was back in order. The car worked perfectly for months. Today when I check the hybrid coolant vase, I still can see the coolant circulating and I can hear the pump working well. So no worries on this side.

    I also replaced the 12V battery by the OEM one several months ago because the old was too weak and sometimes provoked the red triangle. Today with the OBD diag I can see that I have 12V when I put ingnition ON. So no worries on this side either.

    Would anyone have an idea of what it could be?
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    12 volts is dead. you need at least 12.4 with the car off. and a few hours after it has been off so the surface charge has resided.
    if it is new, put a charger on it and recheck, then keep tabs on it until you are satisfied it is not defective.
    should hang in there close to 13 volts.

    btw, what is an IPA SOL PACK?
     
  3. DanGTZ

    DanGTZ Junior Member

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    Thanks for your suggestion. Sorry I didn't paid attention to the digits on the voltage. Will check again and use cable and another car to check if it starts. But I don't think this can be the 12V batterie for several reasons :
    - When the red triangle appeared the first time for this problem, car was running in the road at normal speed (so already started up). Then I thought this was related to temperature (didn't have the OBD tool at this time). So I stopped the car and then it never started again.
    - I replaced the 12v batterie by a brand new one from Toyota a few months ago.


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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if it turns out the 12v is fine, you will need a proper prius reader for the correct codes.
     
  5. DanGTZ

    DanGTZ Junior Member

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    Ok, I can't get the TIS software working for me. And here Toyota is too expensive, can't afford it.

    Does putting the car in diagnostic mode is possible on my Prius?


    SOL PACK IPA is the trim (French car). It has the automatic parking, rear camera and GPS.


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  6. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Added thought, New batteries are not immune to someone accidentally leaving something on.
    You can access the 12+ terminals under the fuse box under the hood... Lift up the red cap for positive access.

    If it indeed drops all the way to 12.0 v just with ignition on, that's too low.

    Simply add a boost charge to that terminal and ground somewhere, then see if it starts.

    If so, either battery is bad "shorted inside etc", or it got left on & drained and probably left that way a few days.

    Leaving a battery drained long at all causes the sulphates on the plate "normal with a drained battery" to harden and not want to come off when charging "as they normally would".

    If you suspect something is draining the battery you can confirm by turning the car completely off, move your car key to a distant area so it doesn't trigger inside lights to come on by close proximity, then check amperage across the + terminal. Should be zero amps.

    If so, someone still could have left something on that now is off.

    But so we don't chase rabbits down a trail, first check voltage with a meter.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't know anything about gen 2 diagnostic mode, i would think so. search the threads here on implementing it, and how to interpret the codes.
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Did your car die while driving or you parked and can't start it again?

    Did you touch the orange interlock switch on the hv battery?
     
  9. DanGTZ

    DanGTZ Junior Member

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    Hello all thanks for all your suggestions.

    I tested the battery with my voltmeter : 11.7V
    I connected the Prius battery to another car's one while this car engine is running and this provided 13.5V to the Prius (tested with voltmeter). => car won't start
    This doesn't change anything.
    Note that I already experienced low 12V battery several times before so I know this issue very well and I can say that the issue my car is experiencing currently is not the same.

    After this test, I tried to put the car in diagnostic mode but I couldn't, because my "info" button is not working :-(

    So I decided to simply make a ECU fault code reset with my generic tool (OBDLINK + Torque app) : engine started. When I did that the battery was still connected to the other car.

    Did 10Km since ECU reset and nothing to notice for now.


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  10. DanGTZ

    DanGTZ Junior Member

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    The car had the red triangle showing while driving. It didn't stop, I drove it a few meters and then decided to stop it. Then when I tried to start it again it never started.

    No I didn't touch the orange interlock switch, don't know what is this.


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  11. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    11.7v is pretty bad, you should charge up that battery and see if it'll hold a charge. If not, replace that and you can continue diagnostics if the problem remains.

    If you can start the car once after a 12v reset or a engine code reset, this means you have a high voltage leak and the car is limiting you to only starting 1 time.
     
  12. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    If you can get it charged up some and see if it will drive that will help let you know if it's just the battery however the inverter is What charges that 12 volt battery so there is a possibility your inverter is not working also that could have been what took out the battery since it was not getting a charge if that is the case.

    If you do in fact get the car started the battery voltage should pop up into the 13s pretty quick even if the 12 volt battery is bad if the inverter is indeed charging.
     
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    without tech stream, we're flying blind.