Yellow vs Red Triangle... is my battery cooked?

clean the fan and grille. the hybrid battery needs to be tested under load. get tech stream or go to a dealer.

 

have the 12 volt battery checked, when it starts getting weak it can throw all kinds of strange codes.. dont use a volt meter as it dosent test the battery under load...
as to value, A car its worth what someone is willing to pay for it. take KBB bottom value than deduct repairs and damage.
if all your voltages are 15 plus you most likely dont have a battery issue..
it can be other things in the HV system causing the red triangle to come on
you might have to spend $100 at the dealer for a proper diagnostic if the 12 volt battery is good

 

In a few minute search, I found that this code could refer to MG2 temp sensor. The sub code is important. The information I found shows that the motor gen assembly should be replaced. You need a “hybrid aware” scanner to read the code.

As an auto parts store employee, I don’t have much faith in the ability of our scanner to read any “hybrid specific” codes.

 

RED Triangle: This is a warning against something which, if ignored, may cause death or serious injury to people. You are informed about what you must or must not do in order to reduce the risk of death or serious injury to yourself and others.

YELLOW Triangle: This is a warning against something which, if ignored, may cause damage to the vehicle or its equipment. You are informed about what you must or must not do in order to avoid or reduce the risk of damage to your Toyota and its equipment.

 

The difference is that in the Gen 3 instrument cluster, the triangle light is colored yellow.

It is telling you that there is some one of a couple hundred possible issues being detected, some possibly involving the battery or others possibly not, and that reading the trouble codes with Techstream would be a good idea, in order to begin working out what might be wrong with the car.

-Chap

 

i have a gen 2 so Im not sure about a yellow triangle ... I dont think mine goes yellow its off or red.. have you checked the owners manual or on line for a picture of your dash lights and what they mean? it never hurts to check the 12 volt before investing money into repairs the car might not need.

 

Did you Google that code?
P0A38 subcode 257 generator sensor circuit low
Did you read through this PDF about testing the motor. Link to download https://goo.gl/cYL317
The very beginning of it talks about the motor...
"The motor temperature sensor No. 2 detects the temperature of the transaxle fluid." And then details procedure for testing.

Pay to have it properly diagnosed at a location that uses Techstream and/or can read the subcodes.
This could be at the dealership, an independent garage, or at home yourself.

For using Techstream at home it is likely easiest if you buy Techstream software bundles with minivci or similar cable. Easiest if you run it on an old Windows XP laptop.

1) the code showing three times does not mean there are three bad blocks.

2) standing voltage can quickly show a shorted block, but it is better if you fill the battery up and drain it to see additional behavior of when battery is full/filling and empty/draining.

3) someone else answered.

4) if you haven't cleaned your fan, go ahead and do it. But it won't help with an overheated motor/tranaxle.

5) If you try to cheat people by not disclosing that your battery is failing that is not cool. But replacing a few modules and then being 100% transparent about your basically dying car is cool. Too often I've seen unscrupulous folks hide the defect of their car and sell it without disclosing. This is just bad karma and makes the world a crappier place. Why? Why would people do that?

6) Think about what you would pay for a high mileage car that needs a $2,000-$3,000 repair. Basically not much. Scrap value plus $100. So somewhere between $200 and $500.

 

If the voltage is too high, that's not good either. You need to get Techstream and test the battery.