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Red triangle and other red warning image?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by mercat68, Apr 13, 2019.

  1. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    My daughter, away at college with my 200K+ miles 2007, got the red triangle and check engine light today, and also got the symbol in attached photo on the the main display. I’ve never seen that before - does that always display with the triangle?
     

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  2. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Nothing really remarkable about the display. You just have never "gone there" before.

    The odds are VERY high that you/she has a battery problem.
    The HV hybrid battery costs around $2000 to replace.

    BUT.....the small 12 V battery can give all kinds of erroneous readings when it starts going dead.
    A new one of those is less than $200.

    Any Toyota dealer can test the 12 V battery; so can any store that sells batteries.

    I suggest that you need to be VERY sure that you have a healthy 12 V battery before you do anything else.

    P.S. Cross your fingers. At 12 years old with 200K+ miles, the odds of a HV battery failure are getting kind of high.
     
  3. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Thanks. Unfortunately, I put a fresh 12V in it a couple years ago. I suppose it could be defective, but not hopeful that’s the problem. Will put a code reader on it as soon as I can get there.
     
  4. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    How far away is the car?

    Any chance of getting the codes read?
     
  5. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    She’s about 3 hours away. She lives on campus, and can live without the car for a while. Plan to get there at some point this week.

    Will the car run purely on the ICE if the HV battery dies, or is the HV essential to the car’s operation?
     
  6. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    The car is powered with the electric system, so no ICE only option;).

    I’d get a Techstream setup ready to roll or find a shop that can read it for you, but be ready for a diagnostic fee:cool:.

    What city are you near as we might be able to help supply options :)?

    Good luck and keep us posted (y).
     
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  7. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Thanks. She’s just outside Philadelphia, just northwest of the city.
     
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  8. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Heres one in the northeast area of philly:

    Philadelphia Auto Repair - Savage Automotive and Hybrid Shop

    Might be worth a call to talk shop and potentials for their services before you head up, but they have good reviews online(y).
     
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  9. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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  10. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    They do go bad. Also connections can go bad: loose or corroded.

    And if your memory is anything like mine, a "couple of years ago" sometimes proves out to be a LOT longer than I remember. :)

    Also young people sometimes don't think that leaving doors open or accessories running for hours and HOURS could in any way be a bad thing to do.
     
  11. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Usually I’d say “guilty as charged” re: my memory, but I’m certain about this - we handed the car down to her when I got my Prime in late summer 2017, and I put the battery in it then. But all your other guesses certainly are possible!
     
  12. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    My guess about a bad battery is also possible; maybe not likely though.
    They do sometimes go bad rather quickly.
    I once had one fail after 24 hours.

    "New" does not necessarily equal "good".
     
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  13. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Usually when you see the car icon on the mfd screen we call it the turtle it means the hybrid battery is bad. At that mileage and vintage car i would say good run there.

    Long range at that mileage she may be better off getting a regular non hybrid car as opposed to futzing around with hybrid battery repair because unless you or she buys a brand new hybrid battery from Toyota ($$$) the alternative is having that battery 'repaired" which is usually only a stop gap measure as "repaired" means I replace the bad battery modules with the same vintage old battery modules it already has in it the exception being those old modules have just not yet failed.

    We call that stop gap measure a whack-a-mole repair. Because that's what it is.

    If it was my daughter away at college I would start thinking about getting her into a nice used car that any mechanic can fix. But that's just me.
     
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  14. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Thanks - that’s how I’m leaning, assuming the battery’s dead.
     
  15. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Related question: Any ballpark estimate of how much drivable life the HV has left in it once you get these warning lights?
     
  16. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Very hard to tell. Doesn't really matter from your perspective as the battery must come out for inspection. May just have a soft module or 2 or it may have a cracked module and leaking electrolyte and throwing a ground fault code. Or rotten buss bars....etc....Either way its got to come out and then let the fun begin. Its impossible for you as your not there.

    Its the number one post here on this site if that makes you feel any better but I doubt it does.

    I myself own a bought new 07 and my very well for car started showing very bad signs of battery deterioration about 2 years ago like bad mpg or would go to purple really fast in a drive through restaurant. I was lucky as I was aware of the poor performance of the battery and the available fix for it.

    I bought a Prolong battery charger/Discharger and was able to bring it back to life. But and it's a big but it had not thrown a code yet it was just getting old and tired. When it throws a code it has some sort of a fatality in the battery pack that must be addressed. A Toyota Techstream OBDII code harvest will tell you exactly why its unhappy. Your daughter's car's hybrid battery has been old and tired for a while.

    Prolong charger/discharger will not fix that code.
     
  17. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Thanks. I was asking about life left only from the perspective of her getting it to a Toyota dealership about 10 minutes away for diagnostic work (and then getting it back to campus). In other words, is it likely there's enough life left for a short trip or two like that?

    Ha! I've always wanted to be number one, but not like this.

    Funny thing is, this battery hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. Mostly stays in the blue, very often into the green, and very rarely does it go purple.

    I'm not very familiar with Techstream. Is this just a specialized OBDII reader?
     
    #17 mercat68, Apr 13, 2019
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2019
  18. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Techstream is the Toyota Lexus and Scion software ;).

    Everything else is possible, but Techstream is the definite(y).
     
  19. mercat68

    mercat68 Active Member

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    Thanks, @Raytheeagle. From what I can tell via Amazon search, I have to get a device that plugs into the port on the car and feeds, via USB, into a laptop on which I have the Techstream software loaded - correct?
     
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  20. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    A version of Techstream comes with the J2534 protocol device you buy;).

    So the either mini vci , vxdiag, etc that you are looking at will have a version of Techstream :).

    Installs can be tricky, but worth it(y).
     
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