Red triangle of death 2x, then check engine light, then no warnings at all, p0303 cylinder 3 misfire

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by peripatetic pri, Oct 12, 2025 at 11:40 PM.

  1. peripatetic pri

    peripatetic pri Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2018
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    Location:
    pac nw
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Model:
    One
    HI; about 170k miles, 2nd owner from 50k miles; had hybrid battery replaced by dealer 5-6 years ago, 12 volt replaced soon after.
    Recently car seemed to lag a bit going up hills. Other than that fine.
    Had driven 50-60 mph for 8 miles then a lot of stops, starts before red triangle occurred when turned car on. 2x in a row.
    Then it disappeared and everything seemed normal next time turned car on.
    Drove car 1.5 miles; check engine light on.
    Drove car .5 miles no check engine light on.
    Drove 5 miles no check engine light on.
    All of this occurred w/in 1.5 hours.
    Went to O'reilly's auto, they ran codes (this is after .5 miles where no check engine light appeared at all).
    Codes: P3191 (engine doesn't start); stored. //P0303 cylinder 3 misfire detected, pending.
    Just realized that sheet I was given with codes listed showed car mileage at 297k when it's 170k. Don't know what that is all about.
    The last 5 mile drive was to dealer because that was the only safe place to leave car from Sat night to Monday a.m. I know they're diagnostic is about $170 and I shudder to think about what they might come up with.
    Friend who knows re cars says that once red triangle appears it's basically alll over; says that means there's a problem w hybrid battery.
    O'reilly's guy thinks it's a spark plug. He had this whole flow chart of 4 or so different things it could be with the 2 codes but I can't find where I wrote it.
    There was a huge rainstorm I think just after the red triangle of death appeared and we haven't really had any big rainstorms since last spring. But that was after the red triangle appeared.
    When I say "red triangle of death" I wish I had taken a pic of it but I was so surprised I didn't. One screen said like "emergency" or something and another said "trouble." I think.
    Any experience with anything like this and whether it could possibly not mean anything or be caused by a sensor problem or something else innocuous?
    Thanks so much
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    red triangle can mean many things, but it is telling you to read the trouble codes.
    that would require a dealer, a mech with a prius aware scanner, your own scanner, or possibly an auto parts store, but they don't always read all the codes, or sub codes when available.
    are you going to diy the trouble shooting and repair?