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Red triangle for a very trivial reason......

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by prius04, May 23, 2005.

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  1. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    Just after starting up, I got the red triangle -- with the exclamation point -- on the dash with a small beep and the word "Problem" briefly on my view screen.

    Then the view screen changed to what looked like a small headlite icon with some up and down arrows on the left side of it, up in the top left corner.

    I shut off and on and the same thing happened. I then still drove to work and the car ran just fine. When I left work, the same thing happened so I called the dealer. They had me come right in and they took the car right away and 45 minutes later came and said that the headlites were having trouble automatically re-aligning. I had some boxes full of books in the back and they asked how long those boxed had been there. They had been there a few weeks.

    They told me they could not fix it until I came back with less than 3 bars of gas in the tank and no boxes in the trunk. In fact, they think that the problem occurred because the boxes were there for so long. They said remove the boxes and see what happens. In any case, my tank is 3/4 full, so it will be awhile before I'm down to 3 bars.

    Maybe without the boxes, it will reset by the time I get down to 3 bars.

    So here I thought I might have a major problem, and all it was was the headlites were out of whack.
     
    #1 prius04, May 23, 2005
  2. kkister1492

    kkister1492 New Member

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    That's pretty bizarre. If the books weighed enough to throw off your headlights, they must have been messing with your MPG, too. Sounds like your car was telling you to "lighten up".
     
    #2 kkister1492, May 24, 2005
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    :lolup:


    It's just to tell you that your automatic headlight levelling mechanism isn't working at that whatever's at the back (i.e. your books) could weigh down the car such that the front is pointing up and shining the HIDs at oncoming drivers and potentially blinding them.
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, May 24, 2005
  4. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Maybe Prius04 has a conservative Prius and that was its way of signaling displeasure with the books . . . not at the weight of the books, but at the contents! The small headlight icon with up and down arrows was the car rolling its eyes. :roll: :lol:

    My car isn't smart enough to know what a book looks like, but it gets good milage and seems to be enjoying its ignorance. :oops:

    Quite interesting HID system on the Prius. Take a close look. Then have someone flash the brights on and off while you watch . . . from the side! 8)
     
    #4 Sufferin' Prius Envy, May 24, 2005
  5. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

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    The red triangle isn't as scary as it looks. I think it's slightly bad design from Toyota - having a big red icon twice the size of the rest as just a general indicator.

    All it means is that you should look at the screen for an error message or warning. Nothing more, nothing less. It could be something quite trivial.
     
    #5 KMO, May 24, 2005
  6. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    Yup, the symbol of the headlight with arrows pointing up and down indicates a problem with the HID headlight leveler.
    It could simply need a reset, of which there is a simple proceedure to do, but the car is supposed to have no cargo, passengers and a certain amount of fuel. The wording about the fuel is a bit ambiguous though in the repair manual.
    Kind of like "You can never put too much water in a nuclear reactor". Does this mean you SHOULD never put too much water, or it is not possible to put too much water?

    Having books in the back of the car would have the headlights adjust to the load, but shouldn't cause an error in and of itself.
     
    #6 DanMan32, May 24, 2005
  7. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    considering the brightness of HID's maybe the problem is not as trivial as you think. until you get blasted in the eyes by a mis-aliogned set, dont belittle the car's warnings. i think its a great idea from Toyota to add that warning feature and it should be in all cars. cant say how many times it would have helped me out if the other driver would have had that feature
     
    #7 DaveinOlyWA, May 24, 2005
  8. thorn

    thorn Member

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    According to the repair manual it could be 3 things:

    1. open or short of the leveling actuator
    2. signal level abnormality (height control sensor)
    3. When abnormal processing of the CPU has been detected

    It says it goes into a fail safe mode when one of these occurs.


    This is interesting, It also uses the speed of the vehicle in the adjustment:


    "This system is controlled by the headlight level control ECU. This ECU detects the vehicle posture via the rear height control sensor, and detects the vehicle speed via the combination meter. The ECU then controls the headlight leveling actuator based on these pieces of information, in order to change the headlight reflector angle. "
     
    #8 thorn, May 24, 2005
  9. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    and the headlight leveler does not store any DTCs. All it does is trigger a 'problem' signal to the combination meter.
     
    #9 DanMan32, May 24, 2005
  10. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Perhaps we're missing the importance of the books.

    Were they anti-hybrid, pro-GM, pro-oil, or anti-new thinking in any way?
    If so, I'm thinking that the Prius was sending the message, "you're not very bright."

    Haha. I crack myself up. :-P
     
    #10 TonyPSchaefer, May 24, 2005
  11. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    :|
     
    #11 bnlfanmatt, May 24, 2005
  12. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    They are medical books. (With the internet, they are kind of useless nowadays.)

    I'm between jobs.

    Well, I removed the books from the car and 2 minutes later the lights all went off. Everything is back to normal.

    But I'm still not in my new job so when I do start, they'll be packed back in the Prius. But only for a few hours. I would expect that the lights will not come on again, unless of course I leave the boxes in the car for weeks again.

    If the lights come on right away, I'll take it to the dealer for an explanation and a fix.
     
    #12 prius04, May 24, 2005
  13. DanMan32

    DanMan32 Senior Member

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    The headlights should adjust without error even with the books in the car. It isin't over 800 pounds, is it?
     
    #13 DanMan32, May 24, 2005
  14. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    Closer to 120 lbs.

    The Toyota people think it was not the books per se, but that the box was in there for so many weeks. They think that the lights were being adjusted just fine all that time, but that the computer simply eventually sensed that something was wrong.

    What I then surmised was that the computer was trying to do an automatic adjustment to keep that alignment and that the computer was programed to flag this if it goes on too long. The computer is programed to -- at some point -- to tell the owner to bring the car in for a manual re-set.

    Just a guess. This guess may give Toyota more credit than they deserve, because it would be quite a feat for the car to do this kind of thing. But from what I've seen so far from this wonderful car, I think Toyota deserves this faith.
     
    #14 prius04, May 24, 2005
  15. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    well I guess the headlight warning will also be a good indicator of a screwed up suspension if the car responds that way to having weight in the back putting the car at a weird angle for a time.
    hm.
     
    #15 galaxee, May 25, 2005
  16. KTPhil

    KTPhil Active Member

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    I doubt there is a long-term memory of headlight positions. I thik the sensor was out of whack just enough that the extra weight of the books "put it over the edge". I'd keep the paper so when it fails further, you have it documented under warrantee.
     
    #16 KTPhil, May 25, 2005
  17. Clar

    Clar Member

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    Replying to an old thread.

    My 06 prius just had same problem and replaced under standard warranty. My car has almost 36k miles when problem appeared.

    It took dealer almost 2 days and several tries to figure it out. This is on the job order:

    Parts: FP-Number 89408-47010 Sensor sub-assy.
    Job description: Replaced Rear Height Control Sensor. Cleared Code.
     
    #17 Clar, Jun 14, 2007
  18. kevin_rf

    kevin_rf Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Clar @ Jun 14 2007, 08:50 AM) [snapback]461488[/snapback]</div>
    My dealer wants $400 to replace it on my '05. Apparently they think 70,000 miles is a bit excessive and refuse to warrenty it. Even though it never worked correctly from the day I bought it.

    Anyone have any idea how much the sensor is and how hard it is to replace.
     
    #18 kevin_rf, Jul 13, 2007
  19. Tom_06

    Tom_06 Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kevin_rf @ Jul 13 2007, 09:49 AM) [snapback]478057[/snapback]</div>
    About $225. It should be an easy replacement. Use 89408-47010 in the link below.

    https://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ind...p;siteid=213804

    - Tom
     
    #19 Tom_06, Jul 13, 2007
  20. kevin_rf

    kevin_rf Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tom_06 @ Jul 13 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]478103[/snapback]</div>

    Thanks Tom, considering there is actually a TSB on it ( US TSB EL004-06 ) and I have the extended warrenty through the dealer I think I am going to try the demand to know why Norm Wagner Toyota is trying to rip me off route with the service manager tonight first.
     
    #20 kevin_rf, Jul 13, 2007
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