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2005 prius warning triangle question

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by MRF, Oct 8, 2024 at 11:46 AM.

  1. MRF

    MRF New Member

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    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    Hi I am new to the forum and want to thank you all for being here. I hope this is the right forum for this question.

    We have a 2005 Prius with 156,000 miles on it. The red triangle warning light was coming on intermittantly, our mechanic ran the code and it had a couple things come up... an evap. warning and an ABS warning. He could find nothing wrong with the car. The brakes were fine but he did suggest we replace the gas cap (we did). The light did not go way, rather it stayed on contunuously. Our mechanic referred us to someone who is more familiar with the Prius. The other mechanic did diagnostics and could find nothing wroing. He did however say that he saw something unfamiliar to him regarding the computer system. He said it appears there is an expiration year (2022) of sorts, for computer updates, he had never seen this before and we have no idea what that even means.. I know there are numerous computer systems in the car and he did not specify. He reset the light to off but said it would likely come back on. it did.

    The car runs really well and the batteries are good but I don't feel safe driving it with that light on. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful.
     
  2. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Sep 3, 2020
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    There are a couple possible reasons for the "master warning light" coming on (red triangle of death).

    The driver's door switch could glitch - if the car is in gear and the door is "open", the warning light (and a "shift to park" message) will turn on. You should also see the red "door ajar" light come on the dash.

    The engine oil could be low. If oil pressure drops because of that, then the RToD (& a oil pressure icon) will appear on the MFD center screen.

    Or there's a fault code in the HV battery or hybrid control ecu's.

    It wouldn't surprise me if a repair shop didn't have a capable scantool to check all systems on a Prius.

    Here's a thread that reviews several apps and devices for smartphones. Some are "all system" capable.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.