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2006 Red Triangle / VSC / Circle ! / Check Engine

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by PairofJacks, Apr 21, 2017.

  1. PairofJacks

    PairofJacks New Member

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    I have a 2006 Toyota Prius with 182,000 miles on it. Yesterday when going to lunch I started my car and the Red Triangle, Check Engine, Circle with Exclamation Mark, the little red car with exclamation mark on the display and VSC lights all came on. On my way home from work I stopped and picked up a new 12v starter battery and while at Autozone I had them hook up a scanner to check the codes and they weren't able to get any codes to show up. They tested the battery and it showed the battery was at 31%. After leaving and driving home the lights disappeared. I replaced the battery and thought all was solved but on the way to work this morning all of the lights came back on. I've recently had an oil change and air filters replaced. The fluid in the inverter coolant is moving while the car is on. The car has been running great. There are a couple of things I've noticed recently though: when I push on the accelerator, some times, the car hesitates before accelerating but it rarely does this and then I've noticed a noise coming from...it sounds like the rear of the vehicle only when the stopped. Could something with the transmission be causing the lights to come on? Brake pads? The main battery was just replaced a couple of years ago and it seems fine.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
     
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  2. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Generic code readers can't see all hybrid/Toyota specific codes. You need to get them read by a dealer or a hybrid specialist repair shop. Good Luck!
     
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  3. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    First of all you need to have a moderator move this thread to the G2 maintenance pert of the forum.
    No....I'm not one of these buzz-kill Barney Fife types, but you're going to give G4 owners a bit of a scare with the thread title.

    Secondly....if you have an eleven year old car, get an OBDII code reader.
    I've never heard of one not being able to read "hybrid specific/Toyota specific codes" before but I'm sure that somebody can recommend one that is Prius Friendly - as well as educate me on the code readers.
    They're about $20 these days.
    Maybe $30 for a "real good-un" but remember.......you don't need the reader to diagnose the problem.
    You just need the code.
    I'm thinking that even if the code reader cannot associate the code value to a known symptom, you'll still get a code value from it, and the interwebs will do the rest.

    With all due respect to fotomoto, I wouldn't take the car anywhere near a Toyota dealer.
    To them......having a customer showing up with mysterious OBDII codes sounds a lot a boat payment that's going to be made early that month.
    You replaced the aux (12v) battery?

    I'd check the throttle body/MAFS and the PCV and see if cleaning the former and maybe replacing the latter will clear up the hesitation.
    There are vids about this in the forum.
    The throttle-body cleaning especially might be helpful, but (*warning*) do not use the dealer method which will be some variation of spraying a can of something or other (or maybe nothing) into the intake and charging the customer $150.

    Good Luck!
     
  5. PairofJacks

    PairofJacks New Member

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    ----USA----
    ETC:

    Thanks for the reply. I contacted a moderator to have this topic moved to the correct forum. Thanks for pointing that out.

    I replaced the 12v starter battery last night, drove it around and everything seemed fine then this morning the lights returned. Within the last year I had the main battery replaced so I'm not sure what else could be causing all of these lights to come on. It drives fine except that I have noticed it hesitates, some times, when I accelerate from a stop position but otherwise it has been driving perfectly fine. With these lights on I'm a bit nervous to be driving it at all as I don't want to cause any additional problems. I was supposed to drive an hour away this weekend but now I'm not sure if I should even have this out on the road.
     
  6. 69shovlhed

    69shovlhed Surly tree hugger

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    you got to pull codes; the cheap code readers usually only pull engine/emissions codes. otherwise there are threads about some techstream software and cable you hook to a laptop to pull all kinds of good info from your cars hybrid system. you might want to look into that.
     
  7. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Who did you use and what did you replace the main battery with? A new battery from Toyota or some kind of refurb/rebuilt?

    If it was the former, then yes you may wonder, but if it was the latter, then you cannot discount the replacement failing. In any case, you can only wonder until such time as you read the codes and find out what your car is trying to tell you.
     
  8. JudgeDoug

    JudgeDoug Junior Member

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    My car is doing the same thing! Any results?
     
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  9. David Bello

    David Bello New Member

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    Hi I have a 2005 Prius, so I cleaned the back brakes and when I was done I turned on the car and the red triangle, engine check, !cricle, vsc, and the !with the red car symbol turned on, car runs fine just hesitates a bit from a stop, what can it be anything would be helpful thank you image.jpg image.jpg
     
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  10. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Your car has a code in one of its computers indicating something is not right with something in the hybrid drive system. You need a Toyota compatible scantool (like a mini vci cable with a copy of techstream on an old windows laptop) or a app (like Dr Prius) with a compatible obd2 adapter so that you can read those codes from the high voltage battery ecu.

    Once you have those codes then you figure out what to do next. Actually one of the next thing to do would be to have the 12V battery tested - if that is weak it can cause all kinds of problems. However, assuming you do have problem be aware that it could leave you stranded if not taken care of.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  11. David Bello

    David Bello New Member

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    Ok yea ima scan the codes tomorrow, I just disconnected the battery for about 2 mins and re connected it and the lights went away so I tested drove it and it was fine for about 5 mins then the lights when back on and the acceleration got stuck and would hesitate when I press on the gas , was driving perfect before the lights when on again
     
  12. Todd Gack

    Todd Gack New Member

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    David: What ended up being the problem and how did you solve it? I'm having the very same thing happen!