Check engine light and P0093 code... or "P0A93"?

I'm having trouble understanding my CarMD data. PriusChat's "Search" feature is having trouble with "P0093"-- it's returning ~200 posts but none of them have that search string. This thread (P0A93 | PriusChat) mentions the P0A93 code for the inverter cooling system.

It's been a boring year with our 2006, and I like it that way. I'm retired so I drive it about 3000 gentle miles/year and it's up to nearly 67K miles. Our college daughter uses it pretty hard when she's home during her breaks, but it survived her December holiday. I've put a couple hundred miles on a new tank of gas since then. I usually get 55-60 MPG and this tank has been running about 58 MPG.

Yesterday I was driving home during a rush hour and finally got past the traffic to engage the cruise control for the last eight miles of the home stretch. Typical Hawaii February day, I'd put about 15 miles on the car during the drive, no problems. As the car started accelerating uphill to maintain 59 MPH I got the check engine light, the big red triangle, and the small yellow exclamation point in parentheses. No apparent oil or coolant temperature problems so I shut off the cruise control, the radio, and the A/C and just gritted my teeth the rest of the way home.

My CarMD OBDII reader brought up code P0093 in its big font. When I plugged the reader into my PC and started up the CarMD program on their website, the website called the code "0A93" and "inverter cooling system performance". But then it recommended "replace leak detection pump (LDP) switch", which doesn't make much sense.

Toyota has sent me the recall letter for the "hybrid electric water pump replacement" which also mentions code P0A93, so I guess it's finally time to take care of that. Perhaps the dealer will replace the car's coolant, too. Anything else I should watch out for?

We also received a recall notice of the "steering intermediate extension shaft" inspection/replacement. We'll take care of that while the water pump is being replaced.

I've been following the maintenance recommendations of the owner's manual, but I'm not sure what else should be worked on while the car's taken apart. Any other inspections or maintenance we should be considering during these two recalls?

I have a little of my own work to do. The left rear passenger window is closing slowly and squeaky, so it's probably mechanically fouled on a door gasket or some other component. But I think I'll pop off the door panel and look at that before I bring in the professionals.

 

Hey, Nh7o, nice to hear from another local. We bought this Prius from the Ivanoviches of Maui's Nahiku Treehouse-- he had it over here on Oahu while he was commuting interisland for work but he'd decided that he didn't need it.

All of Servco's Oahu service centers are full for the rest of Feb (recall repairs must be a booming business). We're going to drop the car off Monday morning at Servco Waipahu. That one is full up until 5 March but they'll work on it if there's a cancellation. It's all downhill from home so the 10-mile drive won't cause any problems.

The warning lights were all simultaneous and locked in. I never got a VSC light. I don't understand why I'd get the brake "(!)" light any more than I understand it being a problem with the leak detection pump switch. I left the car turned on when I got home and read the code once, then shut it off and read it again a few minutes later. The CarMD only gave P0093 and I'm not sure why the website software decided it's a 0A93, but hopefully the dealer has better tools. This morning I only had the CEL and the red ! triangle-- no (!).

I put in an Optima 12v battery in Sep 2010, so hopefully that's not the problem. Anyway I'd already driven the car to town for a meeting (parked in the hot sun) and was nearly all the way home before the codes kicked in, so I'm hoping it's more related to the water pump than the fuel or braking or 12v battery. Today I turned on the car and let the ICE run its 45 seconds. When the ICE shut off I could hear the inverter whining away, but there were no ripples in the coolant reservoir by the inverter. So that matches my confirmation bias.

John, the window isn't very bad and the silicon fluid is the easy answer. I'm just hoping that the gasket isn't pulling loose or that something isn't falling apart in there. And now I have all weekend to work on that...