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Really scary warning light

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ozymandias, May 5, 2010.

  1. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    Our 04 has just over 100k miles. The wife says yesterday the red exclamation mark came on the dash and the screen has a little red car icon with an exclamation point.

    The manual says this means "take vehicle to dealer immediately". Is there any way I can find out what is wrong without going to the dealer? Any idea what is wrong?

    No other warning lights or strange behavior has been reported by her, but I haven't test driven the car myself.

    Thanks
     
    #1 ozymandias, May 5, 2010
  2. halpos4

    halpos4 "Taxi"!

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    Is the warning light still on? if so you'll need to retrieve the codes using your Toyota Dealer or a Scangauge tool,
    Is the 12v battery the original [04]or has it been replaced recently,if so check that the terminals are tight,
    If it's the original,maybe it's time to change.
     
    #2 halpos4, May 5, 2010
  3. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    She said the light came on yesterday and when she started the car today it came on immediately. So the car is just sitting at home right now.

    I don't have a scanguage tool...is this something the local parts store can scan for free?

    I know the battery is getting weak. It died on my wife a few weeks ago after having the headlights on for only 20-30 minutes. Pretty sure it's original. I guess I will replace the battery first and see what happens.
     
    #3 ozymandias, May 5, 2010
  4. halpos4

    halpos4 "Taxi"!

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    A weak 12v battery has strange affects on Prius as posted by many here including myself,if indeed it's the original 12v,personally that's where i'd start...but i'm not signing anything or claiming responsibility if it's not!!LOL.
     
    #4 halpos4, May 5, 2010
  5. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    eh, it needs to be replaced anyway. When I'm there I'lll ask them if they can scan the car for free (yeah, right)
     
    #5 ozymandias, May 5, 2010
  6. halpos4

    halpos4 "Taxi"!

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    If the light is still on chances are there will be a code,if it's gone it might not be stored,but if your Toyota Dealer are decent folk like mine they'll do it for free especially if you're going to buy a new battery from them,
    I replaced my 12v for an Genuine Toyota battery but there are options,if you do a search here on PC.
     
    #6 halpos4, May 5, 2010
  7. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    #7 richard schumacher, May 5, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  8. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    Thanks for the link. I'll do that first thing when I get home.

    The only alternative I could find is the Optima yellow top, which seems to cost more than getting an OEM battery from the dealer.
     
    #8 ozymandias, May 5, 2010
  9. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Yes, but an Optima will never die. I have one in my Civic and this car is beaten very hard with electrical draw. Also a deep cycle battery can be discharged many many times with very little degredation in charge capacity.

    Highly recommended.
     
    #9 2k1Toaster, May 5, 2010
  10. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    Yeah so the battery level does seem low (around 11.7-11.8 after pressing the start button twice). New battery tomorrow!
     
    #10 ozymandias, May 5, 2010
  11. snowbird

    snowbird Junior Member

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    So what happened? Did a new battery take care of the problem? I'm always curious to hear results. And this is information I may need in the next year or so.
     
    #11 snowbird, May 21, 2010
  12. ozymandias

    ozymandias Junior Member

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    Oh, sorry for not updating. Yeah, the new battery fixed it. Didn't even get a warning of any kind after starting it up with the new battery.

    Note: once you remove the battery you can't open the trunk. I found that out the hard way. :( I ended up jumpering the new bettery from under the hood to open the trunk.

    My hunch, the car detected the low voltage on the battery and put up the warning so I would get it replaced.
     
    #12 ozymandias, May 21, 2010
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