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Red Triangle, yellow indicator, VSC, check engine light

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Goatpunishment, Aug 31, 2023.

  1. Goatpunishment

    Goatpunishment New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2023
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    Location:
    Utah
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Good morning. I’m probably going to drop off my 2008 Prius at the dealership after work, but while I’m at work I’m hoping to get some help with what’s going on and maybe save a trip to the dealership.

    My 2008 Prius has been occasionally been staying on while at complete stops. Like, the engine stays on and and sometimes it even starts to rev high. The air vent on the rear passenger side has started to blow (I’ve never consciously heard it blow before) and just this morning the ((!)) light, red triangle, check engine, and VSC lights turned on.

    Oil looks good, I’m pretty sure there is turbulence in the inverter coolant reservoir (lots of movement but doesn’t look like the nice little spiral that I’ve heard to look for), and when I drove it a short distance to work it drove pretty well with normal MPG. The A/C is still blowing nice and cold too.

    I had it scanned at autozone (I know, not the best idea) but it pulled some secondary codes:
    C1259: (ECM Communication Malfunction (TRC Signal/Idle up Signal))
    C1300: Malfunction in ECU
    C1310: Malfunction in HV system

    Not sure if those codes are any actual help… I know you usually need to have a special scanner.

    I’m a pretty new Prius owner, I bought it used a few months ago with 168k miles on it. I’ve done some quick searches around the forum and it might sound like I kinda know what I’m talking about…. But I really don’t. So any and all help is appreciated. From what I can tell, it’s probably the fancy battery and it’s probably not covered by warranty anymore.

    But please help me figure out what’s wrong! Also, should I buy one of the special scanners?
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
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    Plug-in Base
    could be a bad hybrid battery, or corrosion inside the battery case and ecu connectors.
     
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    There are definitely hybrid system codes, of which those are a couple possible ones, out of a couple hundred or so.

    The codes C1259 and C1310, even though they come from the brake system, only mean "there are hybrid system codes and you need to read those."

    So that will require using a better scan tool that can read the rest of the codes. We have a review thread that indicates which of the offerings out there are able to do that:

    Gen2 OBD2 app review | PriusChat