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Should I drive the car with red triangle on dash?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Scottyx, Dec 5, 2019.

  1. Scottyx

    Scottyx Junior Member

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    ----Australia----
    G'day there

    I just bought my 2006 Prius about 3 or 4 weeks ago with about 230 000 km's on it and have been trying to get an OBD and Dr Prius to work so I can start checking out my HV battery condition as I was a bit suss of it.

    Today my daughter has been using the car and went about 5 minutes up the road to do the shopping in 36 or 37 degree heat. When she came back to the car a short time latter to come home she rang me and said there is a red triangle on the dash and some other thing on the display screen. I told her to park the car and leave it there.

    So will I cause or maybe will I cause any more damage if I drive the car home later once the weather cools down tonight? It's probably about 4 km.

    Thanks for your thoughts
    Scott
     
    #1 Scottyx, Dec 5, 2019
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Once error codes are cleared car will forget it has a problem and in cooler weather may forget problem long enough to get home.

    First signs of a pack problem or inverter pump tends to happen in hot weather... So make sure you have inspect/clean battery cooling fan... You can clear red triangle/error codes via Dr. Prius app, or simply disconnect the 12v battery for a few minutes to clear codes.

    Soon as you tell us what the error codes are we can help...
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Dec 5, 2019
  3. Scottyx

    Scottyx Junior Member

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    Cheers mate

    I’ll go later tonight and disconnect 12v battery to hopefully get it home.

    I have the week end off so I will clean cooling fan and maybe try my OBD2 reader again to see if I can get it to connect.

    The bugger is at the moment I have my daughters Nissan apart in the garage and she was borrowing the Prius. Oh well I'll get there and I reckon there are dudes out there with real problems.
     
    #3 Scottyx, Dec 5, 2019
    PriusCamper likes this.
  4. Scottyx

    Scottyx Junior Member

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    Ok I got the car home.

    First of all I turned the car on and the petrol engine started right up along with red triangle on dash and something on display screen that I can’t remember (it was in top left corner) the display had 2 bars for HV battery.

    I disconnected 12v battery for a couple of minutes hooked it back up and pressed start. The petrol engine didn’t fire and the display said 5 bars for HV battery. I couldn’t select drive or reverse so I switched the car back off and tried again. This time all was good and I drove home no worries.

    I think I’ll leave the car parked tomorrow and start looking at it Saturday.
     
    #4 Scottyx, Dec 5, 2019
  5. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Ok I got the car home.
    That's great to hear.

    First of all I turned the car on and the petrol engine started right up along with red triangle on dash and something on display screen that I can’t remember (it was in top left corner) the display had 2 bars for HV battery.
    The 2 bar display could very well be an indicator of a weak module in the battery pack, but could also be from the AC running...

    I disconnected 12v battery for a couple of minutes
    This cleared all the diagnostic codes in the ecu. There's no way of knowing exactly what code caused the RTOD. It's all guessing now, until it returns and you have a code reader capable of working with the prius hybrid system.

    hooked it back up and pressed start. The petrol engine didn’t fire and the display said 5 bars for HV battery.
    This is because of the 12v battery being disconnected. Anytime the 12v system is put to 0v, the ecu's will lose any saved information and those parameters will go to a default value. hence, the HV battery SOC went to default value...5 bars or about 60%. Along with this, you should have lost the driver window auto up/down feature and any radio presets....

    I couldn’t select drive or reverse so I switched the car back off and tried again.
    This could also fall under the 12v being turned off. Any time the 12v is turned off, it will normally take 2 presses of the power button to clear the dash and get the car back to normal operation.

    This time all was good and I drove home no worries.
    That's always good to hear also.

    I think I’ll leave the car parked tomorrow and start looking at it Saturday.
    Do you have techstream? If you don't, you should look into it. It really makes a yuuuuuge difference working on a Prius.
     
    #5 TMR-JWAP, Dec 5, 2019
    strawbrad likes this.
  6. Scottyx

    Scottyx Junior Member

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    I've just ordered one off ebay

    I'm pretty sure I got the right one, but they vary in price a bit. I paid about $20 US
     
    #6 Scottyx, Dec 5, 2019
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    should you? no. can you? maybe
     
    #7 bisco, Dec 5, 2019
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