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Strange series of dashboard lights

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bmparent, Sep 23, 2022.

  1. bmparent

    bmparent Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2014
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    Location:
    barre ma
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    So, my car runs fine but some dash lights came on today unexpectedly. 193,000 miles, Gen 2; hybrid battery fine, inverter pump replaced years ago, regular maintenance, brakes fine. The lights are:
    Parking brake (even though it's off!)
    (!)
    ABS
    VSC

    I did have the low tire pressure light on for a few days also, because the air machine at the local station was out of order so couldn't get it taken care of.
    The lights went on for the first time when I started the car in the morning today to go to work, but by the end of the day they were gone when I left work. I drove 15 minutes out and back to another station with an air machine to fill the tire, and they never came back on. This has never happened to me before in the 8 years I've owned it. Thoughts? I've got the Toyota scan software on my other computer which I can dust off and plug in but I thought I'd run it by all you first.
     
    #1 bmparent, Sep 23, 2022
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Well mysterious lights that appear often is associated with a weak 12v battery. Check to make sure that battery is charged properly. Secondly when lights go away after the car cools (overnight), it can be an indication some type of overheating happened and it went back to normal after the car cooled. So you may want to check if the inverter pump has failed again (which can happen after replacement) and the coolant system to make sure there's enough fluid in the radiator.

    And of course, lastly you can check for codes that the car has stored, that will give you a better than guessing game idea of the actual problem.
     
    #2 JC91006, Sep 23, 2022
    bmparent likes this.
  3. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Four
    Scan away. There are many possibilities, so codes are needed to determine anything. Fire up Techstream and report back.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 mr_guy_mann, Sep 23, 2022
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  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Mar 30, 2008
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    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    If the other computer is nearby and can be easily dusted off, that's the easiest way to get the codes.

    If the dust is really sticky or something, all the lights you happen to have can also blink out their codes if you use the Tc to CG jumper wire technique you can search and read about in many other posts here. Not all of the possible warning lights can do that, but all of those can.
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Sep 24, 2022
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