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SVC, Red Triangle, Check Engine and more!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Xraytango, Sep 24, 2020.

  1. Xraytango

    Xraytango New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2020
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    Location:
    Jacksonville, FL
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    Ok, so driving home from work yesterday and the dashboard lit up with SVC, Red Triangle, and Check Engine lights. Upon getting home (No issues with with the drive, other than the lights), I do some internet poking around, including on this site.

    Based off recommendations I had read, I went out and checked the 12v battery. Low and behold, it needed to be replaced. So, I drove the Prius to Autozone to pick up a yellow top Optima battery. On the way home (before i could install the newly purchased battery), my car began dropping me into neutral and alarming. Pulling over to the side of the road and restarting allowed me to get the car going again for abit, until it happened again. Took over an hour to drive the 11 miles home, not a fun experience.

    Anyways, I get home, swap out the battery. All the lights are cleared, huray! Drive the car back to autozone to turn in the old battery, and no issues! Yay! That night, my wife goes to see her parents. On the way there, still no issues. On the way back however, all the lights came back! Upon her arrival at the house, I check all the cables, and the charge of the battery. No issues.

    This morning (as I had no other choice), I drove the car to work again. The only lights on were the triangle and the check engine and the car ran fine. On my way home however, the svc light came on, and I lost the ability to use cruise control. The car still drove fine, but I noticed the AC stopped pumping cold near the end of the drive.

    Once I got home, I popped back online and found more recommendations. So, i went out and checked my inverter cooling pump in Ready. Zero motion...like a clear glass lake. I ordered one and it is on the way now, along with the Mini cable needed to read codes. Both should be here tomorrow. In the mean time though, is there anything else to check? And would SVC get thrown for an inverter pump fault? Thanks for your time!
     
    #1 Xraytango, Sep 24, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2020
  2. Xraytango

    Xraytango New Member

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    Location:
    Jacksonville, FL
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    2008 Prius
    137k Miles
    12v Batter is 1 day old.
     
    #2 Xraytango, Sep 24, 2020
  3. Xraytango

    Xraytango New Member

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    Location:
    Jacksonville, FL
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I obviously meant VSC, but am abit dyslexic .
     
    #3 Xraytango, Sep 24, 2020
  4. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    Location:
    Washington State, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    A failed inverter coolant pump is the most likely cause of your issues, but until you get the codes read, you cannot be sure that is the only problem. The mini cable you are talking about will come with Techstream, correct? That would be the preferred device for making sure you get all the codes, along with the sub-codes, but even a less costly OBDII code reader that is hybrid compatible, along with Torque Pro or Dr. Prius will let you know if there are other issues in addition to the inverter coolant pump. When you are able to read all the codes, report them here to make sure you haven't missed anything. Best of luck.
     
    #4 davecook89t, Sep 24, 2020
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    And yes, the VSC light is controlled by the brake/skid ECU, and that gets notifications of issues in the HV ECU (it has to know about them, because the two ECUs coordinate for braking), and generally sets a couple acknowledgment codes of its own.

    Sorry you incurred the expense and delay of the 12 volt battery detour on the way to finding the actual issue. Web searches do sometimes send people in that direction. While replacing it didn't solve your problem, of course it did clear the trouble code memory and create false confidence until the detection conditions could be met again on your wife's later trip. Glad she got home ok.
     
    #5 ChapmanF, Sep 24, 2020
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