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Warning lights

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by shonna, Jul 20, 2020.

  1. shonna

    shonna Junior Member

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    I had someone cut out and steal my catalytic converter. My insurance paid to have it replaced. When I picked it up from the shop that fixed it, everything was fine until i got up on the freeway. After about 2 minutes the red triangle, check engine light, and the VCS light all came on. I took it back to the shop and they said that it is not related to catalytic converter but that battery needs to be changed.
    I had it towed back home and hooked it up to obd2 and I cannot get any codes to show up. Any ideas if 2 situations could be related? Any ideas as to what it might be? I cannot afford to take it to dealership.

    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks



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  2. shonna

    shonna Junior Member

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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what kind of shop? do they have hybrid experience?

    did they install a toyota oem converter? cali allows nothing else.

    how many miles on her?

    if there are trouble lights, there are codes. you need tech stream or a dealer.

    look into cat guards too, or it will likely get stolen again
     
  4. Josey

    Josey Active Member

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    You ended up posting in a Gen 1 (2001-2003) sub-forum under Gen 2 (2004-2009) just so that you know.

    How long had it been sitting around waiting for insurance, repairs, etc? Batteries don't like to sit.

    If the check engine light was on you should have gotten at least some codes. A generic OBDII will read codes associated with check engine. This would include the most typical code for the cat (P0420).

    But a generic OBDII reader will not pick up codes associated with the red triangle or VSC. For that, as bisco said, you need access to a Techstream, or a handful of other things many of which are wildly expensive. I have a Bluedriver - about $100, so quite affordable. Claims to be able to read all codes from all manufacturers. So far I believe it as it pulled not only existing body codes but also all history codes from a GM which uses Tech 2. Haven't put it on the Prius yet.

    Or search the forums for Techstream to see what's up with that.

    I'd call my insurance company and see if you can keep them involved.
     
  5. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    I would think the o2 sensors may be miswired or disconnected. Are you saying it won’t drive at all? Sometimes disconnecting the 12v battery for five minutes will reset false codes. Call your insurance for sure.