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Weird Prius?¿?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by ccardona97, May 17, 2020.

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  1. ccardona97

    ccardona97 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2020
    3
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    Location:
    West haven ct
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    First off this a great car, one of the things besides the codes I had bad luck with the most is tires since some reason I have a bad luck with nails.. I had purchased a 07 Prius in feb. 2019 (Valentine’s Day fo be exact haha) no dash lights. well, about a month or so one night I went to get gas and check engine light came on. Went to local autozone and said catalytic converter.. car runs fine no smoke or anything serious.
    June 2019 I went for a road trip to Ohio and about 2 weeks after that my dash lit up and went back to autozone and it’s the water pump. my ex at the time whose an idiot wanted to always drive the car up to six flags well once it died on the highway (limp mode) and we had to pull over when I told him it wasn’t a good idea to drive the car anyways. same thing happened another time one night when I was driving with friends but luckily when the car died I was in a parking spot. Not for anything but that buzzing noise is SUPER annoying.
    Anyways, if I turn the car off and turn it back on the VSC, and (!) go away just the triangle remains. I’ve read articles for months and I know it’s good to replace it ASAP but due to money it was hard to pay for parts + labor at the time and also if VSC and the ! Symbol I read in the manual it’s ok to drive it??. Even though I already know when those lights come on it’s not much longer till it starts to shut down.
    October of last year me and a friend were driving and no lights were on the dash besides the check engine but all the sudden the car wouldn’t go past 38 mph and it was like stuck at that exact number, pulled over, started the car and it never happened again.
    Few weeks ago, me and another friend are sitting in my car and all the sudden my car died but the check engine light remained.. I had called and got the car jumped.. that’s never happened before and he said it was a dead battery. I went to O’Reilly’s and autozone and they both said my battery is fine so idk what’s up with that.
    Currently now (may 2020) hot weather.. the greatest time for the pump right? lol the car still runs great and now I can afford the water pump + labor but I just think some of the other things that happened are odd.. I read the computer malfunctions sometimes and that needs replacing but I’m really not sure.. when the red triangle, VSC, and (!) come up the battery will still be charging. Here are some pics I was able to take. I did notice the mpg changing. If anyone has any ideas about anything else I described let me know. Also, car is currently 218k.
     

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  2. ccardona97

    ccardona97 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2020
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    West haven ct
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Also I have a OB2 reader from sprint which is very helpful and I got this for the battery, intake temp, and coolant. This is with the red triangle, check engine codes on dash. The red will also go away after car being set for a bit. Unloaded 12.4, loaded 12.6, READY 14.1 my intake temp is 68 which I stating good and coolant at 190 which is saying it’s good as well.
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i hate to give expensive advice to those who are strapped for money, but i think you might need to have the trouble codes read at a dealer
     
  4. ccardona97

    ccardona97 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2020
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    West haven ct
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    II
    have to do it on my next day off. I bought a water pump today, gonna have that installed shortly as well.
     
  5. tidesofthesky

    tidesofthesky Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2020
    61
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    0
    Location:
    Salem, OR
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Unfortunately trying to determine the problem based on the dash lights and basic OBD codes won't really work too well. Pick up a mini VCI cable from eBay and download techstream software (lots of downloads and tutorials available). It's really simple to setup and use. Then you'll have access to all the vehicle data the dealer does.

    The VSC and (!) lights I believe each indicate an issue with a separate ecu. In techstream you'll be able to pull the codes from each vehicle ecu. Then, take those codes to the service manual for the vehicle and there are step by step instructions for diagnosing the issues. It's pretty amazing actually!

    I couldn't tell you what exactly your problem is. There are several water pumps on the Prius (inverter, engine coolant and a coolant recovery pump as well I think). But I don't think VSC and (!) would illuminate with that issue. Those lights were on in one of my prius with a brake actuator issue. But really you'd need to read the codes or have the dealer do it.

    For the P0420 code (I'd assume that's the emissions code you have), a 90 degree O2 sensor spacer will turn the light off. If your vehicle needs to pass emissions test, this won't work. but otherwise it's helpful so that if a serious issue does illuminate the CEL, you'll know (rather than having it be on all the time for P0420).

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.