Prius (2004-09) :: 2006 - Red Triangle And Loss Of Power
May 27, 2016
Purchased a used 2006 prius with ~180K miles on it from south bay a few months ago. At the time of purchase the guy warned us that it 'ate' motor oil.
After 2 months of driving without issues (driven couple of hundred miles), on an uphill road the engine overheats and throws the red triangle, vsc and check engine lights on the dash, along with loss of power. After cool down I check oil level and sure enough it is low, since this is on top of a hill we essentially coast all the way back home without any real issues. Once home I top up the oil. I do a test drive around the block without issues (no loss of power) though the check engine/red triangle/vsc lights are still on. But after I take it for a longer drive the loss of power returns.
Since my bluetooth obd2 connector wasn't working I borrow one from my friend and try to get a read. Unfortunately the thing puts out no obd2 error codes. Living in the bay area I apparently cant just take it to an autozone, to get code readings. I take it to meineke auto repair, they too are unable to get an obd2 read, and want to charge me $100 for a full reading, which I decline.
I do a few diagnostics steps including 'resetting' the computer by leaving it off of the 12v battery for a few mins, this clears the red triangle et al on restart. I do a test drive, at first everything is working just fine, but after about 10 mins or so of driving the red triangle/check engine/vsc lights returns, along with loss of power. (under ~20 mph only, cant go uphill).
Take it to a mechanic and they come back with code: "APOA92. Trans Axel issue - MG1 performance is off. Measured torque is different than executed torque, enough to be a problem. 95% sure it is the transmission." I still haven't checked the 12v battery.
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During a highway trip three months ago, my 2004 Prius suddenly lost engine power, the red triangle Master Warning light came on accompanied by a warning sound, and then the Hybrid System Warning sign appeared on the Multifunction Display. I pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. I turned the car off and then tried turning it on again. Engine power was restored although the warning lights remained. We took a chance and carried on with our trip. The same sequence of events reoccurred about 10 times on our 1,300 km journey. I took the car to a Toyota dealer where they found a C2318 DTC. They checked the battery and the HEV fuse but could not locate the problem.
We returned home and on the way the same thing happened a few more times. My service manual noted that the description for C2318 is Low Voltage Error (Power Supply Malfunction) and the trouble areas are HEV fuse, IGCT relay, Wire harness or connector, or Auxiliary battery. Since the car was nearly 7 years old I thought I had nothing to lose by replacing the battery, which I did. However, on a short 150 km trip last week the problem appeared again, once while approaching our destination and once when we were almost home. There seems to be a pattern in that the problem appears every 150 km or so of highway driving. It has never done it while driving in the city.
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So I replaced my battery about 20k miles ago, so I know that's fine. I always throw a P0420, but I'm told that's fine too. So I was driving, and I lose power suddenly. The red triangle comes on, and I plug my scangauge II in, which tells me it's P0121, or the throttle body sensor. I reset the codes to make it home - my battery DID charge just fine on the way home, making it up to a 63.5 state of charge. Now when I start it, and press the gas, it tends to rev up, rev down, and repeat. I haven't gotten the red triangle again yet but I also haven't driven it since then.
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I have a 2005 Prius that has been very reliable! With the exception of oil changes, brakes & tires I've only needed to replace the Inverter Cooler Pump, which was under recall (about 40K miles ago). Without any prior problems, the triangle of death came on along with the other dash alarm lights. I noticed an immediate great power loss & the fan behind the rear seat came on.
I stopped the car & let it sit about 30 minutes. It started right up & I drove it home. It felt sluggish & the max was 50 or so , I didn't want to push it, so I stayed below 45 mph. It had very little power, the engine ran constantly, with no battery assist. The drive home was approx 40 minutes. When I tried to start it a few hours later, it started immediately. The warning lights are still on, it runs rough upon start and the rear fan comes on immediately.
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I just bought a 2006 Prius about a month ago (57K). I love the car and have been educating myself on all things Prius, This car has also made me change my driving style quite a bit. I am getting around 50 MPG (combined) and very happy about it.
I have been using some of the hypermiling techniques to get the mileage, one of the things I do is to put the car in Neutral (to emulate the Glide portion of the Pulse and Glide) especially when coming down a gradient. I was bit concerned about using the Neutral gear and called Toyota Corporation to get a clarification, The answer I got from Toyota was - there is no technical issue, however they do not recommend this be done for safety reasons.
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My 06 Prius with 130k miles just starting to briefly (1-2 seconds) show "PROBLEM" on the MFD and beep and sometimes show a red triangle.
This only happens when I am going down hill on a tight curve when going fast. This never happens going up hill (since I am generally going slower) nor on flat roads. Since this is my normal commute road and I have not changed the way I drive for several years, I am surprised that this is now occuring.
Some possible theories: oil is low - I will checksome level sensor is complaining? some tire rotation sensor is complaining?
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Took the Prius to the crosswalk today, one mile roundtrip, everything was fine. Came home and being lazy I put it in the driveway and locked it with the windows up instead of my normal in the garage with the windows down. At close to 100 degrees outside the interior was blistering hot when I went to start it and head back for my afternoon shift. The dash lit up like a Christmas light display. Brakes, red triangle, vsc, check engine, etc.
Put it in the garage with the windows down and let it sit for a couple of hours to cool a bit. Started it up and let it idle for about 15 minutes; everything reset except the red triangle and the check engine light. Drove it down to the dealer but they won't have a diagnosis until tomorrow. It handled the drive just fine like normal.
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Our '06 has 68K on it. Last weekend I changed the front bumper (just cracked from small accident last year) and changed the oil. Used Mobil 1 5/30 and a Fram Oil Filter.
After about 125 miles of driving intermittent Red T.O.D. Always when ICE is running.
Oil level is OK - not loosing any oil. Filter and bolt on the pan are fine - no leaks.
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Got the triangle of death after letting the car set during my 2 week vacation. P0A80 and Battery block is 14.17V all the rest above 15.35. That's a lot of money to repair a car. Not sure if I want to cut my losses and move on or replace it and drive as long as I can.
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My beloved 2006 Prius with about 117,000 miles on it needs to go to the shop (I'm not a DIY mechanic). As I was driving home yesterday from work, all of the sudden the red triangle, VSC, check engine and a little car with an exclamation point on it on the display came on about 2 miles from home. There also appeared a kind of wind sound from the passenger rear area when this happened.
I drove it home and pulled into the driveway. Lights, radio, etc all work. I stopped it for about 30 minutes and then started it up again to pull it in the garage (all warning lights still on).
My question is can I drive it safely to my wonderful mechanic's shop about 10-15 miles from my house (assuming it starts)? I don't want to further damage anything.
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A couple months ago, my car suddenly got the red triangle. The dealership said that I needed a new battery, and eventually a new water pump. I couldn't afford $4500 as I bought the car just 9 months earlier and am making payments on the car.
I found a guy that was to "recondition" the battery, which set me back about $1200+. After getting it back, the car has been making a rattle sound in the engine bay when under acceleration (it sounds like a loose screw, but I don't know).
After about a month, I got the red triangle again. The car's performance deteriorates, the state of charge fluctuates a lot more. One minute it is green then literally a minute later it is purple then green again. The guy that reconditioned my hv battery said all the cells are good but for some reason became unbalanced, so he put it on the grid charger and rebalanced it (I believe it was on there for about 24 hours).
2-3 weeks later, it happens again. Same thing, the guy says it is unbalanced again and stuck it on the grid charger (because of time constraints, it was only on the grid for about 5 hours).
Then again 2 weeks later it repeats itself. A couple days before it happened, I tried out the elm327 adapter, custom pids, and torque app. Before the triangle came on, the delta state of charge got to about 0.9% and was charging up to just about 90% and down to just below 39%. Same thing though, from high to low in a matter of less than a minute. Same code P0A80. Sitting on the driveway, all 14 modules would be consistently within .2 volts. But when the car started acting up, I saw a voltage difference of about 3 volts between highest and lowest modules. The repair guy said the same thing again. The cells are good but got unbalanced again. This time he recommended for me to leave the car for the weekend so it can sit on the grid charger for a minimum of 24 hours, which I did. I picked it up yesterday and it's driving fine right now.
He is also recommending that I buy a grid charger and charge the battery every couple weeks to avoid these problems. I mean, how do I know if he actually reconditioned the battery, or has just been resetting the fault code and grid charging the battery? Btw, I did the auxiliary battery test and it was perfect. I don't know when the battery was last replaced but I believe with how strong it is, that is was done sometime recently before purchasing the car late last year.
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I have the red triangle with the exclamation point in it. What it can be? I have a 2006 Prius. It still seems to drive ok. I have parked it though and have an apt Monday morning at Toyota. (They didn't have a Prius tech in today) When I first noticed the light it would come on and go away. Now it's staying on.
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My Toyota prius 2006 get red triangle light appears when I start the engine and it disappears when I drive the car. When I stop the car, it comes back again. The warning light is like in the picture I attached.
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Car just stopped, she said. Wouldn't go. Police told her to try to move it; it ran okay, she said.
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2008 Prius with 284,000 miles-never had problem. Now, started car, no power steering (red triangle). Ordered new power steering control from ebay, went out of town for 10 days. Return, car is DEAD! Trickle charge via fuse block, get car started finally, still no P/S, but it shows charge then shuts engine off. Start and it does same thing.
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My daughter recently bought a 2006 Prius with 170K, Car was running great at purchase time with no issues but unfortunately the honeymoon was short lived. Less than 50 miles, she got the check engine light and red triangle. Car seems to still to drive fine. Had a dealer near Knoxville TN pull the codes and the only code was a P0A9C - Hybrid Battery Temperature (Sensor A) Range / Performance. Was informed also as they checked history on the car that another dealer had recommended a new hybrid battery and inverter. Dropped by the other dealer today to get the codes that they had seen. The codes they had pulled at 169K on the vehicle were:
P0A80 - HV Battery Cell Delta State of Charge Fault.
P3016 - either a bad cell, or a shorted cell in the hybrid battery
P0A08 - dc/dc converter status circuit.
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I'm rebuilding the traction battery on my 2006 Gen II Prius. When completed, I'd like to erase any "error codes" that should be erased (I don't even know where these might be), and turn off the red triangle of death, the VSC light, the (!) idiot light, the engine check light and the maintenance required light.
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My 06 prius takes a very long time to provide heat to the cabin. In temps below 20 F it can take 20 minutes. Today in 16 F weather the red triangle came on, followed by a problem banner, followed by a thermostat symbol. The triangle and symbol turned on a off a couple of times over a 5 minute span. I had been driving the car from a cold start for about 15 minutes when this happened. The car did start to produce some, but not a lot, of heat at about 20 minutes into the drive. I was also forced to use the defroster intermittently for the first 15 minutes (blew only cold air). After parking the car for 20 minutes I drove 20 minutes home with no triangle or thermostat symbol. Most of the way home I had sufficient heat.
I do have the front blocked with pipe insulation. I have owned my 06 prius for over a year and it has 257,000 on it.
Could the thermostat and triangle be caused by a low engine temp? If so would a stuck thermostat be a potential culprit?
Can I assume that if my car is blowing cold air when I am asking for heat that the engine is not over heating?
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I have 2005 Prius with 110k. Yesterday, red triangle and check engine light came on and I lost power while driving...SCARY. Took it by dealership. They called this am and said it needed a new HV-ECU and that would cost $800. The error codes they gave me were P0A78 and P0A94. Anything else I should ask them to look at? I'm wondering if the HV ECU is something I could buy used and install myself? I'm not a mechanic but am comfortable with most DIY projects.
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I changed my oil, oil filter, air filter at 90k for a trip to Miami this past weekend. Uneventful on the way up. On the way back, stopped and did some shopping before hitting alligator alley to come back home. As I got on the alley after paying the new $3 toll my 05 prius with 90k miles on it would not go over 65 with my foot on the floor and the battery on the mfd was in the pink. So I drove to the nearest exit, checked the fluids etc, all good. Got back on same thing so I put on hazards and stayed on until i could get off on a much slower road. I was going about 55-60 and it would go no faster.
As I got to a place I pulled over DC'ed the negative battery cable and let it sit for a half hour. I then attempted to get going and it seemed to be running fine until I attempted to pass a car and the car seemed to lock up and lose all power, check engine light came on and the red triangle light came on. I pulled over and let it sit again. I then got it to a gas station with the check engine light on. I put a few gallons gas on and tried to limp it home. It made it home and the battery seemed to recharge back to all the blue it can get to, but has yet to hit the green.
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I have a 2008 Prius, with SKS and Nav, and 103,000 miles on the odometer. I bought it from the original owner in 2010. So far it has been trouble free, with just oil changes and scheduled maintenance.
When I turn power on, I get a red triangle with exclamation point. Also a row of yellow indicator lights. Also along the top of the LCD display there is a red car shape with an exclamation point on it.
I followed the procedure for checking the voltage of the 12v battery using the diagnostic screens, using the procedure at weird-stuff-happening-mpgs-dropping-test-the-battery.73400/and I got 11.8 volts.
Since it seemed likely that my problem is related to the (original OEM) 12v battery, which is now 6 years old, I took my handy jump-start battery thing (see photo below) and attached its red alligator clip to the positive post under the hood, and the black clip to the frame. I hoped that would allow me to start the car, but it did not start. The error lights on the dash were unchanged.
Question 1. Does the fact that the symptoms remain the same after I have connected my jump-start battery mean that the problem I'm having is NOT my 12v battery?
I then hooked up my cheap OBDII code scanner (see photo below) and checked for codes. It found none.
Question 2. Does the OBDII scanner not finding any codes have any importance? When people write about having their car towed to the dealer and having error codes read there, does that refer to OBDII codes, or are they referring to some other type of codes that can only be read by a dealer?
While I was in the diagnostic screens, I found three screens of error codes. The screens are called DSP-AMP, EMV, and NAVI. See 3 photos below.
Question 3. Do these error codes have significance?
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