Prius (2004-09) :: Few Miles After Car Go In Neutral / Warning Lights Came On
Dec 4, 2012
I have a Gen II 2009 Prius with 31K miles on it. I love my Prius and until now had no issues with it. Last Saturday when I was driving on the highway, the following lights came on the dashboard.
1) Master Caution Light
2) VSC
3) ((!)) 'electronic brake malfunction'
4) Check engine light
The car seemed to be handling fine, and I kept on driving. However, after a few miles the car would go in neutral, I would need to stop before it will let me drive. I got to where I needed to go and then had the car towed to the dealer service shop.
The dealer came back and said that the water pump for the inverter needed changing (it was under warranty) plus the 12V utility battery also needed changing. They saw the DTS codes when the connected their computer to the car. I have my car back and other than the price of the battery had a really good experience with the dealer service center. They were prompt and efficient. Also it seems to me that car is driving more in the electric mode with the engine coming on less. Just my impression.
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My fiancee has a 2005 base model and is out shopping today. She just called me and said that she is stuck in a parking lot.
She told me on the way off the highway today the "big and little" triangles came on, but the car drove fine. When she got back to her car to leave, the car would turn on presumably, but all the warning lights were on. She then said that the car would not go into drive and only into neutral.
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I've had my 2006 Prius since Jan. Today it started giving me a warning when I put it into drive. The warning was the battery couldn't charge while it was in neutral. It told me to place it in park. I did. I repeatedly tried and even drove out of my parking but it continued to say this with the ! in the triangle appearing. I've never even put it in neutral before.
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Have read threads on car wash issues but have only had the dreaded red triangle flash with no problems as a result. Tuesday, however, got ALL the lights on and now car will not go past warm up phase and only goes in neutral or park. Lights come on, clock reads correct time, and radio works. Tried a jump to aux battery, a reset of the main hybrid battery and finally had my baby towed to the local dealer. 2 days later they are telling me the transmission needs to be replaced. They say I have an irreparable short in the transmission and the replacement is $5000. With no issues with transmission and only two bars magenta in color on the battery level showing is this a transmission issue or a battery issue. Can't say I have had great luck with the local dealer on previous maintenance so my confidence is not high. Love my girl but unsure whether the car is worth this repair at 8 years old and 183,000 on the odometer.
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2009 Touring Dead at 55000... All lights on dash light up and won't shift to reverse or drive only neutral. Towed to dealer and they said it threw several codes and are replacing the tranny.
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I had just picked my kid up from school, as I turn out of the parking lot my A/C stops blowing cool air, I check the A/C screen and it still says it's set on High with temp at 68. However, it is blowing very low with warm air. Seconds later the dash lights up with numerous warning lights. I'm on the highway and I'm able to gather speed, but each time I do I hear the engine revving like crazy. We only live a few miles from the school so I am able to make it home. Once home, I turn off the car and turn it back on. The only warning lights displayed now are the red triangle and the yellow check engine light. I turn the car off, pop the hood, I check the belt and it was fine. I checked the oil and it seemed fine. I check the coolant overflow and it was empty.
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Recently noticed the idle seems rough in Neutral and in Drive when stopped. When the roughness is subtle, that RPM gauge doesn't move and at other times with more pronounced surges the RPM gauge bounces around. Not sure if it is related but we just got back from a couples days in Tahoe. Tried reconnecting the gas cap with no change.
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When I turned my Prius on today, the following warning lights remained on:
red "BRAKE"
yellow "ABS"
yellow "VSC"
yellow exclamation mark inside a circle inside parentheses.
It drives fine. After driving it a bit I tried turning the car off and back on a few times. The lights still remain on.
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Mine did. I was driving on the highway and pretty much every warning light went off. It was like the space shuttle crashing back to Earth. Freaked me out. Cruise control stopped working also. But I was able to get home safely.
So first, I tried AAA just to see if the guy would know something, but it was way over his head. He did notice my aux battery was failing, but not much else. Then I found a service online that comes to your place to do the work, and they sent a guy out on a Saturday and he read the codes, and did a full visual inspection, and yes, something was up with the cooling system. He suggested I have the dealer look at it because flushing the system is VERY important apparently. Should be done every 50,000 miles.
I was so worried it was the hybrid battery; we all know what that means! So I had the car towed to the dealer (don't drive if your Master/Hybrid light comes on!) and they said, indeed, the pump was gone. And, of course, they found a number of other things included the dying aux battery. It took them 4 days to get the damn part in stock. At least they covered the car rental for me.
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The other night, went to start the prius and nothing happened except all the warning lights came on! So took the foot off the brake pedal and sat there for a minute trying to figure out. What the heck happened?? Tried a couple more times and then suddenly it was fine and it started! Now I have to mention that the outside temp was around 16*,,, not sure if that could have caused this strange reaction?
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I bought a toyota prius 2008 few weeks back. ave done only 2500 km. Today I received few warning lights on the dash of my car.
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Two days ago the first sign of a problem was the AC going out, followed by the red warning triangle and check engine lights coming on about 10 minutes later. Checked coolant and topped oil off (it is due for an oil change, btw) and drove about 20 miles home, no problems despite warning lights. Even the AC started working again. A little while after getting home, I started it up......no warning lights. I thought all was good.
Yesterday, no issues. Didn't drive more than about 15 miles though.
Today, took roughly a 25 mile roundtrip with no problems. Made the exact same roundtrip about 2 hours later and the red warning, VSC, brake system and check engine lights all came on (see pic) about 10 miles into the trip. I immediately turned AC off to remove that stress. No changes in car's behavior, however. Made it back home, turned car off and waited about 20 minutes. Turned it back on and only the red warning and check engine lights came on. 2 hours later....same two lights are still on.
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My wife has a 2007 Prius with approx. 110k miles. We installed a new 12V battery approx. 1 1/2 year ago at 81k miles. A few months ago (Mar/Apr), her dash would randomly display the warning lights shown in the 1st image: Brake System, ABS, and VSC (the TPMS light is always on due to faulty tire pressure sensors and appears unrelated).
The car seemed to be driving normally with no abnormal behavior. Whenever this happened, my wife would pull over, turn off the car, and restart - at which points all the warning lights would disappear.
Even though our 12V battery is relatively new, I did check the voltage of that battery using the MFD's on-board diagnostic screens as explained by other posts on this board. Voltage was within the normal range with the HID lights both on and off.
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So I was driving and suddenly three warning lights came on. The Master warning light (Red triangle with !), Check Engine Light and the Hybrid System warning light (Car with !).
My AC works fine and I was able to shut it off and start it back up with no problem. I also did see a difference in driving.
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It has been cold recently (out of the past week, highs in 20's or lower). This hasn't been as much of an issue before, but in the past week I have had the red triangle of death, brake warning light, check engine light, and VSC light all come on at the same time, three separate times. Also, the display screen shows a red outline of a car with "!" through it. Each time this has happened, the lights didn't come on as soon as the car was "Ready" but only after the gas engine was running for a minute or two.
The first time the lights came on, I was driving back from class, but after I got back to my house I did some internet research and saw it may be a low oil indicator. Checked the oil, it was almost at the bottom mark on the dipstick, and it had been over 10,000 miles since the last one (oops! we don't normally do that). After reading some stories online, I took it in to get an oil change, and the lights went off for a couple days. Second time the lights came on, I checked the oil level, it was definitely over-filled, so I took it back to Walmart and had them redo the oil so that it was at the right level. I checked the oil level before leaving the parking lot that time and it was at the top mark on the dipstick. Again, all the lights were off for a couple days.
Today, I drove my car for about an hour in the morning (temperature was around upper teens, wind chill below 10) and had no problems. Then, this evening I turn the car on and start driving out of the parking lot when the car beeps at me and flashes all of the warning lights again. I drove back to my house and it is now sitting in the driveway. I am not planning on driving it until I can have a car mechanic friend take a look at it on Tuesday, but he doesn't know anything about the hybrid system/battery.
My wife and I have also noticed that since the weather has been colder, the hybrid battery (shown on the "Energy" screen when driving) seems to be charging and discharging much faster than normal. I haven't seen it at only 1 bar or full of green bars more than a couple times in the 2.5ish years we have owned the car, but in the past two weeks it has happened 5-10 times (estimated). I am not sure if this is due to the weather, or if it could indicate a problem with the (hybrid?) battery. For obvious reasons, this makes us nervous :/
As a side note, I changed the transmission fluid sometime in December, so I was wondering if possibly I didn't put enough fluid back in. I have checked the diagnostic screen and found some codes, but most of them seem to relate to the audio, which doesn't concern me as much as the code that seems to indicate the transmission, which is why I mention the change I did a while back. I just don't know why it wouldn't have shown up until now. I'll attach some pictures I took tonight of the codes and lights.
Also, the battery is a couple years old, but after sitting for a couple hours the battery was reading 12.1 V according to the diagnostic screen, so I don't think that is the issue. We haven't had any trouble getting the car to start, and once it is running it still seems to drive normally with the warning lights on. What these codes mean, and a possible cause for the warning lights?
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My '05 is completely lifeless in the drive. I have been assuming it's the 12v, at least to start. So this is what I've pieced together.
My key fob battery was dying, my car wouldn't start. Had to use the physical key to get into the car. I assumed the 12v battery was dead (but maybe it wasn't); the Parking button had the faint green lights. AAA jumped the car and I limped home, trying to charge the battery with about 30 minutes of city driving, with dash lit up with red BRAKE and triangle lights as well as amber !, VSC, and something else on. The check engine amber light was NOT on until I powered off the car, at which time, only the check engine light was on and a rhythmic buzzing. The buzzing only went away when I closed the window and then the car went quiet and dark.
I only just now (48 hours later) realized to check the fob before changing battery, which, sure enough, didn't emit the red light when I pressed the buttons. After I did the battery change, the red light comes on when pressing buttons, but no response from car.
I will definitely change the 12v battery, and hope hope hope this is the fix.
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2005 Prius I picked up a few weeks ago decided to eat both of it's batteries for lunch and leave me high and dry. I replaced the aux battery yesterday which I was lucky to get at cost at the toyota dealer since the aux battery was original. Put it in and all was well with the car for the rest of the day. Got in it today and headed out and was welcomed with the big stupid "!" triangle, the regen brake warning, check engine light, "PROBLEM" written on the display with a picture of a "!" inside a car outline, and some severely reduced performance. So I looked online and found a place with a bunch of low mileage batteries out of smashed up 2009's.
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I have a 2006 Prius with approximately 112,000 miles. It has been a merely perfect car until yesterday. Everything was driving normal on my way to the store. When I turned on my car to leave the store a half hour later, the red exclamation point of death showed up along with the check engine light, ((!)) and the VSC signal all came on. Upon reading on this site, I decided to run the 12V battery test through the nav screen and sure enough, I believed that is what it was. I bought a battery and had it put in. I left the shop and and all the dash warning lights went off. When I restarted my car 10 minutes later to head back to work, all of those exact warning lights came on.
I ended up taking it into the Toyota Dealership Service area. They tried to reset the dash warning lights by pulling out the battery fuse (I think that's what they are called) in the front box of the car. It didn't work so they gave me the option to pay for the diagnostic ($98) or leave and drive around and hope everything is fine. I wanted peace of mind, so I had them do the diagnostic.
The assistant service manager came back 1.5 hours later and told me he had bad news. He said that there were faulty cells in my hybrid battery, which is why the service lights remained on. I almost started crying, sharing that I had thoroughly researched the prius before buying and that this forum, specifically had almost no talk of this...that is rarely if ever happened, that it needed to be replaced. He said in his 15 years at Toyota he had only seen it a couple of times. He told me warnings to look out for is if my car won't go above 25 miles an hour or it could technically start using only the gas side of the engine. He also said that the car just needs to "relearn" how to operate after replacing the 12v battery and it could essentially be fine.
He then quoted me $3500 if I ended up down the road of needing the battery replaced.
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What the warning lights mean (red triangle with exclamation mark inside, and yellow icon upper left of display, 2005 Gen II)? It comes on after starting the ICE, used to come on intermittently, now it's all the time... my hunch is the suspension because the ride has been getting worse, with unusually loud sound from the wheels over potholes!
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Whenever I push the break down and press the power button (putting it into READY mode), yellow warning lights show up on the dashboard (such as ABS, brake, etc.) for about a second or two, then disappear when the car is ready to drive.
I went to a mechanic and they told me that this is normal, and that I should only worry if those lights stay on and don't turn off. I just wanted to know from fellow Prius drivers if the mechanic's statement was correct and that this is normal and that I indeed should not worry.
- Also, they 12v battery was tested and it came out as 12.5v
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Title says it all. Occasionally when I try to start my 2007 Prius (70k miles), the master warning light along with the brake, ABS, and VSC warning lights all come on. I'll turn my car off and then turn it back on and it will start right away.
One thing that I notice is that it seems like the headlights and/or the MFD is dimmer than usual when this happens. I'll turn off the headlights, turn on the car, wait for it to start, and then turn on the headlights and everything will work correctly.
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