Prius (2004-09) :: Loss Of Power / Red Triangle And Hybrid System Warning
Mar 13, 2011
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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A few days ago I was driving my 2005 Prius aggressively up a mountain road and all at once the hybrid system warning light, the triangle with the exclamation point, and the regenerative brake system warning lights came on.
After about 2 minutes parked, I restarted the car and the regenerative brake system warning light went off, but the other two were still on. I still drove it twenty miles home, over another substantial mountain gap (about 1000 ft up and another 1500 down), without any problems.
I checked the voltage of the 12v battery, which seemed to be on the low end, but OK. (I think the lowest reading was 11.9). There seemed also to be some turbulence in the inverter coolant reservoir.
I brought it into the electronic vehicle specialist in town here today, who pulled my codes and said that the hybrid battery was dead.
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First off I have a 2010 with about 11,000 miles and it has been running great since I got it. This morning I was greeted with the "Yellow triangle" and the "check hybrid system warning". The car started fine and I pulled out of the garage under battery as usual and then the engine kicked in also as usual, everything seemed normal except for the warning lights. Since I have a long commute I just took my wife's car and got to work and did a forum search on this issue. I called my wife and had her turn the car on and off three times and she said it cleared the yellow triangle and check hybrid system but it still had the check engine light on. She also said the car seemed to be running fine and shes driving around town in it. I couldn't find anything on the check engine light. Is it ok to drive it?
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My wife has a '03 that has been great. No issues. I am a excellent mechanic, on conventional cars and motors. Here's my story:
Bought the car used and working last week. Put in a new 12v Group 26 battery w/conversion. I verified the 12v battery was at 12.8v and when engine was running, 13.6v to charge the battery. Car was starting and driving wonderful for about 600 miles. No shuttering, no shaky starts. Mileage was about 38.6. Anyway, yesterday was driving and all of a sudden the warning Triangle comes on, Hybrid system icon comes up and the engine goes off. I was able to drive the car about 1/2 mile on the traction battery back to my work.
It happened to have a code reader handy and it reads a P3125, Inverter. I realize there are sub codes that further diagnose the issue, but I don't have that type of OBDII reader although mine is a very expensive model. Anyway, I reset the code and got the car to start. Motor begins to go up in RPM and throws the code again. I shut it off, reset the code, try to start the car and I feel it slightly jump forward, engine does not start, then throws the warning code again. I did notice the traction battery is at 25%. I do this two more times trying to get the engine to start before I call the tow company. BTW, the car rolled easy, so I don't think its the MG2 is bad, although correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Mg1 start the engine?
Oh, incidentally, also the ignition key does not release either. The key release solenoid is energized unless I unplug the 12v battery, then I can get my key out.
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Possible hybrid battery failure in my 2004 Prius (96K miles).
Sunday before last, the check engine light, warning triangle, and hybrid warning light came on when I started my car at the grocery store.
Because I was close to home, I drove home and the car functioned completely normally. The next morning, when I started the car, the same warning lights appeared. However, when I tried starting my car with the headlights off (I always leave them on), no warning lights appeared.
I took my car to an independent mechanic. This is their written report:
"Found multiple check engine codes, P3000, sub code 123, V0100 sub code 211/330. These codes are set when high voltage control detects a malfunction in battery pack/ECU assembly. To check battery pack we took vehicle out on a test drive while monitoring the cells in the battery pack. Found that they are all weak and drop fast when battery is put under a load. Code C2318 is a low voltage error/power supply malfunction code with the auxiliary battery. The voltage spec for setting the code is 9.3 volts, this battery is less than 9.2 volts."
In conversation, the mechanic also told me there was significant voltage variation across the cells in the hybrid battery.
I then took my car to the dealer to try to confirm this analysis. They were unable to read any codes because the independent shop apparently cleared them. The dealer was unable/unwilling to do more than read the codes to diagnose the problem. (Indeed, they seemed surprised that the independent mechanic could monitor the cells in the pack.) All they did was to drive the car around some more to see if the check engine light would come on. It did not.
The car has been driven 80 miles since the warning lights last appeared and appears to be behaving normally. From your perspective, does the report from the independent mechanic make sense and is it believable? And is their test under load definitive of a hybrid battery problem? Could the results be affected by the low auxiliary battery? Also, if I do have a hybrid battery problem, what are the chances of being suddenly thrown into limp mode while driving it?
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I have been having some hybrid battery issues. My prius is a 2006 with 198,000 miles. The original battery was replaced at around 120,000 with a junkyard battery. About a year later that battery gave up the ghost and I decided to rebuild that battery. So far that has worked quite well until recently.
My troubles started a couple weeks ago when I got the Red triangle and all the dash lights and the hybrid system icon on the MFD. Naturally I thought it was the battery again. Took it out and checked the voltages of the modules. All the modules where within tolerances. I grabbed a OBDII scanner and checked the code. It was telling me that the Hybrid current sensor was bad. I changed that out with the wiring harness from the old battery.
That lasted for a few days before the red triangle came back. I checked the code and it was indicating one of the blocks was bad. I think P3019. So I took the battery back out and replaced that block with other modules. Almost instantaneously the red triangle came back with two more bad blocks. I think it was P3012 and P3022. So I took the battery out once more and tested all the voltages of all the modules. Everything was 7.86-7.9v. So I decided to start the rebalance of the existing modules in hopes to find some bad modules.
I also bought a new 12v battery and installed that. I got everything back together and took it for a road test. It took about 30 mins before the triangle came back. I grabbed the codes and it was still indicating bad blocks. P3011 and P3018. I am a little at a loss.
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My wife was driving our 2009 prius this morning. she said the red triangle, this other yellow circled, light with an ! came on plus in the display window the car icon with the ! came on. Manual states that this is a hybrid system failure.
On very cold mornings the car smells very hot for a period of time. She said this happened again.
I tried to do a reset (turning it off and on atleast 4 times) did not work. So I had it towed to a dealer tonight and I started it again and this time very hot smelling and a whole lot more lights were on, ( brakes lights, almost all of the lights I would say.)
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My wife just called and said this light came on. She said when it came on the car turned off its cruise control but kept running. Now she says it seems to be running fine but the light is coming on.
The car has around 110k miles and I just replaced the spark plugs, air filter and engine oil about 1k miles ago. What it could be? I'm going to have her pull codes at the auto parts store but she needs to do about 20-30 miles of driving today for work. Is it safe for her to do so?
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My hybrid system warning light came on last night in my 2005 Prius with about 89,000 miles. The car may have run out of gas (I wasn't driving). This car will only take about 8.5 gallons when the fuel light starts flashing. I started it this morning, light was still on, only 2 bars on battery, my car usually runs near the green, and the gas engine stalled after about 30 seconds. The gas indicator was flashing, so I added a 1/2 gallon I had at the house, and unplugged the 12v for about 10 minutes to clear the system. Upon restarting, fuel light was still flashing, but no hybrid warning light. Drove a few miles, filled up with gas, and drove another mile.
So my question, could running out of gas and driving a very short distance (light came on as my wife turned into our driveway), cause this warning light to come on? If so, will there be any lasting effects? Did unplugging the 12v battery clear the computer codes, or can I still get these read to learn more about what happened?
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I have a 2005 Prius with 135k miles. Yesterday the red exclamation light came on and also the hybrid system warning light. I shut the car off and it came on again. The third time the car started normally and it is driving normally today with no warnings. Does this sound like the 12 volt battery? It is original.
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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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I haven’t been on these boards very often since getting my used 2008 Prius because until now it has been very kind to me in terms of not needing mechanical repairs. Unfortunately that good streak seems to have come to an end. Driving home Monday evening (after ~30min freeway driving), my master system warning light came on, accompanied by the hybrid system warning light. I didn’t know what the latter was – had to look it up – but I immediately pulled to the shoulder. The car was driving normally, however. Since shops and dealers were closed for the evening, after much debate I ended up having the car towed to a family friend’s body shop; they were still there and had a scanner to check the error codes for me. My car was on the side of the freeway for well over an hour with hazard lights on and the dome light on and off occasionally as we got in and out of the car. By the time the tow truck arrived, I discovered that the 12V battery seemed dead; car wouldn’t boot up all the way, wouldn’t shift to neutral and didn’t want to power down – I had to try turning it off upwards of 10 times. I was surprised, given just the hazard light and limited dome light usage. We jumped it, got it in neutral and on the truck.
At the body shop, they said there were no error codes related to the hybrid battery; something about transmission that wasn’t clarified, and errors for low voltage on the 12V battery. With everything off, it measured 10-something V; something higher when turned on, but they believed the problem was a dead 12V battery. I was surprised that it would suddenly give out in the middle of driving, but we went ahead and replaced it the next day. I picked up the car Tues evening, and had no problems driving it home, to work the next morning. Unfortunately, during my drive home – strangely at almost exactly the same location as the first time – the same hybrid system warning light came back on. I’d driving about 70 miles with it off at this point before the reappearance. This time I didn’t pull over to the side (had enough of that before) but rather drove a few more miles to a parking lot where the car has now stayed overnight. I note that the car seemed to drive perfectly normally during that time; no loss of power.
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I have a 2005, I purchased new in 2005. I now have around 120,000 miles and have had no problems - just oil changes and new tires.
I was driving on the interstate in MS and all of a sudden all these lights come on on my dash including the triangle that means take it to your dealer immediately. The car sounded funny acted funny and accelerated funny. I was closer to home so I came home and called the dealer. They said to drive it in but if it started acting up to pull over and they would come get me.
When I cranked it, it sounded like I was pushing the accelerator but I wasn't so I cut it off then cranked it again. I drove it very slowly cause it was acting weird.
I drove it home to discuss it with my husband and to do some on-line research here. So 2 - 3 weeks later my husband decides to look at it and by now the little battery is dead - it is the original battery too -btw. So I bought a new toyota battery (the little one). My husband hooked it up to see if the car would crank. It did but all the lights on the dash lite up again including a couple new ones!
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The last few weeks I've been noticing that, upon start, the hybrid battery is showing at 1 line. It's been really hot in SO cal and the air con has been blasting, so I've been letting it charge up a bit before driving. Once I'm on the road, the battery charges fine and seems to hold a charge.
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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 had no issues with this car of 120K miles until today, although my MPG has decreased to 35 MPG. The following lights came on with a loud beeping sound : Brake warning lights, malfunction indicator light, master warning light and the hybrid system warning light. These stayed on for 25 minutes and then went off. I drove 12 miles without any issues with all the lights and sounds beeping.
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Just got a "Check hybrid system" message and the triangle of death is on my 2010 Prius -- but I can still drive it...
Toyota's Emergency Response Guide says this error is triggering by the ground fault monitor that is connected to the 12v aux battery.
HV battery pack ( HV battery fuse, two 12v relay)
HV battery inverter/converter
My 2010 Toyota Prius III has 37400 miles and I've had it since 2010 April.
My ScangaugeII didn't find any OBD2 diagnostic codes
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I replaced my hybrid battery of my NHW10 a year ago. now recently it shows the warning triangle. Once it went off after a long drive but now its permanent. is there a way to Diagnose what is the cause of this? If its a Hybrid battery issue, will it go off if i replace the bad cells?
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I've got some issues with my 2005 Toyata Prius (~150,000 miles). My wife was driving recently and the "Master Warning Light", the "Hybrid System Warning Light" and the yellow "Brake System Warning Light" all came on.
Some quick reading of the owners manual said we should take it to a dealer right away, but because it was a yellow, and not red, brake system warning light it seems ok to drive at least to a dealer. in regard to the yellow brake system light the manual said it could be that: "the regenerative brake system failed or that the hydraulic brake system failed".
Now, I have a cheap bluetooth OBD reader hooked up to the "torque" app on my phone and I thought I would try to see what error codes there were to learn more. But strangely, it did not read any fault codes. I've used this reader successfully on my 2001 Mitsubishi galant, but I'm not reading anything for the prius in this case. I'm not sure if there is legitimately no error code associate with the warning lights or if my app is just failing to read them for some reason.
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This afternoon, after driving about 150 miles, I came home and shut off my 2001 Prius. It was sitting for about 20 minutes before I turned it back on to drive off. Almost immediately, the hybrid warning light came on on the MFD, the red exclamation mark light illuminated, as well as the check engine light, and the motor shut off. I popped the hood, and could hear a high pitched squeal coming from near the inverter. I called my dealer to ask the service department what I should do, and they just told me to bring it in and they will take a look at it. I live over an hour away, so I don't want to bring it there if I can avoid it. I then shut it off and let it sit for a few hours.
After reading about the possibility of the auxiliary battery being bad, I went and turned the Prius on, and then shut it off several times to reset the hybrid warning light (I had to do so in order to access the aux battery information through the MFD). It turned on without incident, and shut off fine, and after being reset the hybrid warning light shut off, as well as the red triangle light. Then, I went through the process of pulling up the battery voltage information through the MFD.
With the car off, and the lights and fans off, the battery voltage read about 10.0-10.5 V. With the lights and fan on, the voltage dropped to about 9.5 V. After getting those readings, I drove it down the road a little ways, just going about 20 mph. It seemed to work fine. The check engine light is still illuminated. With the motor running, the voltage reading was 13.2 V, and then when I got back from my test drive and shut it off, the voltage hovered at 10.6 V with the lights and fan on.
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Yesterday, started it up, began backing down the driveway, controlling speed with a little pressure on the brake. There was momentary weirdness, like the brakes had sort-of let go, then gripped again. And then got the warning "CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM" and a yellow triangle (inverted?) with exclamation mark.
I tried maybe 3 restarts, but the warning persisted. Phoned the dealership, booked-up Saturday, but they said they'd (commendably) squeeze it in. So we brought it in, when they eventually got to it they read the codes, cleared them, test drive, said it appeared the computer(s) "lost contact" momentarily, and it seemed ok.
I got in and started driving home, down the back lane first. Car started making a VERY strange buzzing sound, coming from under the hood. By the end of the lane I decided I better circle back to the dealership, pulled in at the curb in front, left it running and raised the hood, the hood support rod was loose, laying over the engine, doing a dance.
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