Prius (2004-09) :: Red Triangle And No Shift After Overnight Storm
Feb 10, 2013
I own a 2009 touring that I bought with 96000 miles and now have about 105k on it. I have changed the 12v battery to the optima and changed plugs, transaxle fluid, inverter fluid about 4 months ago. I have changed oil and filter twice since I owned it. (June 2012)
Now the problem, I got stuck on the Long Island Expressway (aka the LIE "the worlds biggest lie"), the snow got too deep and I was struggling to keep going. While driving the slip warning light (VSC)came on often.
I had a friend with 4WD tow me home about 10 miles varying speeds from 10mph to about 35mph, I kept the car in neutral most of the time and when I saw hybrid battery getting low (last blue or first purple)I would put car in drive to charge it. When we got to my house, I had to dig out a spot in front then was able to drive vehicle for the few feet to get it out of the middle of the street.
Yesterday I tried to start car and it looks like the 12v battery was drained. I am. It sure if I pushed the park button and then turned car off but I do normally so I would say that I did. I tried to jump it and I got lights on dash with the dreaded red triangle and engine light among others. The touch screen display read that the vehicle was not in park and I should get to a flat surface and apply parking brake. Also the light on the power button would sometimes be green and then go amber and the park light was flashing green. I could not get shift lever Togo into drive or reverse or neutral.
I did put a trickle charger on it overnight from the engine compartment but have not ventured out there yet.
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My hybrid battery has been running low the past few days. This has never happened before, but it has been around 90 degrees out during the same few days. I noticed it this morning as I left for work. It was down to two bars when pulling out of the garage. I was getting pretty nervous, but at least the ICE was charging it. Although, it never fully charged the system, as I live pretty close to work. On the way home, I tried to drive around for a mile or so to see if I could get the battery fully charged.. The best I could do was four bars. Is this typical of the hybrid system in warm weather? Should I be worried about it? Also, the system has a fan, why doesn't it come on if the hybrid battery is so temp sensitive?
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Today after running several errands, I stopped by the local CarWash to rinse the car. Same as always, parking brake off, shift into neutral and away we go. Half way threw she starts beeping, I see the yellow triangle and to the right a boxed message "LOW TRACTION BATTERY SHIFT INTO P POSITION". There was a sudden rush of anxiety because I could not shift while being conveyor-ed threw the wash. As soon as I was pushed out and the light turned green, I shifted into drive to exit. The warning and box cleared instantly.
I pulled into parking, shifted into P, and noticed the battery indicator had only 1 bar. Did a quick walk around of the car and got back on the road thinking, head directly the Dealership. Before I got to the freeway I was back up 4 bars and climbing. Continued on the freeway and within 2 exits all looked normal. As it is Saturday and the Dealership was 1 hour from closing, I proceeded home. Later we went to dinner and an event, then came home. All is still normal. Owners Manual only states to follow the command on page 515.
I know this is a long story and was intentional to starve off multiple questions. The only thing I can think is that the air conditioner, radio and headlights were on prior to, while waiting my turn for wash (park-roll-park-roll...) and up to the point of the warning (tuned off all at that point) while in the tunnel. However this is normal for me. Will monitor the battery indicator more closely for a while. I'm sure this event latched in a computer somewhere, so will run by the Dealer if anything else acts up again. A/C and radio and lights are turned off now while in "neutral", for whatever reason. The car is a 2010 II and only 27600 miles. Was not a pleasant feeling.
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I've had this problem twice now, and concerned it might get worse. After leaving the car locked over night the remote unlock (pressing the unlock key on the remote) has no effect at all, on either my original nor virtually-new remote. Then a few minutes later everything is fine and stays fine for several months.
This morning I had to open the driver's door with the mechanical key, and the alarm of course went off, but stopped as soon as the car got to "READY", and is now fine again.
12V battery voltage looks fine (not great, but okay) and no other odd behaviour. (Oh, except the radio doesn't come on in high temps unless "tapped")
Normally the main remote will operate the locks from a hundred feet away. Even when it's not working the red light on the fob flashes as normal. I haven't checked the dashboard key light...
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So I got a 2008 model, only owner. It has 107K miles. I've noticed something the last couple months now. When I park the car in the garage after coming home from work it has a full charge, about 3 bars below top, it's at the max of the blue color.
When I start the car in the morning it still displays the same level. But after driving down the road about 3 blocks it seems to update slowly and drops the level, sometimes down to the brown, about 3 bars high. The car will run rough for a while almost every morning now since it's not using the hybrid battery to smooth things out.
Ever since owning the car I've noticed it can run rough sometimes normally, like when you're at a train crossing and the battery drops to 2 or 3 and the engine powers on to charge it up a bit. When I drive away you hear the engine a lot louder than usual as it seems to be running on engine only until the hybrid battery gets sufficiently charged and you feel a lack of power as you accelerate.
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My 9 month old Prius was caught in 3" - 4" hail today. My windshield is smashed and all the horizontal surfaces look like popped bubble wrap including the tops of the doors. Perhaps I'll get 90 mpg from now on.
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I have a 2004 Prius, the Red triangle came on intermittently and went off so I changed the 12V battery last night, after changing it the red warning light went off and everything seemed okay. Today while driving, the warning light came back on. I checked the battery voltage via diagnostic mode on the cars computer and the specs are what they should be. I noticed the following error codes in the computer:
01-D5, Sub-code: 190-30-8
01-DC, Sub-code: 190-B7-8
01-DC, Sub-code: 1C6-4D-F
Not sure if these are what is causing the problem.
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After driving for 2 or 3 miles my car turns on this red triangle and says "problem" on the GPS. All the threads i have found this is accompanied by a check engine light but mine does not. On the gps there is also a symbol that i looked up in the manual, it says to take the car to a dealer. is there any way to know exactly what this triangle means? There is not CEL tripped, tried 4 code reader and nothing.
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My 2007 proud of 180k miles which hasn't had any issues up until now just randomly gave me this error, where the red triangle of death, vsc, and tire pressure ((!)) Sign came on. It drives fine and there is no check engine light.
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My 2006 has about 67,000 miles on it. The other day it began to behave in a very strange way. I had the triangle show up and it just would not go away. I checked all the fluids and they were good. I did notice that there was a new icon I had never seen before. It looked like it was an curved device with a thermometer attached. When I looked it up the suggestion was to go to Toyota right away. So I decided to drive over. As I drove I could hear the fan from the back seat coming on. It was going very fast, so I guessed that the traction battery was overheating. The car would barely drive, no power. Even when I floored it there was very little acceleration.
I got it to the dealer and they gave me a loaner because it the car was recalled due to the accelerator pedal. Later in the day I got a call saying that a couple of ECUs needed to be replaced. The next day I got a call saying the traction battery was bad and would be replaced under the long term warranty. They said I also needed an aux battery. I knew my battery was not charging up to better than 10 1/2 volts dc. They said it would cost $300 installed, so I said I would get back to them.
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The red triangle warning light on our 2004 came on and went away again It has 100k miles If I take it to the dealer can they pull some codes and figure out why it turned on We have to drive the car to 600 miles for the upcoming weekend and I don't want to be stranded on the side of the road The car has 103,000 miles We just replaced the 12v battery so I know that is OK
I also saw the following things to check. Is there anything else we should check?
1 - Are any warning lights on besides the red triangle? For example, the red BRAKE light, the amber ABS and VSC lights, or the amber circular icon?
2 - Did you check the brake fluid level? If low, buy a new container of DOT3 brake fluid and replenish as needed This fluid will dissolve paint, so do not spill it
3 - While you are at it, check the radiator and inverter coolant levels by looking at the translucent reservoirs behind the radiator and next to the inverter If low, fill with Toyota Super Long Life Coolant
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Recently while pulling into the gas station the brake, Triangle !, ABS and VSC lights came on. The dealer reset the error and said my ECU needs replacement at a cost of $1843. The Prius is a 2005 with 147000 miles. No problems since the reset so I am hopefull. I don't recall reading about a lot of others having to have expensive ECU replacements so I wonder how many have had similar problems and replaced their ECU.
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I went to the dealership today with my '05 displaying a master light ( big red triangle) and "problem " posted on the screen with the green "hybrid system problem" box displaying.
The Prius guy had the car plugged into the computer for over 3 hours. It spat out a page and a half of codes, and then after a time distilled the codes to 4 things: a bad hybrid fan motor, the relay, a blower motor controller, and a bad aux battery. The problem is I replaced the aux battery a year ago. So it makes me doubt the entire diagnosis.
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My Prius has about 145K miles on it and use it on a daily 130 mi round trip commute. Recently, a I got a Red Triangle w/ Exclamation Point and the displayed showed "Problem". I took the car to the dealership and they stated the problem was caused from a low oil level. The dealership changed the oil and I was good to go. 3k miles later, I got the same error and noticed my oil level was low once again. It seems that my Prius is burning oil at rate of 1 quart per 2500 miles driven. What can be causing this? Are there any remedies I can try before changing out the piston rings?
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I am getting the red triangle and the little car with exclimation point on the MFD. Interestingly all of the amber lights are on and the brake light is on BUT the parking brake is not set.
Here is what happened --my hybrid battery died a few weeks ago so I ordered a replacement through Summit Racing (Dorman Battery). The car started and drove but I had to rest codes to keep it alive (just to get it home). Last moved it 3 weeks ago and removed the old battery.
So long story short -- while I was waiting for the new battery I repaired some other issues -- BTW I am not new to this, I have the tools and have done these repairs on conventional cars many times.
1. Leaking axle seals -- replaced L and R seals
2. replaced L and R half axles (drivers side was rough so replaced both)
3. Found drivers side wheel bearing to be rough so replaced L and R hubs
4. Replaced L and R struts and strut mounts.
5. Drained and refilled trans axle with Toyota W (TF) 4 qts
6. Installed new 12v battery (currently producing 13.4v)
7. Replaced rear struts.
8. Replaced L and R front rotors and shoes -- they were off anyway so why not. No loss of fluid!
9. Removed and cleaned most interior parts -- door panels, seats etc...
Installed new HV battery and fired her up to the usual wheezing, whining and clicking sounds. But NO engine -- just the triangle -- problem statement and and the other above issues.
Checked the following -- inverter pump is circulating nicely, though maybe battery electronics -- so I placed the old battery back in (it was started with the old one 3 weeks ago) -- nope same issue so not those electronics. Traced all wires, plugs and connectors related to hybrid system -- all seem to be in place.
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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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The battery in the back looks like it got smashed a little. Do you think this is the cause of the lights? It was a small suv so it missed the bumper and went straight into the battery area. Trunk wont latch anymore the it got pushed in.
Is there an electronic box back there that could have caused the lights to come on?
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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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I purchased a 2009 Prius last year in the US and then got stationed in the UK. I had my car shipped Aug/Sept 2013 to the UK. Up until now the car has run great with no problems. Three weeks ago a red triangle with the message "there is a problem with the transmission "p" lock mechanism. Park your car on a flat surface and fully apply the parking break" appeared.
A week later the car wouldn't start. After reading several forums and posts I checked the battery and it was indeed low. It looked like the original battery and was reading 9.3V. I had the car jumped, drove to the local Toyota dealership, and bought a new battery. After installing the new battery the car ran fine with no issues.
Five days ago (Friday) the car wouldn't start in the morning, but all of the lights worked. Then about 3 hours later the car stared and ran fine all day.
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The other day we had a little rain, drove the car parked it left the wipers in the on position. Went to start the car again for another jaunt, and pressed the start button and brake pedal, the wipers came on very slow and the red triangle on the mfd came on. So I turned off the car and tried to start again, every thing was fine. So I am thinking my 5 yr aux battery is failing . Would I be correct in thinking that?
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Basically I have two problems which will be looked at by Toyota on Friday. But I need to arm myself with ammunition in case I have a debate with the service/repair guy.
Firstly my gen 2 decided not to start for about 10 minutes and gave me the red triangle with an exclamation mark before everything went back to normal again. The car starts every time now but the triangle appears briefly at the start which I don't think was there before. Could this be the 12V battery?
Another thing is grinding noise on full lock to both left and right. What could this be?
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