I purchased 2006 Toyota Prius in March of 2014 and it currently has 68,000 miles on it. Suddenly, the triangle of death appeared randomly when I started the car.That same day I changed the 12V battery b/c I was told 6 months ago that it would need to be changed sooner than later. The triangle went away for less than 24 hours then reappeared. 2 days ago the rear fan for the 12V battery came on. I've checked all the fluids and all appears fine. I had a diagnostics test ran and 4 codes popped up. C1259 HV System Regenerative Malfunction,C1300 ABS ECU Malfunction, C1310 HV System Malfunction and B1421 Solar Sensor Circuit (Passenger Side). I have NO clue where to begin and if this is a bigger issue than a street mechanic can solve. I absolutely HATE dealing with the local Toyota dealership near me so if I could avoid that dealership I'd prefer. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
B1421 – This probably just means that you were not in direct sunlight when doing the scan. It can be ignored. C1259, C1310, and C1300 – all basically point to each other or some problem with skid control ECU. What did you check the codes with? No other codes? Freeze frame data on the codes look normal?
To clarify, the fan in the back has nothing to do with the 12v battery, that is the HV battery fan. It only kicks on when the HV battery is hot. Since you just replaced the 12v, I would clear the codes. Replacing the 12v will sometimes clear the code, but not the logged error codes. So do an actual clear of the DTCs for all ECUs which may take a few minutes with the TechStream and see if they come back. My guess is that they will. The B1421 will just always be there, it doesn't cause the red triangle of death. It is not a feature on USDM Prii that means anything. The C1310 and C1259 and C1300 are actually all sensible. To me they say that there is a problem in the regenerative braking system. Perhaps the ABS wheel speed sensor is off, or a wire is broken or something causing it to wiggle. The ABS ECU talks to the HV ECU while regenerating. If there is a fault in the ABS ECU, it will kick off the other two faults. Now it could be anything at this point, but that's my guess. A 2006 with 68k miles on it, was not driven often. To me that says rodents. They love to chew wires, and a intermittent problem with a system that is exposed to the outside world screams rodents as well. All signs seem to be aligning on a common cause, so I would start my investigation there.
The codes were checked with a Maxisys Autel. I work for a dealership and that's what they use for all the different vans they scan.
So I've cleared the codes, I've checked/cleaned the sensors on the front tires, unplugged and replugged int he 12v battery. Things run well for 24hrs or so and then all the same lights came back on. I had it hooked back up to the diagnostics machine and now NO codes come up once scanned. I'm so confused by all of this and don't know where to go from here. Any suggestions or am I stuck taking it to a dealer?
So you cleared the codes but then fault lights came back on? And then you tried to read the codes and got nothing? If fault light has been on and code is not cleared it won’t clear itself. Even if the fault light goes away fault code will stay in memory. If I got that right? It tells clearly that your code reader isn’t capable of reading all the fault codes. You should read codes with Techstream that’s what the Prius is designed to use. It’s the same one that Toyota dealerships use. Mini-VCI is very cheap tool that comes with that software. If those codes really are the only codes you should concentrate on freeze frame data on them.
Thank you for your response, does this mean I need to take it into a dealership? I'm wondering if I should waste anymore time on it or just bite the bullet and take it in.
Hey Amanda. I agree that the reader your shop is using probably isn't seeing all the codes a Prius can generate. I would only take it to a dealer, though, as a last resort. They charge WAY too much for reading codes. It sounds like you've been around cars enough to do this yourself. What you need is a Mini VCI OBDII cable/connector and the Techstream software. I bought my three (so far) Prii from a guy who specializes in Gen 2 and it's what he said to get. Mine was about $25. I run the software on an ancient Lenovo laptop running Windows XP that I never connect to the internet. Lots of folks know how to run it on newer Windows systems, but I haven't needed to. This makes it easy to check or reset codes at home any time you want to. You can google them and find lots of them on Amazon. You may then need to google the codes you find to learn what they mean, or come back here where there are lots of really smart people.
Ok here is where I'm at. I did bring it to a dealer today and these are the codes they ran: P300, P0880, P1121, C1310, B1421, B1200, B1271 They are saying I need the HV Battery replaced, the coolant valve replaced, and the HV Vehicle control computer replaced. I've been going back and forth with two different dealerships trying to get the best price. One dealer ship quoted me $4,488.33 NOT including the computer replacement. Side Note: After asking for the codes and breakdown of charges he stumbled and said it didn't include the computer replacement in the quote b/c they were going to try replacing the battery first and seeing if that worked. This is why I'm not a dealership fan. The other dealership told me it was VERY odd that the computer would have to be replaced but if all three things needed replacement he quoted me $5,021.92...at least this includes the computer. I'm considering seeing if I can find someone to install a refurbished HV Battery for much cheaper, any thoughts or suggestions?
This is probably a typo as the P0A80 code is for a failed hybrid battery. TONS of threads on aftermarket vs toyota batteries. GOOD LUCK!
