Red triangle of death and check engine light at 172k miles

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by slickvik, Dec 8, 2021.

  1. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    Well, I guess today was my turn. Leaving work and within a few seconds the red triangle of death, check engine, VSC, and orange exclamation mark surrounded by circle and parentheses lights came on. Luckily was still in parking lot. Turned car off and on again, no VSC and orange exclamation mark light on anymore. My guess is battery or inverted cooling pump. Hoping it's the latter. Hometown hybrids coming by tomorrow to read the codes. Is it even worth putting in 1-2k in this car with this mileage? For reference got a refurbished combination meter and new brake actuator 2 years ago.
     
    #1 slickvik, Dec 8, 2021
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  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Car is still good condition. $1k to $2k can't buy you anything better
     
    #2 JC91006, Dec 8, 2021
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You're just broke in should go easy 300K usually . Rust n body damages more issue than mileage n parts needs. But that's in a place wer emissions and BS aren't an issue. You have to weigh in added shiet like that .to get Your full picture

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Dec 8, 2021
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Get yourself one of these: Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus
    That way you can use Dr. Prius app to monitor hybrid system health and check and clear error codes...
    It's way less hassle having one of these in your glove box rather than depending on an expensive mechanic house call or tow truck.
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Dec 8, 2021
  5. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    Battery was dead. Paid $2295 for a new one. Great tech, gave me a lot of Prius specific information.
     
    #5 slickvik, Dec 8, 2021
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  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    a good move i think, you've already covered most of the expensive bases. all the best!
     
    #6 bisco, Dec 8, 2021
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  7. slickvik

    slickvik Junior Member

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    What is the best OBD scan tool?
     
    #7 slickvik, Dec 9, 2021
  8. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    That's a personal preference for the kind of work you do a lot of these things some of these autex and snap on etc. If you look online you can get bootlegged copies of tech stream that will run on windows. So you'll need an old Windows laptop 7 is okay. This device that goes between the laptop and the cable that plugs to the car about 70 bucks or so and then the cable that plugs to the car you need to get a good one that meets the JIS standard the one posted on here somewhere they're talking 80 bucks but it's pretty much guaranteed to work and not give a bunch of problems so you'll have about 200 bucks in the whole mess I have a Panasonic laptop with Windows 7 with text stream built in it from the dealer with the dealer code I paid like $400 for it from the dealer that went out of business and it's good to 2021 with all updates and everything on the machine I don't need to download them I thought it was a decent deal if I'm going to fool with these silly cars

    SM-A715F ?
     
    #8 Tombukt2, Dec 9, 2021
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