Lots of lights

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by sully78, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:10 PM.

  1. sully78

    sully78 New Member

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    Hello all, I am new to the Prius world. I inherited my dads Prius when he had to go into the nursing home and recently passed. The car has about 250k miles on it and is doing rather well until today. I have put a new normal battery in it and a new hybrid battery in it back in November. Today when driving the battery indicator on the display screen was down to one bar. Normally it's full. I was able to get it up to just about halfway but it wasn't green. Driving home from work the red triangle of death came on and won't turn off. I shut the air off in hopes that would help. It's helped in the past. But so far no go. It makes a beeping sound when I go around a curve and before the red triangle would flash. Now it's saying problem and it's turning a light that looks like an oil can on. I just had an oil change done in March. And I know it's not the light that comes on for an oil change. It's also ticking when running. I haven't had the check engine light read yet. That will be a tomorrow thing. The tire light is always on and even though we have aired all the tires up it stays on. What concerns me is the battery indicator level (it's blue right now) and the red triangle of death. Another light that popped on for a hot minute was the circle inside the parentheses with the exclamation point in it. It wasn't on very long. The oomph that the car usually has doesn't seem to be there any more and the air wasn't as powerful as it usually is. To me that sounds like an alternator. But I am not sure. Whatever it is I hope its a cheap fix.
     

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    #1 sully78, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:10 PM
  2. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

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    Who installed the new hybrid battery that you purchased? Does it have a warranty?

    Based on everything that you wrote, it probably is a problem with the hybrid battery. You need to get the trouble codes read by a scan tool. Once you get the trouble codes, then you will know what the problem is.
     
    #2 Brian1954, Jun 11, 2026 at 9:01 AM
  3. saneesh8

    saneesh8 Member

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    Yes.. read the codes. Also typically the battery have at least one year warranty.
     
    #3 saneesh8, Jun 11, 2026 at 10:31 AM
  4. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Having an oil change done in March is pretty much irrelevant at this point. Did you check the oil level when you received the car back?

    That 'oil can' light (which I don't see in any of your photos) comes on when there is no oil pressure. No oil pressure means no oil. You need to stop running the engine immediately and do not run the engine or drive the car until you have checked the oil level on the dipstick. If there is no oil registering on the dipstick, add oil to the engine, initially 1 qt at a time, then check after adding each qt. Once you get oil registering on the dipstick, add ½ qt at a time, continue checking the level after adding each ½ qt. When the level is between ½ and ¾ the way up the dipstick, stop adding oil. Do not fill past the top F mark.

    Usually, when that 'oil can' light comes on, damage has already happened in the engine.
     
    #4 dolj, Jun 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2026 at 1:10 PM
    Brian1954 likes this.
  5. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    That could be a pack problem, but as others have pointed out, you need to read the codes to be sure, and that must be done with an OBD2 dongle that can see all the ECUs.

    New as in an OEM pack from Toyota, or as in a refurbished battery from "Joe's Bill'M and Leave Town Hybrid Batteries", or something in between, like GreenBean? Your options range from very good with the OEM pack to zilch for the fly by night pack rebuilder. Also some of the replacement packs use different chemistries or cell geometries. The proven gold standard for longevity are the Toyota prismatic modules.
     
    #5 pasadena_commut, Jun 11, 2026 at 1:57 PM
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