Warning light and check engine light- inverter pump or just low oil?

You should not drive this car until you replace the inverter pump (after you confirm the failure code). Once your car gets hot (about 30 minutes of driving) the triangle will come back, you'll then be stranded or you'll fry your inverter if you keep driving

 

Without reading the codes, there are about two hundred possible reasons for the signals you've seen. Oil and inverter pump might be two of them, only about a hundred ninety eight left to check out.

Or, if the mechanic did read the codes and they indicate inverter cooling, that straightaway narrows down all those possibilities for you. If you are unsure of the mechanic's diagnosis, you could ask to be shown the code and check it in the repair manual, or with a scan tool you could independently check the code yourself.

The one approach I would least recommend is to ignore the codes and try to guess between two out of two hundred possibilities because you prefer the sound of one of them.

-Chap

 

After we beat you up for letting your oil go low (that's a s bad a driving your car in the ocean) here is what I would do.

Inverter pump is a common problem. And yes, Toyota had a recall but it was voluntary and I believe only good through 2017 for your car. Call Toyota dealer to see what they will do. An easy check whether the pump is dead is to put the car into IG-ON (two button pushes/no brakes). Under the hood you can see the pump on the right side of the engine bay, under the left side of the fusebox and headlight. A hose comes up you can reach. You should feel vibration from the water flowing through it. If there is no flow its likely bad. If you have someone change it, change the coolant, its ten years old. If your handy, there are a lot of videos on DIY. Just be sure to use the bleeder screw on the inverter to get air bubble out or you could have an issue.

 

An easier check is to put the car in ready and take the cap off the inverter reservoir and see if there’s any movement of the fluid. Should look like it’s flowing. With new fluid it has very aggressive flow looks like it’s boiling. With very old fluid like in your car it will have very little flow.

If you see no movement at all the pump is dead.

Btw did you even check to see if the engine oil was at the full line?

I would not drive the car down the block till I figured it out. When this car throws the master caution it’s not kidding.