Prius (Gen 2) :: 2005 Suddenly Lost Power - Triangle Of Death Came On
Jul 9, 2011
My 05 prius (105k) has been running great. Today I was driving up a mountain, approx 70 mph with ac full blast, when all of a sudden I lost all power. The triangle of death came on.
I immediately stopped the car, tried resetting it and no change. I got it towed. Before the tow, the headlights were on and I asked the guy to turn them off twice as I knew the engine might still be on.
Anyways, it got towed approx 4 miles to my house, and the vehicle was on.
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I have a 2005 Prius that has been very reliable! With the exception of oil changes, brakes & tires I've only needed to replace the Inverter Cooler Pump, which was under recall (about 40K miles ago). Without any prior problems, the triangle of death came on along with the other dash alarm lights. I noticed an immediate great power loss & the fan behind the rear seat came on.
I stopped the car & let it sit about 30 minutes. It started right up & I drove it home. It felt sluggish & the max was 50 or so , I didn't want to push it, so I stayed below 45 mph. It had very little power, the engine ran constantly, with no battery assist. The drive home was approx 40 minutes. When I tried to start it a few hours later, it started immediately. The warning lights are still on, it runs rough upon start and the rear fan comes on immediately.
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A strange thing happened the other day. I was driving in Houston heat (98F), started up the Prius, pulled out of the parking lot with a quick (well, as quickly as a Prius can. . .) turn to merge onto the street, and the Red Triangle of Death suddenly appeared and disappeared just as quickly.
Another odd thing that's happened is the CEL will come on on long road trips immediately after I get gas. Yes, there are elevation changes, but the CEL used to trip then turn off after a few minutes to half an hour. Now, it goes on for over a day.
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I own a 2005 Prius with 233K miles. I got the terrible red triangle of death and several other warning lights. Had the codes checked out at Toyota and confirmed a bad HV battery. I am kinda handy and I replaced it myself. No big job, it took about two hours, most of which was spent removing the interior panels, etc. Test drove the car and all looked well. Thirty or so miles later, BAMMM, lots of warning lights. At this point I took it to my mechanic to have it checked out. They found nothing you wouldn't expect when you've disconnected the two batteries.
They cleared the codes and off I went. Again about thirty miles out the lights went on again. Back to the garage once again. What they found was a corroded connector running to the fan, located under the rain gutter of the hatch, passenger side. Hmmm, how'd that get corroded?? Two years ago I remember drain the sump where the spare's located of 6 inches of water, how'd that get in there??? My mechanic confirmed he has seen that before in the Prius. So now I am wondering, did the initial battery fail because the fan may have failed??? Perhaps we need a warning light.....
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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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I have 2005 Prius with 110k. Yesterday, red triangle and check engine light came on and I lost power while driving...SCARY. Took it by dealership. They called this am and said it needed a new HV-ECU and that would cost $800. The error codes they gave me were P0A78 and P0A94. Anything else I should ask them to look at? I'm wondering if the HV ECU is something I could buy used and install myself? I'm not a mechanic but am comfortable with most DIY projects.
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This morning i picked up my friend from her house and got into my Prius to start driving away, immediately after entering ready mode it beeped, the red triangle came one, the MFD said something like 'problem' or 'error', I don't remember the exact word and then two symbols came up. I turned the car on and off again and it was all still there. I drove anyway for about a mile to my other friends house where i turned the car on and off again and everything went away. The whole time the car felt fine, there was nothing wrong with it yet it had the triangle/symbols on the MFD.
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Yesterday I went out in the AM, got in car, depressed the brake, and pushed the start button. I heard normal electrical sounds, then the red triangle of death came on, and it stopped it usual start up sounds, and nothing happened. I could not do anything. I couldn't take it out of park, couldn't push start button again. The electrical system was on cause a bunch of the lights in the dash were lit ( the only one i remember that was lit was the brake word in the dash, but there were others) I sat there a few minutes trying to push the start button or get it to shut off somehow, and eventually it all just shut off.
I depressed the brake and pushed the start button again and it started up just fine, and off to work I went. It started up fine on my way home from work, and running errands after work.
Then this morning - same thing! First time, no start, and the red triangle of death came on. I let off the brake and just sat there hoping that like yesterday it would eventually shut off and I could try again. The only difference today was that on the display monitor a warning notice came up it said something like: Caution: Problem with Transmission "P" brake system. Park car on flat surface, and fully apply the parking brake. When this happens though, I cannot event put the car in neutral or anything. I continued to sit there about 4 minutes, then everything shut off, and I started the car right up like normal. and off to work I went.
What could be my issue?? My driveway in on an incline, would this have anything with it not starting?
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I am a new Prius owner. I just purchased a 2008 with 27k miles yesterday, and last night I got the "red triangle of death". My car is currently back at the dealership after a very expensive tow. I only got to drive it for about 4 hours.
Before the break down, I was extremely excited to finally have a Prius, and was really happy with my purchase. I'm still excited about having the car, but I'm also highly disappointed that it broke down the day I bought it! I sure hope this isn't a sign to come! I see that most people love their cars, and I've read that they consistently get high dependability ratings.
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2005 with 123,000 miles. I have owned for a few thousand miles. Car was dealer maintained at every recommended interval. Car runs perfect.
After car sat for a week or so, I drove it and the red triangle popped up along with PROBLEM statement and take to immediately to dealer symbol. Red Triangle and other warnings repeats every once in awhile - will go a day without, and then will come on and off within a couple miles. Car continues to run fine. There are no other check engine lights. I have checked all the fluids and they are fine.
The battery charges fine, and holds the charge overnight. I have a generic code reader and there are no codes. I have read other posts, and there are always problems that seem to come with the Triangle. Gas mileage is fine as well.
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So at about 147k miles, triangle comes on. It's the icon on the right with the car and exclam! mark through it. Turned off radio. listened to car and I could swear that it was running differently, but it might be in my head (I was kind of freaking). Drove to my Prius guy in the I.E. (20 miles) car seemed to act OK. Was using elec engine when needed and gas engine was fine. Was a bit shocked by how good the car was running but I was sure something sinister was happening and at any minute the car would melt. After 1.5 hours and a 20 mile test drive.
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I've dreaded the day I would receive the Red Triangle. It occurred upon initial start up this morning.Could this be brake system related as 3 weeks ago I got my front brakepads/ rotors replaced. Since then the front brakes have been grabbing to the point that my wife will ask me about the noise when she's in my car.
The hybrid battery indicator is always many blue bars and green with no wild flucuations. I'm getting between 48-51 mpg's. For general maintenance I installed the Optima Yellow top about 4 weeks ago. Oil is full, coolant inverter reservoir is full with tuburlant motion and was replaced under recall 2 years ago. The transaxle fluid was changed 20k miles ago.
So back to the brakes. I have the Red Triangle with !, VSC.
2008 Prius, 184K. Well maintained, 85% highway miles
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I've pulled the HV battery from my 2007 Prius with 144, 000 miles given recent Red Triangle of Death (P0A80) and looking to replace battery pack but want to rule out the ECU. I've searched the threads and found mention of testing the ECU but wasn't clear.
How to test the HV Battery ECU in or out of the car? Using a volt meter and light bulb, etc......I would really like to rule out the ECU before putting dollars in a rebuilt battery pack.
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Our '06 has 68K on it. Last weekend I changed the front bumper (just cracked from small accident last year) and changed the oil. Used Mobil 1 5/30 and a Fram Oil Filter.
After about 125 miles of driving intermittent Red T.O.D. Always when ICE is running.
Oil level is OK - not loosing any oil. Filter and bolt on the pan are fine - no leaks.
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I have a 2002 with 110,000 miles. Over the past 8 years it has had the check engine, triangle and ! symbols come up a few times. When I was new to the car, I raced to the Toyota dealer, but they never really found anything wrong, so I have become detuned to the issue. It has been years since the last episode, but yesterday the check engine, triangle and exclamation point all came on.
The difference is now the battery indicator will drop from 75% to 25% while idling and I can hear the inverter cooler running. (usually it only runs after driving a long distance). I can see coolant bubbling in the reservoir. After a short while, the battery goes back to 75% and will stay there for awhile during normal driving, but will randomly drop back to 25%. Is this a warning of battery failure and is there anything I can check, or should I take it to the dealer?
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Last night I was driving home in my 2002 Prius, and the 'triangle of death' as you call it, went on. I got off the #405 and parked for 10 minutes while I read the manual which said get to a dealer as soon as possible. I started it back up and the engine seemed to be fine but the 'triangle of death' was still there, so I decided to continue to drive but stayed in the right lane.
I must have gone another 20 miles when I suddenly lost engine power, the headlights and dashboard were fine, and hazard lights worked fine. I was able to get to a safe place and towed the car home. Along with the 'triangle of death', the check engine light (little red icon) was on but I didn't get the 'Main Engine' error message.
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Upon turning on my car and driving a few feet I had the Red Triangle of Death, Yellow VSC, Yellow (!) Indicator, and check engine light and I'm trying to figure out where I should start working on the issue.
The Codes were as Follows:
P3000 (subcode 123)
C0200
C1241
C1300
C1310
C1259
A little history:
About 3 months ago I had an issue with the hybrid battery and replaced a battery cell which stopped all issues. About 2 weeks ago I replaced the coolant inverter pump and until today there has been no errors, CELs, or any negative performance.
This is a Gen II, 2007 prius with almost 200k miles.
Unfortunately I had plans that I could not reschedule and made the drive to the location and drove back. I had serious battery drain and it was almost always at 1 bar of battery, sometime reaching up to 2 bars. There is also the sound of a fan coming from the back seat, which I assume is the HV Battery fan, but it is on regardless of if I have air conditioning or not. A/C is working fine. When I returned home the battery charged almost up to full bars, but when I came to a stop the battery drained in about 10 seconds leaving me with very low power to keep moving. After that whenever I slowed down the teal arrows showing a recharge of the battery were gone and the battery seemed to refuse to recharge.
Steps taken so far:
I topped off my engine coolant in the front reservoir as it seemed a little low, but I didn't add much before it was full. The other reservoir near the engine was just about full and taking off the other cap showed coolant filled to the top.
I tested the 12v battery with my voltmeter which came back reading 12.7.
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The car is a 2005 Prius II hatchback @ 70,000 miles. I like my local garage and they have a good reputation but bad things keep happening. I'm ready to lose my temper but I don't want to. Here's the summary:
3 weeks ago - Started getting the red triangle of death. Had trouble starting. Finally, the car would start, but only go into park or neutral. Towed to garage. Garage put in a new 12 V battery. The car drove away from the garage nicely.
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Got the triangle of death after letting the car set during my 2 week vacation. P0A80 and Battery block is 14.17V all the rest above 15.35. That's a lot of money to repair a car. Not sure if I want to cut my losses and move on or replace it and drive as long as I can.
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I just acquired our second Prius, a beautiful 2002 (Gen1 in the USA) with 90k miles. On the dash, I get the red triangle of death with the exclamation point inside it. On the computer info screen, I have an icon of a car with an exclamation point in it and it reads "problem". I have connected the OBDII reader to it and it does not have any codes. Nothing in the history, or in the current or pending. The car has full power and runs fine, but has the stupid RTOD.
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My '04 with 193,000 miles has in the last week displayed the above trio of warnings (the word "PROBLEM" appears in the MFD and disappears instantly) plus the infamous Red Triangle of Death appears and there is an audible chime, 7 times; 4 when changing lanes and 3 at random times. The trio of warnings come on for literally 1 to 1.5 seconds and then go away, and there is nothing apparently wrong with the car, the handling, the performance, etc...it continues driving as sweetly as ever. Nothing. No engine warning light comes on (if there is such a thing), or anything else. I have new tires, the tires are all properly inflated, so it isn't the tires triggering the traction control warning.
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