The dash lit up like a Christmas tree yesterday - multiple warnings and lights

[Bad1975]

There will be codes retained when viewed on GTS+.

Ask them to print those retained codes out for you (It’s called “Health Check” in GTS+) and try and see if they correlate to a possible source. Tell them you want the health check saved to your VIN record as well. They could email it to you as a PDF as well as that is the save format for it.

They can also run individual tests on each stored code and I’d ask they perform those as well prior to resetting anything.

 

[Mikie]

Great info Bad1975 -- thank you. I'll update this post once I get the car into the dealership.

 

[TrailWhale]

I officially joined the exclusive Hybrid System Malfunction Party this afternoon!

I was at a stop light and as I was about to go the cruiser had a pretty viscous jolt, almost felt like I got rear-ended. The 3 warnings came on - “System malfunction”, “Hybrid system malfunction”, and “Drive/Start Control Malfunction”. The cruiser continued to operate but stuck in 1st gear. I didn’t turn it off until I got home in case it wouldn’t turn back on. It did turn back on with only the “Hybrid system malfunction” error and it appeared to be shifting gears again with a test lap around the block.

I’ll report back with what the dealership finds.

EDIT - update - took it to dealership and they determined it needs a full transmission replacement. OOF

 

[Blue Bear]

Check battery voltage anything 12V or under and the electronics can't properly start up. When attempting to start under these conditions it will just click or sometimes do nothing.

I'll be buying a NOCO boost for mine just to be safe, I've had the battery drop enough with just doors or rear hatch open for a few hours while working on it multiple times. Also a good idea if offroad and winching, especially if solo otherwise your literally stuck until someone comes along with jumper cables.

This is so far the only thing that really annoys me about the 250, the start battery and how fast the vehicle can drain it to not allow the vehicle to start up.

NOCO GBX 45 has been running on sale for $109.95 on Amazon.

 

[Mikie]

BTW, when I take my LC in for service next week, I intend to ask the tech whether there is any setting available using his super-scan tool that would allow for the choice of battery type (i.e. regular flooded or AGM). If I am able to find this out, I'll provide an update.

I took my LC into the dealer today, and asked about the possibility of setting the 12V battery charging profile. The answer was -- nada, no way to do that (according to the master tech).

A couple interesting things...
- The service manager told me that the car comes with an AGM battery, tho, for sure in my case it did not. I got a regular non-sealed flooded cell, with warnings on the battery not to tip it, etc. And nothing at all on the battery that would indicate an AGM.
- They did run a battery test, and it tested 100% healthy, but only 85% charge. While this may look OK at first glance, it does indicate some sort of problem -- since I fully charged the battery yesterday (with an AGM charger), AND, I drove the car for a half hour today (to get to the dealer). If the car was capable of fully charging an AGM, I'd of expected the battery to be fully charged when they tested it...

 

[Mikie]

Well, unfortunately, today everything automatically cleared up -- no more messages! I say unfortunately, since I'd of preferred the problem to still be occurring when I bring it into the dealer next week.

It was interesting -- the problem originally occurred on Wednesday, throwing the 3 error messages that I previously mentioned (along with LOTS of warning lights in the dash). On Thursday, the Hybrid System Malfunction message went away, and was replaced by a new message, Check Engine (all of the messages I've received have also said Visit Your Dealer).

On Friday, everything was still bonkers, but, up to that point, the car seemed to still be driving fine. Then on Saturday morning, I started it up and the thing decided that there are no more problems, so no more messages! I've driven it a couple times since then, and everything still appears to be fine.

I'm still going to take it into the dealer on Tues, but I'm sure that they'll tell me that they can't see any problem at this point (but it's hard for me to believe that no fault codes are retained until they are cleared...)

I'm back from the dealer, and here's an update...

They confirmed that I had TONS of codes, but, they said that they all originated back before the car was new (due to the battery being disconnected, etc.)... And they said that since the codes had never been cleared, the car was "following up" when it started throwing the error messages a few days ago. All according to a master tech (so the service manager told me).

I'm in no position to argue with this, but needless to say that I'm not completely confident that they really diagnosed/resolved the issue... We'll see what happens...

 

[EOD Guy]

I'm back from the dealer, and here's an update...

They confirmed that I had TONS of codes, but, they said that they all originated back before the car was new (due to the battery being disconnected, etc.)... And they said that since the codes had never been cleared, the car was "following up" when it started throwing the error messages a few days ago. All according to a master tech (so the service manager told me).

I'm in no position to argue with this, but needless to say that I'm not completely confident that they really diagnosed/resolved the issue... We'll see what happens...

That actually makes sense to me........... When my dash lit up, I disconnected/reconnected the battery and everything worked as it should. I hooked up my diagnostic computer to read the codes, there were many and I cleared them and I haven't had an issue since.

 

[Mikie]

That actually makes sense to me........... When my dash lit up, I disconnected/reconnected the battery and everything worked as it should. I hooked up my diagnostic computer to read the codes, there were many and I cleared them and I haven't had an issue since.

OK -- but what about the part that the car was ostensibly "following up" with me because nobody had ever cleared those original codes?

Clearly I don't know -- but it doesn't smell right to me, that the codes have been there since I bought the car in January, and now 5 months later, the car on it's own volition decides to warn me about the codes for 3 consecutive days, and then go quiet... Not impossible, but seems unlikely to me...

And I might add (not sure if this is important), that my battery has been disconnected several times since I bought the car. A few times when I was doing testing, but also when I upgraded my OEM battery to an Optima, and again when I installed my liftgate lights switch.

 

[EOD Guy]

I have no idea as to the why, but I do know that some faults throw an initial code/CEL signal/message and if a correct valve is seen by the ECU/control module, it runs through a run cycle (I have no idea what is involved in the run cycle) and if it sees the correct value through "X" key on/off - engine on/off - hybrid on/off cycles........ it clears the CEL/message and stores the code in the, what I'll call, "history" and runs like it should until the next time the fault occurs...... rinse and repeat. That is why unless you never plan on taking it to a dealer, you should never clear the "history" codes (unless you know what the codes mean and if they aren't needed for diagnostics).

If it doesn't complete the run cycle the CEL/messages may persist (again not sure exactly how Toyota determines this)

In my case all the codes were "history" as determined by the date they were stored and by my simple math calculations, they occurred at least 30 days prior to arriving at the dealer. My LC had less than 7 miles on the ticker and after consulting the TSB from Toyota concerning "pre delivery service" which instructed the dealer to clear any codes etc........ which hadn't been completed in my case, I considered it OK to clear all codes.

(edit) This is what I think the sequence of events are...............

 

[Bad1975]

There are pending codes, which won’t set a CEL due to number of cycles present versus not, codes that will set and get stored but won’t trigger a CEL as they haven’t been determined to be critical and CEL codes. All codes are stored until cleared when a trigger event is detected for the code.

Unless Toyota has made recent changes any code that results in a CEL will not self clear the CEL being lit up, those can only be reset with OBDII diagnostic tools to get the CEL to turn off.

Regardless any codes that would have set off the warning messages should have been stored and available too them. My guess they had no clue what the amount of codes that were set correlated to and appeared like what comes when the vehicle is delivered and they reinstall the DC cut fuse.

Did they provide you with the health check print out or PDF?

Also the car won’t follow up on old codes that is a line of BS. I had all those codes because pre delivery wasn’t properly performed and the date aligned with when to vehicle arrived at port to have DC cut fuse installed, none of them were codes that would trigger a CEL or Warning message. They were mostly comms with module X not present for non consequential items.

 

[EOD Guy]

Loose gas cap code will throw a CEL and self clear after 3 run cycles (I can't remember if it's 3 or 5).

 

[Mikie]

I took my LC into the dealer today, and asked about the possibility of setting the 12V battery charging profile. The answer was -- nada, no way to do that (according to the master tech).

A couple interesting things...
- The service manager told me that the car comes with an AGM battery, tho, for sure in my case it did not. I got a regular non-sealed flooded cell, with warnings on the battery not to tip it, etc. And nothing at all on the battery that would indicate an AGM.
- They did run a battery test, and it tested 100% healthy, but only 85% charge. While this may look OK at first glance, it does indicate some sort of problem -- since I fully charged the battery yesterday (with an AGM charger), AND, I drove the car for a half hour today (to get to the dealer). If the car was capable of fully charging an AGM, I'd of expected the battery to be fully charged when they tested it...

I'm pretty sure at this point that the LC is unable to fully recharge an AGM battery, as the charging voltage is a bit too low. Rather than repeat everything here, I reference the last few updates in the forum topic devoted to this: Deep cycle agm battery replacement?

 

[Mikie]

There are pending codes, which won’t set a CEL due to number of cycles present versus not, codes that will set and get stored but won’t trigger a CEL as they haven’t been determined to be critical and CEL codes. All codes are stored until cleared when a trigger event is detected for the code.

Unless Toyota has made recent changes any code that results in a CEL will not self clear the CEL being lit up, those can only be reset with OBDII diagnostic tools to get the CEL to turn off.

Regardless any codes that would have set off the warning messages should have been stored and available too them. My guess they had no clue what the amount of codes that were set correlated to and appeared like what comes when the vehicle is delivered and they reinstall the DC cut fuse.

Did they provide you with the health check print out or PDF?

Also the car won’t follow up on old codes that is a line of BS. I had all those codes because pre delivery wasn’t properly performed and the date aligned with when to vehicle arrived at port to have DC cut fuse installed, none of them were codes that would trigger a CEL or Warning message. They were mostly comms with module X not present for non consequential items.

It's interesting, but yes, after 3 days of displaying the failure messages constantly every time I drove the car, the whole thing cleared up on its own. For whatever reason, no more messages, no more warning lights. No idea why the change.

Yes I did get a printout of the codes, but don't really understand it. I don't see any indications of when the codes were triggered. But at this point, I think it's academic -- I just need to wait and see what happens going forward... The car seems to be running fine for now.

 

[kyakaddict]

It's interesting, but yes, after 3 days of displaying the failure messages constantly every time I drove the car, the whole thing cleared up on its own. For whatever reason, no more messages, no more warning lights. No idea why the change.

Yes I did get a printout of the codes, but don't really understand it. I don't see any indications of when the codes were triggered. But at this point, I think it's academic -- I just need to wait and see what happens going forward... The car seems to be running fine for now.

My LC went two weeks with zero codes, then they came back. About a month ago, this happened 3 times in one day!

 

[Mikie]

My LC went two weeks with zero codes, then they came back. About a month ago, this happened 3 times in one day!

Did you take it in to the dealer? If so, what was the finding??

 

[kyakaddict]

It's been at the dealer since Friday. It's now Tues, and haven't heard anything. It's also in to have the brake squealing issue addressed as well as to have my headlights realigned hopefully. Been getting flashed at night ever since I had a lift put on.

 

[Mikie]

It's been at the dealer since Friday. It's now Tues, and haven't heard anything. It's also in to have the brake squealing issue addressed as well as to have my headlights realigned hopefully. Been getting flashed at night ever since I had a lift put on.

Did the dealer provide any explanation for all of the warning lights??