Toyota Prius Red Triange of Death Water Pump Battery Error Code P261B 

I just got my 2009 Prius repaired last Sunday when the red light of death occurred on my dash! I never experienced this before and I had just put in a new 12v battery replacement. The AC went out along with the cruise control. I drove to a Toyota dealership that I passed earlier in the day which was the closest. The sales department was open but not service. Turns out the only Toyota dealership open was two counties south of where I was but I called them and they gave me an appointment and I drove there as quickly as I could. They did an analysis and came back and said I had a bad Hybrid Water Pump. The service advisor told me it would cost me $682 to fix it right now. Considering I knew nothing about how to replace this part I said fix it. I have to tell you that when I got the bill at the end and saw $420.77 for labor, which took about 2 hours, I have to tell you that motivates me even more to invest into a good scan tool and to learn more about fixing this Prius myself! I already purchased spark plugs for around $12 and bought two torque wrenches so I can replace them myself when I get to around 150,000 miles or sooner if needed instead of paying $150. I also just purchased a small tool kit to put in my car along with a floating charger for the 12v battery just before this happened. I am learning the hard way to take care of my own car and not waste money at the dealership! They have a nice new building that probably cost them millions of dollars to build and I don't want to get gouged so they can pay for it! These labor rates should be illegal!

The easiest way by far to replace the pump is to pull the bumper off and slide out the left headlight. Just a couple screws and snaps. With those out of the way the pump is right in front of you and effortlessly accessible. Take two clamps and squeeze the hoses tight. Remove the screws and pull the pump off the vehicle. Remove the pump clamps. Pull the pump off the hoses. Take the new pump and reverse the process. Takes about half an hour. Once back together check for leaks and burp the system at the relief valves. You should see a little wave in the reservoir next to the big inverter box.

Another hint is that the pump runs even when you're not in drive mode. Push the ON button twice without putting your foot on the brake. This will turn on most of the car systems except for engine and drive mode and the engine bay will stay very quiet. The inverter pump will be running and it's easy to tell, if you put your hand on the pump it will be humming and you will see the fluid being returned to the reservoir if you open the top cap. You can probably even hear it humming. If it's not humming then the pump is bad.

the Black wire is positive , white and black wire is negative. Just a tip when testing. He was mistaken about that. You will short pump immediately if you mix that up. Also something that nobody seems to metion is that the AC stops working when the temp of the inverter gets high.

I called Toyota this morning and they wanted to charge me $492 for labor to change the pump. I was told that it would take about four hours to complete. Really? I pulled my car into the garage and was able to get to my inverter pump in about 30 minutes. I’m going to pick up the part tomorrow and put it in. And they said four hours of labor. They are crooks pure and simple!

Thanks for compiling the wisdom from multiple videos. This helps dude. 🤙

Thank you for ALL your Valuable Help!! YOUR AWESOME!!

Thank you for this video, good work!

I just replaced my inverter pump on my 2008 Toyota Prius with about 154,000 miles. I went through the bumper cover & headlight method. Pretty easy and much less than $750 my dealership wanted including flushing and replenishing the coolant! In my opinion, it made sense to completely drain and replenish the coolant at the same time. Love my Prius, RU-vid and Amazon make driving and owning my Prius even more affordable!

Best to remove the bumper than the driver side headlight. This totally helped me to replace the pump. I also used an OBD Reader and erased the Red Triangle of Death.

When you have the red triangle of death and a whole bunch of yellow lights lighting up in sequence it usually means her inverter cooling pump is shot. Most mechanics will do it for 350 to 400 my mechanic does it for 250. If you’re in Los Angeles look up Prius express all he does is fix Prius cars. Guarantees his work and his fast

Thank you so much boss, you are absolutely a huge help!!!!!

New subscriber. Salute! Much Appreciated!

Thanks, using the 12v battery to test a pump helped me.

Thanks for the battery tip!!

Thank you so much it is a big help.😍😍😍😍

Dude thank you for being so cool

Thanks for the helpful video. The warning lights will go away on their own after awhile on their own. Mine did. An easier way to do what you did to reset it though would be to just remove the positive post.

Thanks for video thumbs up thank you

This pump was recalled by Toyota.. I owned a 2007 Prius and had the dealer replace mine at no cost. Check ino this before spending your own funds to replace it.

Wow very good l like it thanks for your Time 👍🏻

had one replaced this morning @ dealership. I was on the road and I am not a Mechanic. They treated me fine and I was glad to give them my business, went out to breakfast returned and the car was ready to drive off. 2 hrs Cox Toyota off I 40 near Greensboro N.C.

earlier comment was correct. Just disconnect the neg terminal to clear codes. Also some readers have an erase function.

Love it thank you

I had bought my Prius new in 2008 and about 6 months later I received a recall letter from Toyato to come in to have my water pump replaced under warranty. I was wondering if having that done corrected any manufacturing defects and get more mileage before the pump needs to be replaced ? Also you mentioned you had to use a “ potato “ ? To hold I guess you meant the pump hose on are you serious ? LOL I would like to know more about that ? I did enjoy your video it was well done 👍 Thank You for making it.

The intent was clearly good, but there is still misinformation in this compilation: 1) P261B isn't a valid code for the 04-09 Prius. 2) P0A93 is the code for this issue. 3) issue on 04-09 Prius - same replacement pump P/N for all model years. Redesigned in 2007 to address shorting issue that actually disabled your car by blowing the AM2 fuse - dash, everything goes completely dead, and you have to pull over. Still happens occasionally on the new pump. All cars were recalled for the new style. Later 07 and all 08, 09 had the new P/N installed from the factory. 4) When resetting codes, you can 1) wait for 2-3 complete drive cycles and they will turn off, or 2) disconnect ONLY the single large connector on top of the battery (+). This a design flaw. Pump runs balls-out all the time whether the inverter needs cooling or not. As a result, they just wear out. Expect to go through one every 70-80K miles. If you buy the cheap parts-store Chinese garbage, you'll be lucky to get a couple years out of them. It's worth the extra $ to get a Toyota pump, and no, the "genuine" pumps on Amazon for $90 aren't "genuine" unless you trace the seller back to a dealership's online business unit. Discounted SHOP cost for a pump is over $100.

I only disconnect the one large white connector to clear codes. I find that just under 1 minute is more than sufficient. This leads to the AC being set to 75 degrees the clock reset to 12:00 and reverses any tweaks to seat belt warnings and the back up beep ( which is only for the driver- but is more distracting then helpful unless you didn't mean to be in reverse). My 2007 does not have the third connector to the left of the battery. Disconnecting the posts is much more problematic than simply unclipping the modular plug. I have been clearing my codes daily with a bluetooth OBD device but have found that some problems with brakes and stalling that seemed caused by the inverter coolant pump failure recurred quickly if I didn't also disconnect the battery. I replaced the instrument cluster earlier this year to good effect on many spurious codes, just in time for the coolant pump problem shortly after a 2500 mile cross country trip.

This may sound funny but I carry a extra pump in my trunk as well as some tools and vice grips to use as clamps on the hose so less spilling. I have a 2006 Prius with 243k miles. I have been thru 4 pumps so far. Just carry an extra pump with you as well as fuses as they will often short out the fuse when the pump fails and your car will not function at all if that tiny fuse blows.

Your the man

1:19 genius idea!

It takes me literally 7 minutes or less to replace it lol. I've replaced it 4x so far because the $30 eBay part breaks easily

Just buy one on Amazon for about $80.00. Pull off the bumper on the right side and it's open for business. Simple. Don't go to dealer!

Any suggestions on how to read the OBD codes? I have a MAC Tools OBD 2 reader and it doesn’t work. I have the red triangle and a couple of other lights. My pump was replaced about a year after I got it (it’s a 2006 and the pump was replaced in 2010). I can’t seem to find any info about what to get to read the codes other than something that needs a laptop and software. I’ve seen apps for Android phones but I have an iPhone. Any help would be appreciated.

Does the car give the specific code number or did you need to plug in a code reader to get it?

Thanks very much

THANK YOU!!!

Toyota dealer I went to wanted 720$(part and labor) to replace the inverter pump. I paid the fee for them to diagnose the problem and had it towed home. Got the actual Toyota inverter pump for 50$ cheaper on line and replaced it myself in less than an hour.....

Thank you

Well must tell you that have done your steps, after putting thing together, took a drive in the car with the A/C on car drove great for about 30 ,minutes or 20 miles and bang, the VSC, check engine, the red triangle all came on GRRRRR! Crap once I got back home did this all over again, this time unplugged the axillary batter plus found the small hose was not attached to the battery so I fixed that, put everything back drove it about 10 miles around town, so far so good, but tomorrow will be the true test. I will let you know it this really works,

Did you use obd11 to read the code???

Do you still have the porius. How many miles did it have or does it have

awesome dude, can you tell me what that little hose thats by that battery does

Buy a $50 scanner and clear code. Disconnecting battery means a relearning cycle for ECU and resetting all your radio stations.

you can also just disconnect the neg lead which is attached to the body for 5 min and then screw the neg back to the body

Dorman is the updated one to buy

This repair is super easy when you remove driver headlamp.

If you have old Prius get a code reader! To read the codes sure but also clear them. They are very reasonable price these days. The people who say this takes 7 minutes (bs) or half an hour or something it probably means they've been buying the cheap ones on Amazon or ebay which only lasts about a year or so and they get very fast at changing out pumps. On my '08 I replaced it with a cheap part on Amazon and it lasted two years. This time I went to the dealer and got an OEM part $180. If this pump goes out you will fry your inverter and it can disable your entire car. Do you really want to put a $30 part there?

Good video! I have a 2008 Prius. Installed an inverter pump OEM. Bled system, but not getting turbulence in reservoir. Any help would greatly be appreciated! Thanks!

Do you still have your Prius?

Hi! I have the same problem with my Prius 2014. Fault code P261B. My car have done so far 210.000 miles. I change the water pump brand new and The thermostat but stil have The same problem. I don’t understand why? Something solution for expert will be great. Thanks!!!

Generation II Prius is 2004-2009........

How many mile we should change it?

I have a stubborn check engine light that doesn't want to clear

Couldn’t you just disconnect the neg cable from the battery vs removing the 3 plug connectors?

If thats the water pump, where is the coolant control valve

Inverter water pump. Easier to remove the bumper.

hey body your title should be inverter water pump dont confuse it with engine water pump

2004-2009 is Gen 2.

That’s the inverter pump

The biggest problem with car mechanics is it's just a job, they don't give two shirts about your car only getting your cash for their boss. The trade needs people with a certain amount of fault finding intelligence the trouble is they don't pay enough, so you don't get those people doing that type of job. Even worse in the tyre alignment industry they are even thicker and more dishonest.

No so clear the video

Does a bad one effect the mpg?

The wind noise blocks out your speech at times , maybe try making your same video again as it seems like it could be good informative instructions without the wind !

DONT USE A POTATO 🛑👎