[KTPhil]

Just as we were packed up for a trip up the coast to Solvang, my baby flaked on me!

I put her in ready mode, and when I shifted to D, I got the dreaded red triangle, a constant beeping, and a message to the effect, "You must shift to Park; the battery will not be charged in Neutral."

Nothing made it stop giving me this message when in D. Half a dozen power cycles, nothing worked. The ICE would come on and off to keep the battery up, the charge level showed high blue, and it drove fine, if noisily with the damn beeps.

I called the 800 number for roadside assistance, but after over ten minutes on hold, I gave up without ever talking to a human. A whole lotta good that $1000 did me...

Next I called my own dealer, who said it would take over a day since he was loaded up. Next call was to the nearest Toyota dealer, who said it should be fine to drive in. OF COURSE, on the next start the problem went away. I came in anyway to have it scanned for codes. They reported:
DTC GATEWAY B1200, B1207, B1271
DTC B2799
RESET ECU AND RECOMMENDED FOR CUSTOMER TO MONITOR

We went on our trip without incident. Gaviota Pass climb was no problem, even though we took it at 75-80 mph.

The dealer's explanation was that my radar detector or Mobil fob might have interfered. He said the code meant the car lost contact with the fob for more than five minutes, tripping the codes. Problem was, the radar detector was off the whole time, and both it and the Mobil fob had given no trouble for three months and 5000 miles. I am not convinced.

If true, then next time I'll try plugging in the fob, since that will eliminate the RF link and the alleged causes completely. I'm not betting that will fix it.

Any thoughts or facts to figure this out?

 

[mrv]

you'll get the red triangle and warning about shifting to N if you try and put the car into gear with the driver's door open. Check that your door is closed before panicing.

 

[KTPhil]

Now that makes sense...NOT! But I've read it before, so I know you're not nuts!.

I didn't have the door ajar light on, though.

 

[DanMan32]

The car can be driven without the fob, once the car is in READY, though I never tried this for over 5 minutes.

B1200 Body ECU communications stop - Means gatway couldn't talk with the Body ECU for over 10 seconds. Nothing to do with fob.
B1207 Smart ECU communications stop - Gateway can't talk with Smart ECU. Again, not a fob problem. If it were, smart ECU would report the missing fob, but would still communicate wtih gateway.
B1271 Combination meter ECU communications stop - Gatway couldn't talk with combination meter.

B2799 Engine Immoblilzer system malfunction. Missing subcode.
Now this may be why dealer thougth it was a fob problem. However it indicates the HV ECU couldn't talk with the transponder ECU. This can get output if the car battery was disconnected.

Sounds like you had catastrophic communications failure, which RF interference could cause, but not having to do with the fob.
I believe radar detectors are passive, so I doubt it would do it. A radar jammer would be another matter.

That or a 12V power glitch maybe.

 

[Hobbit]

Sounds like something is sporadically donking your CAN bus..

_H*

 

[BIF]

you'll get the red triangle and warning about shifting to N if you try and put the car into gear with the driver's door open. Check that your door is closed before panicing.

I vote for this one; it has happened to me several times. I never noted the red "door ajar" light, but man, that Exclamation Triangle kind of dominates all other lights in competition for your attention.

"D'oh!"

 

[DanMan32]

That wouldn't generate any DTCs, certainly not those.

CAN wasn't reported to have failed. Most of it was on BEAN.

 

[melgish]

That wouldn't generate any DTCs, certainly not those.

CAN wasn't reported to have failed. Most of it was on BEAN.

This thread has far too many acronyms... is there a guide somewhere? I can guess DTC is some kind of error code... CAN is a componet... what's a BEAN?

 

[Thomme]

CAN is a componet... what's a BEAN?

It's what's inside the can. Good night, everybody! Tip your waitstaff.

 

[Hep]

Another comedian comes out of the closet. And you are quick! You beat Sanny to the joke!

 

[Sanny]

CAN is a componet... what's a BEAN?

It's what's inside the can. Good night, everybody! Tip your waitstaff.

I thought it was what Hep's caffeine came in. :roll:

Or, as my father likes to sing:

"Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel. Let's have beans for every meal!"

Yup, I come by it naturally.

(and Hep, he only got there first 'cause I'm WORKING today!)

 

[DanMan32]

DTC - Diagnostic Trouble Code. Those nasty errors the dealer needs to pull to find out what's wrong, and then determine, he still can't tell what's wrong even after looking them up.
CAN - no idea what the acronym stands for, but it is the network allowing the automotive ECUs to communicate, such as HV (hybrid Vehicle), HV Battery, ECM (Engine Control Module), skid ECU, and a few others.
ECU - Electronic Control Unit (or something close to that)
BEAN - Body Electrical Area Network. Allows ECUs dealing with the body stuff to communicate. The heart of this is the Body ECU. Also on this network is the combination meter, and the SKS (Smart Keyless System) ECUs.

The Gateway ECU allows the various networks to communicate with one another, so for example the Body ECU can communicate with the HV ECU or vice-versa.

Not mentioned:
AVC - Audio/Visual Communications. Allows the MFD, NAV, Amp, and radio to talk to one another. Through the gateway, the MFD can get the HV telemetry, such as HV battery SOC (State of Charge).

 

[Thomme]

(and Hep, he only got there first 'cause I'm WORKING today!)

Hey, now - I'm in the office too!
C'mon Sanny - your pup against mine - timed laps around the yard.

 

[hyperion]

KTPhil, failed to mention if he tried kicking the left front tire. It might be any type of an electrical glitch that caused the original problem but after you have gotten out of the car and kicked that tire and gotten back in and started from scratch I believe you will find all systems normal. (it's the nature of the beast)

 

[KTPhil]

CAN = Controller Area Network

http://www.can.bosch.com/index.html

 

[Sanny]

CAN = Controller Area Network

http://www.can.bosch.com/index.html

They called it Crisco, 'cause it was a little fat in the CAN.

 

[BIF]

CAN = Controller Area Network

http://www.can.bosch.com/index.html

They called it Crisco, 'cause it was a little fat in the CAN.

I was thinking about my CAN of Folgers...

...and the coffee BEANS that bravely sacrificed themselves for my morning cup.

 

[KTPhil]

Tried out the "open the door and put it in drive" process, and sure enough, that damn irelevant message about "the battery will not charge in neutral" comes up. Every time. Goes away when you close the door.

Interestingly, only the driver door made this happen, not the passenger.

WTF?

This has to be a programming error. You can't convince me this is the message Toyota intends to display under these conditions.

The dealer didn't know about this. Toyota spent about $100 last weekend checking the car out under warrantee, all unnecessary.

I wonder how many other bogus messages are lurking. I will brign this to Toyota's attention one of these days, so they may consider a S/W change.

Which ECU controls this message? Is it flashable?

Thanks to this forum for putting my mind at ease that I don't have some sinister lurking problem waiting to bite me.

 

[DanMan32]

I would guess it is in the MFD, but could be HV ECU sending an alert with the combination meter displaying it on the dash, and then signalling the MFD to display a more detailed msg.

I agree, the message is inaccurate and misleading. Really should say 'Shut the door, fool!'
Ironically, it doesn't display this message when you are in Neutral. I guess they figured it would be a problem if you left the car in Ready and in Neutral. If you did that, and left it too long, you'd drain the HV battery. They probably figured they might as well display the msg when in any gear other than park and opened the door, rather than only when in Neutral and door open.