Gas engine won't start

[bawelser]

Well, I'm an idiot. Last night my I let my '06 Prius ran out of gas - normally it's easy to tell at what point I have to fill up, but with increased use of A/C I guess I needed it sooner that I thought. I know I shouldn't let it get that close anyway, but I did.

Anyway, I managed to get it to the gas station on battery power, although it died as I was pulling in and I had to push it up to the pump. I filled up, but haven't been able to get it started. I tried to jump it a few times following the manual instructions, but that didn't work. When I press start, a bunch of dash lights and stuff come on, and I can turn on the lights, roll down windows, everything like that, but the ICE won't kick on to charge the battery.

Of course it happened on a Saturday night, so I couldn't get ahold of a dealership. I finally just had it towed to my house on a flatbed.

I plan to call the dealer first thing in the morning, but I just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem, or if there might be anything I can try that might work? Obviously I'm hoping it's nothing too serious...

I searched the forum and couldn't really find anything about this exact problem...

Thanks! Oh, and hello everyone!

Bryan

[efusco]

As you've probably deduced driving on battery alone is a VERY bad idea. It's worth trying to start up one more time after the car sits for a while...and pray. But you may have depleted your HV battery to the point that it doesn't have enough juice to spin up MG1 to start the ICE. That's a dealer thing and may be a long/expensive repair.

[Patrick Wong]

Hi Bryan,

I agree with Evan that it is worth trying once more, before you tow your car to the dealer.

Before you make that try, I suggest that you disconnect the negative terminal of the 12V auxiliary battery and leave the car alone for 10 minutes or so, to erase all fault codes.

Then reconnect the battery, and try to start the car. If this fails, then tow the car.

Good luck.

[bawelser]

Yeah, I tried to start it this morning after letting it sit all night with no luck.

Which is the negative terminal of the 12V battery? I see a thick black cable and a skinny white one...

I'm not very tech-savvy.

Thanks.

[efusco]

Don't do anything else...take it to the dealer. There's been enough damage done.

[richard schumacher]

Evan is right. If you jump the Prius with the polarity reversed you can do thousands of dollars of damage to the inverter, the computers and wiring harnesses.

Maybe next time you'll know to buy gas when the last pip on the gauge starts to flash (or better, before that point).

[Ailu]

Okay, I'm sure there is a reason since no one's mentioned it, but I'd like to understand - if he depleted the batteries, why can't he just recharge the batteries until he's able to start the car? This car won't take a jump?

[patsparks]

Because the 206 volt battery is flat not the 12 volt battery. You need a special charger to charge it.

[bawelser]

Originally Posted by richard schumacher

Evan is right. If you jump the Prius with the polarity reversed you can do thousands of dollars of damage to the inverter, the computers and wiring harnesses.

Maybe next time you'll know to buy gas when the last pip on the gauge starts to flash (or better, before that point).

Well, at the very least I know I didn't jump it with the polarity reversed. I connected the positive cable to the positive terminal and the negative to an unpainted nut under the hood, as the manual suggested. But when Patrick said to disconnect the negative terminal of the 12V auxiliary battery, I thought he was talking about the battery in the rear on the passenger side, which I haven't fooled with.

And you're right, of course I know I should buy gas when the last pip starts to flash, but I guess I'm not perfect. I ran out of gas once before, and as soon as I got it to the gas station and filled up everything was fine and dandy. I know it's no excuse, but I drive over 100 miles a day and am sometimes a little lazy about filling up as soon as the "Add fuel" light pops on. Even with this car it always seems like I just filled up.

[bawelser]

By the way, is it safe to assume this would fall under "negligence" not covered by warranty?