Just replaced 12v battery - now we have stalling problem

[brycelarson]

Hi everyone, first post here - I've been reading for a while.

We own an 05 Prius - and love the car. It's been flawless since we bought it. It didn't want to start the other day - for our mechnic who was going to do an oil change. I was in the waiting room - so he came and got me. We hooked up a battery charger and it started after that.

He ordered and installed a new 12v battery, I picked up the car and it drove fine on the very short ride home.

The next morning my wife headed out to work, got about 4 miles from home and was just accelerating up to highway speeds and the car stalled out.

Could this be related to the battery replacement or is there something else that we should look at? I wasn't present - so I don't know if the car kept electric drive - or just went dead. The exclamtion warning and all dash lights popped on and she coasted to the side of the road.

any thoughts?

[2009Prius]

I suppose if the 12V charging system is not giving out enough charging voltage then the battery would drain out. Just a guess.

By the way your mechanic did use the specific jump start terminal, right?

[qbee42]

Hopefully the new 12V battery was fully charged before being installed. If not, it takes a long time for the Prius to bring it up to full charge.

That said, a low 12V battery will not cause the ICE to stall. I suspect something else is behind that problem.

Tom

[brycelarson]

Originally Posted by 2009Prius

By the way your mechanic did use the specific jump start terminal, right?

yes

Originally Posted by qbee42

Hopefully the new 12V battery was fully charged before being installed. If not, it takes a long time for the Prius to bring it up to full charge.

That said, a low 12V battery will not cause the ICE to stall. I suspect something else is behind that problem.

Tom

I don't know if it was fully charged. The car did get 4 or 5 miles from the house before it stalled. If it was a low battery problem I assume it would happen right away.

The whole car stalled out.

[firepa63]

What was the gas tank level when the car stalled?

[richard schumacher]

There is some other problem. Once the car is ON (Ready) you could remove the 12V battery and nothing would happen. The 12V battery problem was either coincidence or a consequence of the underlying problem. I'm afraid it's back to the dealer.

Unless, as firepa63 implies, it merely ran out of gas? Certainly check that first.

[brycelarson]

Originally Posted by firepa63

What was the gas tank level when the car stalled?

bit under half a tank.

Originally Posted by richard schumacher

There is some other problem. Once the car is ON (Ready) you could remove the 12V battery and nothing would happen. The 12V battery problem was either coincidence or a consequence of the underlying problem. I'm afraid it's back to the dealer.

Unless, as firepa63 implies, it merely ran out of gas? Certainly check that first.

my mechanic figured it out. The battery installation was done with an oil change. When they checked the air filter a speck of dirt dropped off and was triggering the mass air flow sensor.

That cascaded warning messages until the car gave up. They pulled the battery, cleared all the warnings and cleaned the sensor - all if right with the world.

[2009Prius]

Glad to know your problem is solved and thank you for updating and sharing your experience.

[rocketman7]

Originally Posted by brycelarson

bit under half a tank.



my mechanic figured it out. The battery installation was done with an oil change. When they checked the air filter a speck of dirt dropped off and was triggering the mass air flow sensor.

That cascaded warning messages until the car gave up. They pulled the battery, cleared all the warnings and cleaned the sensor - all if right with the world.

Amazing, the same thing happened to me last summer. I had the car in for an oil change and the next day I'm stalled on the side of the road. Apparently, when the mechanic did an inspection of the air filter, a dead bee fell into the tube and at some point got sucked into the mass flow sensor. The dealer originally charged me $150 for the diagnosis and repair but after I complained they waived the charge (and a free tow as well).

rocketman7