Did any of your Gen2s not work due to the freezing cold?

I cannot imagine it was 6° here the other day or eight or something like that this is in central North Carolina by the way and the Prius started while it was still dark out without any trouble Gen 2 09 And I had a faint heat at the top of the street which is 3/4 of a mile. And then after that I had the regular 84° air coming out the vents I try not to get the car too hot as I'm dressed. And everything was really uneventful I was looking to see the super cold charging problem and all this kind of stuff as they say batteries do. I couldn't tell any of it by normal driving of the car which involves me running 55 miles an hour after the end of the street where I started to get warmed up or have air blowing warm and then I usually run the car down to the citgo at a pretty good clip I was green all the way to the citgo usually on a warmer day it'll drop to blue for a few on the same run and then back up to green back to blue back up to green whatever In the cold it stayed green all the way to the store at the store I left the car ready but the blower not on so the engine wasn't running it's just sitting there in the store two or three minutes come back out to the car it's still green put it in drive hit the blower and go green almost all the way home.

 

What?
-5°F?
That isn't cold.
-35°F is cold.
I've seen clear down to -52°F(-46°C) here once.

I don't think the cold hurts NiMH nor LA batteries. Well, it doesn't affect LA batteries unless they are discharged. NiMH seem to survive the bitter cold just fine.

The cold is good for indentifying batteries that are going bad.

 

how many miles on her? how is the oil level?

 

Brutally? For more Northern folk, that is just slightly chilly. Automotive components are rated to at least -40, and numerous people have to drive at that temperature.

The 12V battery should not freeze unless it is seriously undercharged. Different sources give different figures, here is a John Deere chart:




Prii are known to not keep their 12V batteries well charged, especially those driven infrequently or doing just short trips. So instead of taking it out, could you just put a battery maintainer on it to keep it well charged?

Elsewhere, I've seen articles about Prii being quite popular in some areas with severe winters, because they generally start much better than traditional gassers in extreme cold. While nearly all batteries have lower cranking ability in cold conditions, the Prius is cranking its ICE with a high voltage high capacity traction battery spinning MG1, which is a far more powerful combination than the 12V starter battery and starter motor of traditional gassers. In a Prius, the 12V just boots up a bunch of computers and pressurizes the brake accumulator.

 

Assuming you weren't running for 30 minutes with low engine oil pressure, you would have to scan the car for codes to find out why the master warning light was on. This also assumes you don't pull the 12V back out before scanning.

Other than putting the car in gear with the door open, I can't think of another reason for the MWL to be on: oil pressure, door open, or codes somewhere.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

The Prius is very popular in Mongolia because it always starts in brutal colds. Something is awry. You need to pull codes and investigate. Could be lots of things.my 2007 has started in minus 10 F up here in Canada, no problem.

 

Mine was less 2 quart of oil from burnign it, 15F outside and started right up. But she was loud

 

HI Isaac, there's a dude in Denver I'm doing research with on how to protect lithium packs with a pack heater and we're researching Prius Thermal protection system and we've been made aware of the hybrid battery ECU limiting charging of the NIMH pack in extreme cold temps because it causes same problems as with lithium and we've been wanting to get in touch with you about this. Have you ever seen behavior like this in super cold temps with your Prius?

 

I haven't done any studies or research but when it gets really cold it's as if the car tries to use the battery as little as possible. I hope that helps.

 

if you had lights on the dash then there’d be codes. something could actually be wrong with you car other than not wearing a coat outside

 

I just bought a 2007 Prius with 180,000 miles on it - everything seemed to be in excellent condition, but it wouldn't start in the cold on Friday here in Minnesota. A friend jumped it and the dash lights didn't come on at first, but I was able to move it out of a snow-emergency street and let it run for 30 minutes. Then turned it off and on again and the dash lights came on, everything seemed normal. Came out the next day and it wouldn't start again! Anyone know what might be going on?

 

was able to start my $1000 prius when it was -5F several days ago (it was single digits for the last few days) Could be a sign of bad battery (12v or the main hybrid) but better check the codes. At -5F the engine tends to run longer at initial startup as what I've noticed. The car battery on my Lexus GX470 just got replaced on Christmas Day since it was okay the other day and won't start the next day (even with driving and it's happened 2x!) Funny that my nearest Walmart run out of 24F size batteries during that day too.

 

you need a new 12v battery

 

At around -20°F and colder the Avalon wants to warm the engine up to 180°F and then still won't shut off even when stopped until many minutes later. Then it only shuts off basically at stops for a short time but runs for nearly everything else.

 

I'm thinking that might be the case! It was replaced just a few months before I purchased it so I'm worried there might be some sort of parasitic drain. The previous owner installed aftermarket heated seats and remote start and I'm wondering if that might be an issue.

 

The pandemic was a huge problem for the fact that Prius' 12v charging system is not robust enough. I saw multiple vehicles with only 2 year old batteries fail. If I were you I'd get a decent smart charger for your 12v that goes up to 10amps and make sure your 12v is fully charge before you give up on it.

 

Heated seats shouldn’t cause parasitic drain because they’re not on when the car is off. The remote start would, but there is already some due to the security alarm, door remote, and smart key system. I’d be surprised if it was draining enough power to prevent your car starting, though. It would seem more likely to me that your 12v is not operating like it should.

 

can you be sure it was replaced?