Gas engine won't start

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.

 

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).

 

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?

 

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

 

Definitely a safe assumption.

 

Hi Bryan,

As your plan is to tow the car to the dealer, you will likely be faced with a couple of hours labor charge at minimum. The dealer tech is basically going to do what I suggest below and obtain diagnostic codes. If that doesn't work then they will order a traction battery charger from the region office, which will take a while to arrive since only a limited qty is available in the country. So your car may be out of service for a couple of weeks or longer if charging is needed.

If you feel comfortable trying to disconnect the negative terminal of the battery, read on. If not, then peace.

The 12V battery is located in the right rear corner of the hatch, under the triangular-shaped hatch floor panel. To access the battery, remove the folding floor in the center of the hatch. Remove the triangle piece by gently pulling off the flap that is attached to the hatch trim on the side.

Once you can see the battery, you will note that it has two terminals. The terminal facing towards the front of the car is covered with a red plastic cover. By the way, a couple of fuses live in the fuse block under the cover. This is the positive terminal. Leave this undisturbed.

The other battery terminal, partially hidden in the corner of the car, is the negative terminal.

Usually it will be difficult to loosen the nut that secures the negative terminal connector because of the way that the battery is mounted. Therefore, an easier way to disconnect the negative terminal is to remove the negative terminal cable where it connects to the body of the car. Let that wire remain unconnected for 10 minutes. Then reconnect the wire, making sure that the bolt is tight.

Press on the brake pedal hard, and then press the POWER button in an effort to start the car again. If you have no joy, you can feel confident that you did everything reasonable to recover from this situation.

If you by some small miracle manage to start the Prius, then leave it READY and drive it around to get the battery SOC gauge at least up to 4 or 5 blue bars before you are done.

Good luck.

 

Nice save gents

 

Nice save Patrick. This web site has the nicest and most intelligent people on it. I am so happy I found it. I have already learned so much from all of you. I was even able to install my own sirius after reading a few of the threads here. My next mods are the stiffener and the sharkfin ant.
Thank's again all.

 

Fortunately Patrick's advice on the 12 VDC battery will have cleared the error codes in the control computers. You may need to readjust the window settings but I'm curious about "managed to get it to the gas station."

When the engine stopped, what speeds and accessories did you have on? How far did you have to go? What speed did you use?

The reason I ask is to suggest that if you have to keep moving, turn off everything you can and let the speed coast down as slow as possible. Use the remaining battery energy to get to a safe place to refuel. For maximum range, 15-20 mph is the best speed to extend your battery range but it is better to get to find a safe place to park and call or walk for gas.

The first time I ran out of gas, I went about 130 miles on 'flash.' Any idea how far you might have gone?

Bob Wilson

 

just wanted to mention that the likelihood of getting the hv charger is very, very low.

the cost of flying out the rep, paying him, putting him up in a hotel, labor to do the charge, etc damn near matches the price of a new battery. and out of warranty... good luck getting them to even consider it.

 

Congratulations, Bryan! Please manage your future refueling practices so that you never again run out. There's no guarantee that this miracle will repeat!

Let me explain why removing battery power, then restoring it worked for you. The 2G hybrid vehicle ECU, after the car has run out of fuel, will refuse to allow MG1 to spin and restart the ICE. The reason for this is that the ECU wants to ensure that the traction battery is not drained to the point where it is not recoverable. A clueless owner might repeatedly try to restart the car, not realizing that there was no fuel.

By removing battery power, you cleared the fault code which indicated the low-fuel condition. Since you had previously corrected the out-of-fuel situation, the Prius could start.

 

Has this always been the case? I thought others with 2G have not had to disconnect the auxiliary battery to get them to start.

Thanks, I'll add this to the FAQ.

Bob Wilson