12 Volt Battery Issues

Hi Everyone,

We own a 04 prius that we purchased in early 07. In mid O7 we repalced the 12 volt battery after an incident where the car just stopped in the middle of the road. According to the dealership, the computer system thought the car was out of gas(which it wasnt) and proceeded to discharge the battery. They fixed this. I cant actually remember why they had to replace the battery

Anyway jumping ahead 2 years: I have had to jump start the car on twice over the past 2 weeks. After the 1st time we thought that it was an overhead light that may have been left on over night. The car ran just fine for the next weeks until last Saturday. We were on our way to Flagstaff for the weekend. The car started just fine. We drove about 10 miles and stopped for gas. The car would not start. When pressing the power button for a couple of seconds, some lights would come on for a second and then nothing. When pressing the button and depressing quickly, the other electronics in the car would work fine(Air, Radio). We have the jump leads in the car and were able to ask a friendly passer by to help us.

I called the dealership(same one as 2 years ago) and they told me that its possible that its a bad battery. I explained that the battery was only 2 years old. He said that the AZ heat is very hard on battery life. Would a battery die after 2 years in Arizona? Before we left for the trip, I did have the car running idle with the air on high for 10 mins because we have a 1yr old. Would this affect the battery?

This evening the car is starting fine. I want to do some tests to figure this out and so I would like some guidance. Am I able to verify for myself that this is a bad battery?

It costs $275 including labor to replace the battery. For the battery alone its $165. Im going to call a different Toyota Dealership tomorrow morning to get a 2nd opiniin as well.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Dave

 

Thanks for the super quick response.

We only have 50K miles on the car and this would be the 3rd 12V battery.

I forgot to add that about 3 weeks ago we had to have the invertor replaced on the car. Would this cause a drain on the battery in any way? It may just be coincidence but we have not had any issues with the car for 2 years and suddenly the invertor and battery have to be replaced?

 

It was an inverter water pump that failed.

 

afaik it was just the inverter. They told me that they were going to replace the old one with a newer model. I can tell you exactly how much it cost. $492

 

So I just called Right Toyota and they told me that it was just the pump that was replaced and not the inverter.

I went ahead and ordered one of those Ultima batteries so hopfully that will resolve the problem.

 

Does starting the engine and walking away from the car with the Smartkey in my pocket drain the battery also?

 

Thanks again for the helpful responses.

Is this "JBL Issue" something that I can check myself?

 

I just went out to the car and tested the battery as per JeffD recommended in one of his posts. The battery showed 12.3 volts which seemed fine in accessory mode. When I tried to put a small load by pressing the power button without touching the brake pedal the car shut down. I tried to start it but the same thing happened that has happened on a couple of occasions over the past week or so. I was able to put it back in accessory mode and the battery voltage showed 12.4 volts. Ive ordered a new battery from learnaid but it seems that the battery might not be the problem. Could this be a bad connection somewhere?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

So I tried to start it again about 30 mins later and it started just fine. Not sure if I should laugh or cry at this stage!
I think it does not like me pressing the power button repeatedly.

 

Tom,

Im not sure what to look for when looking at the battery. All i see are fuse boxes and no wires.

 

I think I found the wires under a black cover on the top left of the battery. All the wires seem well in place.

 

I tested the car again to make sure it started and it started for me just fine on 2 occasions. I then did the self test on the battery again. In Accessory mode the battery displayed 12.5 volts. I pressed the brake pedal without touching the power button and the voltage dropped to 11.4 and then immediately jumped to 13.2. I then pressed the power button and guess what - Some of the lights came on for about 2 seconds and the car shut down on me again and would not restart. Its almost like going from accessory mode to ready mode causes a short in the system and the car needs 10-15 minutes to recover.