Hi everyone. I'm Moss and brand new to this forum. About a month ago, I began having strange problems with my Prius when I parked and turned it off: the power would completely die, and I couldn't start it back up. The first time this happened, I needed a jump; but the second and subsequent times, I could get the power to come back (one time by pushing the reset on the 12v battery). When this happens, I'd lose all my data (e.g. odometer, fuel consumption, clock, etc.). I took it to the dealer, who checked all the batteries and found no problems. When this problem continued, I took it back again, and this time, they moved the reset button that's near the parking brake, thinking I'd inadvertently pressed that button when engaging the break. Everything worked well for the past two weeks, until this weekend when the problem began again. This time, though, the Prius does not turn off when I press the power button (while pressing the brake down, if that helps). Rather, everything seems to reset again while staying on in accesory mode. The 12v battery seems fine, and the car's just a bit over a year old. I have no idea what is going on, nor does my dealer. Has anyone encountered a problem like this? Any advice? Thanks!
First, hello and welcome to Priuschat!:welcome: Not sure what "reset" button you're talking about. Prius doesn't come with one. I know some California dealers install some aftermarket devices. Is this one of them? If so that's the problem. Have them remove it ASAP, as other owners have had problems with those. Otherwise, I don't know what could be causing your problem. Pressing the "Power" button for a few seconds, with or without the brake pedal depressed should always shut off the car.
Sounds like you have a dealer installed monitor on your battery that is "supposed" to save the battery from going dead. If that's the case, have it removed immediately or you will continue to experience problems.
Yeah, what "reset" buttons? And yes, aftermarket stuff is often problematic. No big surprise if the dealer cannot find a problem in some junk that the dealer installed (and charged you for). How do you know the 12V battery is fine? Did the dealer test it? If it was drained once it may well have been permanently degraded. Unlike a conventional car it doesn't crank the engine, it only boots the computers, so a low 12V battery will cause all kinds of goofy behavior and yet the engine will crank (and sound) normally. You can test it yourself with the self test procedure given here: PriusOnline.com • View topic - how to put 12V battery in sleeping mode?
+1 These are classic symptoms of a 12v battery on its last legs. You say your car is a 2008, "and the car's just a bit over a year old." Sounds like you're not the original owner. If not, there's no telling whether or not the battery was run down before you got it. Even though typical 12v battery service life is ~4 yrs, it sounds like you need a new one, ASAP.
Thanks, everyone, for these quick responses! @Richard, I've tested the 12v, and it checks out well, as did the dealer with the same result. As far as I know, it's never been drained to empty, so I'm confident it's fine. When I bought her last July, I was required to also buy a starter guard to protect the batteries (as are all buyers here in Santa Monica), and I think you all are right in thinking it's the issue. Down near the parking break there's a small red button that is designed to shut off the power when parked for long periods of time. Pressing it for a few seconds will turn the power off completely, I gather, and the dealer's thinking was that I'd pressed on accident, so they moved it elsewhere under the dash. But I certainly haven't just started to do this now in the past month. Something's got to be faulty with this starter guard that produces the same effect as resetting the 12v manually. It's happened to me 7 or 8 times now, and I'm curious to hear if other drivers in Santa Monica have had this same problem. I'll take her in Saturday and ask them to take care of this.
That is the problem. It has been covered before in past threads. http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...h-not-identified.html?highlight=starter+guard http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...-presets-avg-mpg.html?highlight=starter+guard http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-...ta-monica-toyota.html?highlight=starter+guard http://priuschat.com/forums/audio-electronics/44185-starter-guard.html?highlight=starter+guard http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/53476-starterguard.html
Wow. I missed these threads in my initial forum search, so thanks dogfriend for pointing me to them. This is *exactly* what's going on with my Prius, and I'll report back Saturday after I take the car back to the dealer and ask that the starter guard be removed. I should have been more clear too that I bought a new 2008 Prius from Toyota of Santa Monica in July of 2008 too, so the 12v battery should be fine, as all the tests bear out. For what it's worth, aside from this problem I've had nothing but fantastic experiences with everyone there.
