drive through car wash

I'm surprised the car didn't beep at you. You have to put it in neutral. When I went through the last time, before I got to the end I got a warning beep and a message telling me that the battery was low and to switch to P. Which I did -- that was the WRONG thing to do! The car came to a halt and I was panicked that somebody was going to roll into me from behind. I couldn't get it back into neutral because in my panic I had forgotten that you are supposed to hold it in that position for a few seconds before releasing it. Eventually, one of the workers came over and put it into neutral. I got through without the traction battery going dead, and then realized that I had my A/C on the whole time, which was also the wrong thing to do.

So, the moral of the story is to make sure you have several bars available before you go through the drive-thru, and to turn off your A/C.

I'd been through the carwash a number of times in my Gen II Prius and never had this happen.

 

If you just leave it in N, and the last battery blip goes out, wouldn't the ICE just kick on and everything would be ok?

 

Yes, turn off the A/C and any other electrical loads (lights, blower fan, radio, etc.)

No, when the car is in N, there is no electrical connection between the MG1 (and MG2) and the HV battery. In a conventional car, N is a mechanical state where the engine driveshaft is disconnected from the rest of the drivetrain. In the HSD system, N is an electrical disconnection of MG1 and MG2 in the inverter.

I had to leave my car in N while they did a wheel alignment, and it ran the HV battery down to the purple bars after about 1 hour on the alignment rack. I left the heater blower fan on, so if I had turned it off completely, it wouldn't have discharged the HV battery as much while in N. The HV battery discharges because it supplies power to the DC to DC converter to supply the 12v power buss and recharge the 12v battery.

 

Yikes! So what happens if the HV battery completely drains?

 

I'm not sure how these drive through car washes work as I have never used on however the way to put the Prius into neutral and not run the battery flat is to switch off the car then with foot off the brake press power twice, this pits the car in accessory mode. Now select neutral. For maximum battery duration keep the AC off, radio off and lights off. You can leave the radio on really.

When you get to the end put your foot on the brake, select park and press the power button once, then select drive and drive off.

 

The type of car wash they are using has a conveyor system built into the floor that pushes the car through the wash by bumping up against the tires. The attendant parks the car just at the front so that the conveyor will bump the front tires and leaves the car in N so it will roll freely through the wash. My GF uses one of these with her Avalon, but I make it a point not to let others drive my Prius as much as possible. I avoid valet parking also. Trust No One. :madgrin:

I concur with your description above, but pushing the Power button twice w/ foot off brake actually puts you in IG-On mode, not Acc Mode. You can't shift to N while in Acc mode, it will stay in P.

 

You have to go to the dealer and use their special battery charger. There are only a few in the entire US, so you might have to wait awhile until they can get it.

That is why the car beeps at you and displays a message when you try to leave it in N. And there are numerous warnings in the owners manual.

 

Thank you, I stand corrected.

The important thing is you press twice from off with foot off the brakes.

 

At the automatic carwash that I have been using, the driver stays in the car -- the attendant doesn't drive it. You have to steer the wheels onto the conveyor and put the car into neutral. However, even though I haven't had a problem up to now, I think I'm going to try to keep away from the automatic carwash because I am worried it's going to scratch my car sooner or later. I might just use it during the winter when it's really icky out and my outside water is turned off, so it would be hard for me to wash myself.

Also, I had brought up the problem of N not charging the battery in the following thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/68185-dont-do-in-carwash.html

 

This freaks me out about going through a car wash now!

 

I'm pretty sure the car will shut off before the traction battery is fully discharged. Kind of the same "emergency off" as you can run into if you run out of fuel and try to run the car in electric only mode to get to a gas station. It will eventually shut off. I hear you get about 3-4 restart tries before something possibly "bad" happens (I think the car has to be reset to get it to try to start again). Note that when you are "fully discharged" (no bars left on the display - so both purple ones have gone out) the battery is still over 30% charged.

This shutoff might be a "bad thing" in a carwash though, as the car will go into "P". Carwashes have an "emergency stop" (with several buttons conveniently placed), and if the attendant is not asleep he/she will hit it hopefully -before- there is a bump of two cars.

Just make sure the A/C is off and I'm sure you will be fine for the 5 min it takes to roll through.

If you had the headlamps on shut them off, as they too are a "significant drain". Open and close the drivers door to get the lights to shut off once the switch is operated. For those Canadians with DRLs, you -can- get them to shut off, but it's not easy. The e-brake will keep the lights from coming on, and you can find a level of e-brake engagement that will keep the DRLs from turning on yet still allow the car to move easily. Applying the e-brake as you enter the carwash won't work. It has to be applied when the car is turned on. As DRL draw is less than 1/2 normal headlamp draw, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Purple traction battery bars?
I see only white on my 2010.

But, you should leave the car On, in Neutral, Windows up, lights, radio, and air Off, antenna removed (unscrewed), the car not locked, doors closed, with the fob (and possibly yourself) in the car for the car-wash ... right?

 

Right - but if I am in the car with the fob I would lock the car because the water on the door sensors can possibly lock/unlock the car.

 

Good thought, but the car cannot be locked from the outside (I think) when the fob is in the car.

What if you are not allowed to ride through the car wash?

 

I was rinsing off my car by hand and the fob was in the car. Every time the water hit the sensors, the car would emit a long beep. So, you're right that you can't lock the car from outside when the fob is in the car, so it warns you with a beep. However, if it's locked, at least you don't get the warning beep.

If you aren't in the car, I'd advise the attendant to lock it. If it goes through by itself (I don't know if that can be the case), take the fob with you.

 

Can't you just turn it off and NOT hit the "Park" button?

 

honestly, the 3 minutes it takes to go through a touchless car wash killing the battery is scaring you guys? And you are locking it to go through the car wash if you aren't in it?

Wow, I can only imagine what you'll do to the bird that poops on it.

 

So far, I haven't been able to catch the bird that poops all over my car! I'll teach him a lesson, once I get him! :evil:

The only reason I'm recommending locking it is to prevent the water spray on the door lock sensors from making it beep. What's wrong with that?

 

Generally, the car must be in neutral to go through a car wash (all wheels rotating freely), NOT in"Park", right?

I think the Prius needs to be ON ("engines" able to run) in order to remain in "N".