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2005 Caution light and Main battery light on.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011.

  1. Katiemay

    Katiemay New Member

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    I woke up this morning and started up my 2005 prius to warm up. I live in New England and it freezing out today. About 15 min or so later I go back out to the car that only had the heat on and I find a large red caution symbol on the dash. I check to see if the e brake is on and thats when I look up and see it, the main battery symbol on the gps screen. I looked at my battery and only one small bar was lit up. I then noticed that the engine sounded like it was giving all it had. I turned off the car and went inside to call Toyota. I am waiting to hear back from someone in service to tell me if I can drive it. Does anyone know what is going on with my car? I have under 90k and it is due for an oil change maybe its over by 100 miles. I did get the recall for the water pump and was planning to have it done with the oil change. HELP please.
     
    #1 Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011
  2. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Are you sure you had it in "P" (park) and not in "N" (neutral) during this time Katie? I once accidentally left mine ready and in "N" and when I came back I realized that it simply cant charge the battery unless it's in "P". It did almost exactly the same thing as yours and I nearly flattened my traction battery too! In my case I noticed the problem and put it in "P" and let it charge back up right away. Luckily I have had no ongoing problems as a result.

    The other thing that can cause weird behavior in cold weather is if your 12V auxiliary battery is weak. So if you cant find any other more obvious cause then definitely check out this possibility.
     
    #2 uart, Jan 24, 2011
  3. Katiemay

    Katiemay New Member

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    It was in park. I always put in park and put the e brake on before I turn off the car. I just started it up this morning did not put it in drive just turned on the heat to warm up the car. Got out and came back 15 to 20 min later and that when all of the lights were on.
    I just got off the phone with Toyota they said that I should have it towed in.
     
    #3 Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    It sounds like your traction battery has died. Should be covered under the hybrid system warranty. Good luck.
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Jan 24, 2011
  5. Katiemay

    Katiemay New Member

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    Toyota said that they have gotten a lot of calls about the cold and batteries but when I told them about the two lights on and that fact that the engine sounded like it was fully revved they told me to tow it.
     
    #5 Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011
  6. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok but if the engine will still start you could try taking it for a short drive just to see if you can get some charging happening (green charging arrows on the multifunction display), that would be a real good sign.

    BTW. I know it always starts in park but are you certain that you couldn't have accidentally bumped it into "N" on this occasion?
     
    #6 uart, Jan 24, 2011
  7. Katiemay

    Katiemay New Member

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    Just about 100% sure that I didnt bump it into N. I will take it for a drive before the tow comes. Thanks.
     
    #7 Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011
  8. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok great, I hope you can get it to charge. Let us know how it turns out. :)
     
    #8 uart, Jan 24, 2011
  9. Katiemay

    Katiemay New Member

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    Well I didn't even need to drive it. Started it up and not one bad light came on, it started charging immediately so I just cleaned it out and let it charge up. Called Toyota and they said I should still have it checked out so tomorrow I will have an oil change, water pump installed, and they will check out the battery. Thanks again. I will let you know tomorrow what the outcome is.
     
    #9 Katiemay, Jan 24, 2011
  10. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Since it threw a check engine light (CEL) and even though it no longer displays it, it is still stored in the car's memory. The dealer will pull those codes when they check the car. At least they should. Please get the exact codes it threw from the dealer and post them back here so we can see what happened. Or up front ask the dealer to pull the codes as you want a copy. Tell them your husband's a mechanic.

    The codes will be like a:

    P3000 and there probably is more than one code stored.
     
    #10 edthefox5, Jan 24, 2011
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