Car wont start again...

Captain Obvious says, The 12V battery is dead or nearly dead. Replace or recharge and your problem will be solved.

 

How about a little background on the car? When were the batteries replaced? What type/brand of battery was installed? What accessories do you run in the car and how often? Any added accessories for business? If you are using the 12v to run your accessories, it will drain the 12v and some batteries are not good at recovering from a full discharge.

Basically need more info to narrow down your problem(s).

 

at how many miles did it first happen?

 

There seems to be a lot of towing involved with only a 12v battery issue. Who is doing the towing? Serviced at dealer? I'm not sure how sitting around for 30 minutes will help the car start.

1. Bad connection at the battery
2. Bad battery won't take a charge
3. DC/DC converter is not working to charge the 12v battery (but you would get a warning light on)

This is something I pulled from another thread.....

A test would be to make the Prius READY, then measure voltage across the 12V battery. A correct reading would be ~13.8VDC, and if you see this reading then the 12V battery should be charging when the car is READY.

If you see a much lower voltage when the Prius is READY, that is evidence that the DC/DC converter within the inverter is not working, and that you would have to replace the inverter.

 

Maybe a short to ground? They are pretty difficult to find...

 

It really sounds like a simple case of a bad battery. The repair shop it's being towed to probably is recharging the battery and sending it back to you (without replacing it). You know it's not the keyfob batteries because your radio presets are gone. If it was a DC/DC converter problem, you wouldn't last the 5000 miles you have mentioned you logged on the battery. I think you should just buy a new battery at the dealer and install it (make sure all the connections are tight).......and it'll be warrantied if it goes bad.

 

there are electrical specialty places that are much better at troubleshooting parasitic drains than a dealership.

 

Some dealerships are parasitic drains.... Sorry, too easy.

 

I had this happen on an older chevy, no one could find the problem then one night I got in the car and saw the glove box light was on, it drained the battery if the car sat for more then two days..maybe your cargo light or the light behind the sun visor is on do you have anything plugged into the lighter?...it might be something very simple

 

Start carrying one of the mini jump packs. It fits in your glove box and can jump the car instead of waiting to be towed or being stranded. As for fixing the issue check the bolt that connects the battery negative to the body in the back right next to the battery. It sounds like a loose battery connection to me.

 

Mini jump pack? Wondering what are the minimum battery requirements to jump a Prius?

 

Anyone? Would be nice to have a spare battery in case I run into this issue again with the 12V battery (replaced 18 months ago with the yellow top Optima, barely started once 4 months ago and yesterday would not start without a jump.) Still within warranty (2 yr. at Advance Auto Parts) but not sure if it's worth it the hassle of warranty replacement.

 

Not much because the 12 V battery does not actually start the car; it only powers the computers that cause all the stuff to happen with the main battery to allow it to start. Any portable device intended to jump start a "normal" car should work......assuming, of course, that it is properly charged up too.......and that the onboard 12 V is not stone cold dead. And are we sure that the power outlet the computer is plugged into is not hot all the time? Mr. Obvious says it should be a simple matter to unplug the computer when shutting off the car........right ?? Just incase.

How would it not be worth it ? What's your alternative......just buying another one outright? I'm pretty sure that the Optima's had a run of bad ones about 2 years ago. If you got one of them, a warranty replacement might fix the whole problem.

 

True Easy Rider. My problem is getting the car to die at the AAP store so that the voltage is low enough for them to replace it on warranty.

 

Have you actually had it tested yet ?
A load test will often show up a battery that is going bad......and they can check the charging at the same time.
It does not have to be dead to show up bad.....maybe.

But it seems that most 12 V battery problems encountered with hybrid cars is a combination of a small battery and low vehicle usage.......or running the radio without the car ON too much.

 

You know, my solution to this problem would likely be something like this.

If the car is parked outside away from power, you could use this

SOLAR Battery Charger For Marine / Trickle: Auto Body Tools & Auto Equipment : Walmart.com

The problem your having seems to be caused from lack of consistent use. You should also turn off smart key on this car because that is the biggest power drain for a Prius that sits idle.