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Signs my battery may be going

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tylerjames, Dec 10, 2015.

  1. tylerjames

    tylerjames Junior Member

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    Hello everyone, had a question. My car seems to kick the engine on no matter what the battery is charged to everytime I turn my car on. Is this normal? I thought it was to work off the battery unless speed or heavy battery use was happening. I read somewhere this could be a sign the battery is going

    Also, its a 2007 Prius with 112k. I get about 300 miles out of a tank (I always fill up when 2 pips are left.) My driving is 60 city 40 hwy. Is this about right? seems to be 40-41 MPG

    Thanks
     
    #1 tylerjames, Dec 10, 2015
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome! it's possible. did you just buy it? if you are talking only about when you start the car, that is normal. it has to warm the engine for pollution control. when it is at proper temp, you can do some low speed driving if the battery has enough charge.
    best to watch your mpg's by measuring every time you fill up. all the best!(y)
     
    #2 bisco, Dec 10, 2015
  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Seems normal, the engine always turns on when you first start it
     
    #3 JC91006, Dec 10, 2015
  4. tylerjames

    tylerjames Junior Member

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    Thanks everyone, I figured it was normal but just wanted to double check.
     
    #4 tylerjames, Dec 10, 2015
  5. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Where are you Tyler, Maryland?
    If it goes bad you want to check back here for how to ask for help from Toyota.
    MD is CARB 10-yr 150k miles but your car is before 2011 when MD joined CARB but I still think that MD is CARB helps.
     
    #5 wjtracy, Dec 10, 2015
  6. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Prius designed to heat up engine for emissions efficiency. So turning on rapidly on start up is normal.
    You can choose to fill up any time you wish, but if you are consistent at two pips, pay attention to how many gallons you are filling with and divide into total miles you drove and that will give your real MPG.

    300 miles with two pips left doesn't seem abnormal.
     
    #6 The Electric Me, Dec 10, 2015
  7. johnnyb588

    johnnyb588 Member

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    40 hwy seems a *little* low, but that depends on a number of factors (grade, speed, tires, weather, altitude, etc.). 60 city is pretty good (also depends on a number of factors), so I'd say that number indicates you're doing ok.

    If you're really worried about it, you can always hook up a techstream, do some tests and pull data to analyze. The thread below has an excellent writeup of how to analyze battery health and how a grid charge seemed to improve the state of health of the battery quite a bit.

    Quantitative Results of Grid Charge/Discharge | PriusChat

    Side note, does anyone know how people hyperlink threads with the thread title rather than the URL?
    Edit: I just realized that PC changed the text of the hyperlink after I posted it. That's nifty.
     
    #7 johnnyb588, Dec 10, 2015
  8. dhancock

    dhancock 2 Prius Family

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    Folks in warm climates may not realize the impact of cold weather climates:
    • Cold weather reduces the efficiency of batteries
    • The engine needs to warm up (mentioned earlier)
    • Many cold weather states mandate a "winter" fuel mix, which has lower energy content than "summer" fuel mix.
     
    #8 dhancock, Dec 11, 2015
    bisco likes this.
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