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05 Won't Start, dash lights blink once

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Matt Cope, Aug 18, 2017.

  1. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    I just bought a 2005 Prius with known issues. Previous owner said he was driving one day and a yellow triangle popped up on the dash, and then a red triangle, then died and wouldn't restart. Currently when you hit the power button once without a foot on the brake, the accessories come on and work (lights, radio, center touchscreen). With the foot on the brake and pushing the power button once, all of the dash lights blink once for half a second (speedometer, odometer, and about 5 or 6 orange lights to the right of the speedometer) and then everything goes black. I have replaced the hybrid battery and charged the 12v battery and know that it is good, still no change. Anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance!
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Disconnect the 12v for a minute and try again
     
  3. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    I have tried that, no change.
     
  4. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Is the orange safety plug for the hybrid battery seated properly?
     
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  5. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    did you replace ALL the bolts mounting the pack to the car, I forgot one and it would not start.. grounding issue..
    be sure the orange safety plug is inserted, pushed down and then locked into place.. common thing to overlook.
    if that didn't fix it you will have to get it diagnosed. or buy a techstream program off amazon
    being an 05 I would not spend a ton of money on it.. you can find them running for around 2500 these days
     
  6. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    IF you are going to try to troubleshoot electrical problems, you NEED a multi-meter to check voltages.

    Could be something as simple as a bad connection at the OTHER end of one of the main 12 V battery cables.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    there's a small connector hidden near the orange safety plug, that people occasionally forget to plug back in.
     
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  8. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Does the dome light work?

    How many miles on this beast?

    Could be time to find a Hybrid compatible OBD2 DTC reader and pull any codes that might be stored, a mini-vci cable with techstream is the better option or you could try an ELM OBD2 bluetooth adapter, then run Torque on a phone. Total spend being $2 to $25 assuming you have an available laptop or phone.
     
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  9. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    BeachBumm-I have not bolted everything down, I just set the battery in the car and tried that. I will have to put all of the bolts back and see if that changes anything.
    To answer other questions, I did double and triple check the orange plug and all other electrical connections at the battery. Interesting part is that with the orange plug undone, it has the exact same symptoms. I'm wondering if there is a broken connection between the hybrid battery and the car.
    I have an ELM Bluetooth OBD reader, and I will see if I can get anything, but the car won't turn on to anything except accessory.
     
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  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You need to put at least a couple bolts on the battery to the car's body to ground it. Without the bolts, it won't work
     
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  11. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    the blue tooth readers will not give you most of the hybrid codes, at least mine didnt so i got the techstream.. the car has to be in accessory to read the codes
    the battery must be bolted down for grounding.. so you do have a broken connection in the HV system, no bolts
    the orange safety plug is also a fuse so it might be bad..
    there is a small wire harness (I think its two wires) behind the battery on the drivers side, often forgotten so be sure thats plugged in.

    right now everything is running off the 12 volt battery so put a charger on it before you ruin it.... until its fully bolted down you will not be able to tell anything
     
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  12. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    The battery is currently bolted down with two of the four main mounting bolts, I figured it needed some of them for grounding. All of the harnesses-I believe three plugs on the drivers side of the battery pack-are plugged in. Also, I just transferred the entire battery pack from a good and running 2007, so I need to change any of the internals over between the two for the 05 to accept the 07 pack?
     
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You don't need to transfer anything. Just use the 2007 pack.
     
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  14. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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  15. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    Update I put all of the bolts back in the battery pack, got a new orange plug, still same thing. Dash lights blink once then everything dies. I believe I have a broken connection between the Hybrid battery and the rest of the car, but am not sure where to start looking. When pressing the power button once, all accessories work-radio, headlights, interior lights, and center touch screen. I can't get my Bluetooth reader to read anything on the OBD port.
    I work on cars pretty often, and even found a wrecked 07 for parts. I would love to figure out what is wrong with this car to get it up and working!
     
  16. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Is it bolted down to the car?
     
  17. Matt Cope

    Matt Cope Junior Member

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    As stated in the previous post, the battery is completely installed and bolted down.
     
  18. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    You seem to be completely ignoring the chance that the problem is with the 12 V battery system; that likely is a mistake.

    You NEED a multi-meter to see what voltages are missing and where.
    You never should have started this project without one.
     
  19. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Does the HV battery have enough charge left in it?
     
  20. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Check the am2 fuse, if the car died while driving, maybe the inverter pump shorted out. Am2 fuse is located in the engine compartment
     
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