Dead 2007 Prius

1. What is your history with this car: how long have you owned it, what is the odometer reading, what prior issues have you had with it?

2. Please say more about how the car "dropped dead" while you were driving it. I'm having trouble visualizing how a failed valve would contribute to that episode. What was the part number and description of that part on the repair invoice?

3. It is certainly possible that the 12V battery is dead now. When was the last time it was replaced? Is it possible to purchase a new battery and install it while the car remains in your garage?

4. It is expensive as well as tedious and tiresome to have to depend upon dealership service, so I hope you can determine other alternatives or do it yourself. Good luck.

 

The dealerships have been pretty useless in my experience. They usually wont even have a hybrid tech look at the car so you're not even getting a qualified person to do the work which is why you took it there to begin with.

You can start by checking the 12v battery.

 

What is the voltage of the 12 volt battery?
If it is too low it cannot properly boot up the computers & close the switch for the high voltage battery.

 

It would be much less expensive to replace the 12V battery yourself if it is bad. You need to be able to open the hatch and work back there though. The battery is in one side of the cargo area.

 

Yes.
The only two times in 190,000 miles that I've had Priuses fail to leave the barn were from 12v batteries.
Your 07 has two batteries..
A large one called a traction battery that everybody worries will cost them thousands of dollars to replace, and a much smaller 12v (Aux) battery that almost nobody worries about that can cost them hundreds of dollars in towing and replacement fees.

From your description it sounds like you had a marginal 12v battery that picked a bad time not to boot up your car.
That's the way 12v batteries work for most cars in 2019.
You either have enough voltage to boot up the car's computer-----or not.
Even most non-hybrids that still use antiquated starter motors have to get an "OK-to-start" from the computer......otherwise your car is the dead doornail that you described earlier.

I would NOT go back to the dealer to get this looked at!

Pro tip:
I just checked.
You can get a replacement battery at Walmart for as little as $120, but here's the thing....the Googles say that they will replace it for free.
If you're opposed to the existence of the Walmart for political, theological, or moral reasons or you just do not want your friends to see you shopping there, some other places like Advance Auto and Pep Boys will also install batteries that they sell for free.
Call first.

Remotely.


If your car is there right now, you may not have any choice but to let them over charge you for the battery - but I personally do not roll like that.
I would remove my car from the premises, and they would be sprinkling rock salt on the sidewalks down in HELL before I ever spent another dollar in any Toyota establishment.
...Ever.

Your driving a 12-year-old car.
Some people do that because they think that they cannot afford a newer car.
However (comma!) in the case of a Toyota Prius you have to take more ownership of the ownership experience in order to be able to afford to drive what is probably one of the best engineered and most reliable cars on the planet.
This is because this car is currently being supported by a dealership network that (at best) is not worthy of your patronage.
I'm just guessing here, but I believe that it's possible that your local Toyota dealerships might sell more trucks with TRD stickers than Priuses....and thus their mechanics might be a little more experienced with those products.

Me?
I would require a specific and detailed explanation for an $850 repair bill for a hose and a valve, WITH the dead valve and hose presented to me as proof that I wasn't being exploited......but that's me.



Squirrel Chase:
Dead as a door nail?
That bothered me for some reason this morning and so I dug into the etymology.
One plausible explanation is that doors were built using only wood boards and hand-forged nails: the nails were long enough to dead nail the (vertical) wooden panels and (horizontal) stretcher boards securely together, so they would not easily pull apart. This was done by pounding the protruding point of the nail over and down into the wood. A nail that was bent in this fashion (and thus not easily pulled out) was said to be "dead", thus dead as a doornail.

Source:
My go-to.... dead as a doornail - Wiktionary

 

What is your skill level? You need to be able to use a dc voltmeter. Or find someone who can.

Open the engine hood. Take the cover off the black plastic Fuse box on the right. Inside is a small red plastic cover.
It has little clip on its left side release that clip and the cover flips up on its hinge. Under the cover is a little vertical bolted down bracket. That is the 12 volt jump point. It is directly connected to the +12 volt battery terminal in the back. That little bracket is vertically mounted so you can get a jump cable
Clamp on it.

Measure the dc on that bracket with car off. Write that number down. Then with car off turn on the headlights In high beam. And measure that voltage on the tang again. Report both numbers back here.

 

Regarding your answer to my #2 question above, my guess is that the inverter coolant pump failed via a short in the electric motor, which blew the AM2 fuse, which caused the car to stop. When the car powers down, the parking pawl in the transaxle will set, which made the car difficult to roll forward.

I think that if you manage to get the 12V battery replaced with a new, fully-charged battery then you will be good to go. Turn on the headlights and see how bright they are. If dim that is a good clue the battery needs help. Now, how you manage to replace the battery will be up to you. The battery is located in the right rear corner of the hatch floor.