1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

dash lights out, surging, power loss, then all good?

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by mcmars, Sep 4, 2019.

  1. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Hello all, I have 08 prius with 147K miles I bought about a month ago with original hybrid battery. I am pretty sure I am having the combo meter problem which blacks out dash, kills cruise control, sometimes makes car to turn off requiring a "push and hold". It has happened about 4 times now in last few weeks, and twice it has fixed itself and 2 times I pulled the white connector to the battery for a few minutes to reset the ECU. I am wondering it I might be needing a new 12V battery and of course, also concerned if it is related to a failing hybrid battery.

    First time was after washing car at a car wash 2 weeks ago. I wonder if I created the problem with high pressure by trying to blow out bugs in the front grill and the air intake near windshield as the dash black out happened at the car wash when I turned car back on to leave (?). I drove it 100 miles to get home with no dash lights or cruise control and limited info on the MFD screen, but next morning I fixed it by disconnecting the large white connector that plugs into the + battery terminal and all good for a week. Gas gauge was not calibrated right, but after refilling tank with about 4 gallons, it reset back to showing all bars when full.

    Next incident was a week ago and was a bit more exciting as I thought the vehicle was dying.... I drove to Colorado, about 100 miles and coasted down a long hill just before parking for about 30 minutes, so it had good charge of blue bars on screen when I turned off car. Upon return and restarting, I noticed the screen showed I had only one purple bar and nothing was left on and no doors ajar ( I have LED lights anyway), weird I thought. Then when I accelerated, I felt some minor hesitation and surging which I had never experienced in the 2K miles of driving this prius, again, very weird! I drove 4 blocks to get gas ( it was over half full, just a top off). Upon restarting after gassing up, dash was dark and same symptoms as the first car wash incident. I had car full of camping gear and figured I would clear it out later when I got to my destination 2 hours away. Driving away I felt same hesitation/surging, but needed to keep moving. I started driving up the big hill just out of town and I started losing more and more power and half way up and going only 15 MPH I figured it was dying and I better U turn and get back to the town where I could be stranded and find a motel or help. I u turned and coasted down the hill, still with only one purple bar showing, although I could see that it was sending charge to the battery. Once in the small town, I noticed it seemed to drive fine without hesitation, so not wanting to miss out on my 4 day music festival plans, I tried the back way out of town to avoid the big hill. It took a few miles, but finally got a 2nd purple bar and 15 minutes later, normal blue bars and it drove fine (except for the dash lights out). I unplugged the white pos battery connector next morning and all good. But, I cannot understand what was happening with the power surges, but seems that something caused a "hiccup" and I lost some charge during the 30 minutes the vehicle sat turned off, hoping it might be a faulty 12 volt battery???

    Then on my return from the music festival, I again lost dash lights and kept driving as I had an appointment a couple hours away. I stopped at the toyota dealer to buy a couple crush washers to change out oil and transfluid this week, and for first time I could not power off the vehicle, even with the push and hold, so I drove around dealership to different park spot and then I was able to get vehicle to shut. I thought while I was there, I would ask service dept guy if they could help at all, but the dude really had no idea about the common combination meter issues and the undersized 110ohm capacitor that needs to be upgraded to a 220ohm capacitor, he did not seem to understand much of anything about the prius or anything mechanical, even though he was nice enough to come out a take a quick look. I got my 2 washers and kept driving for another hour. After my appointment was done, I restarted car to go find a shady spot to do the disconnect trick to get the dash working, but the dash was working just fine when I stated vehicle without doing anything but restarting car. Drove 2 hours home without incident and got 47mpg average mileage.

    Today I had the dash light go out when I got an important phone call just after parking and shutting down car. I went back into car to get out of heat (97 F) and had AC on low and car powered on and in park. While talking on phone, I noticed the dash lights go out, but then 15 minutes later while still on the phone, the dash lights came back on. I got done with my call and car was back to normal, just a short dash black out and back to normal, all on it's own.

    Sorry for the novel, but maybe some details will help to figure out what is going on? Combo meter? 12V battery, hybrid battery acting up? Or what? Thanks for any direction or links. I am betting it is combo meter problem for sure and if so, what are folks doing? I am pretty good mechanically and bet with a good tutorial like I know are on U tube, I could remove the dash. I have a friend (with a prius) who is an electrical magician/genius and he could help me replace the capacitor on the combo meter circuit board. Or maybe I go looking for a rebuilt one? Hopefully not the hybrid battery is failing yet, but the power loss, hesitation/surging incident was a bit unnerving???

    Tomorrow I am going to change out oil and tranny fluid and was thinking I pull out the 12V battery and bring battery to NAPA for a load test. I did do the test where you get SOC info by holding "info" button and turn light switch on/off 3 times. I have 12.4V just sitting without running car, then if I run AC for a few minutes to load the battery, it drops between 11.7 to 12V. I noticed the AC Delco amazon batteries jumped way up in price, but NAPA has an AGM 18 month free replacement battery with 5 year prorated warranty for $200 out the door. Anyone out there know if the NAPA battery work well and have the proper connections/tubes? Thanks for any direction!
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    From the very first paragraph you already know you have a bad combination meter, why the novel? Change the damn meter
     
    audiodave and Raytheeagle like this.
  3. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    How come surging/hesitation/power loss???
     
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    You probably have a failing hv battery too, but it's not bad enough to trigger any warning lights yet
     
  5. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    lovely, wonder if I can make my Oregon trip this month, about 3000K miles.
     
  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    If it were my car, I would recondition the hv battery before I go. I wouldn't go on a long trip with this car
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  7. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    No shops near me for anything like that, maybe Salt Lake City which is on the way? I think there might be good price on toyota batteries in Oregon with no tax as well?? Is there good app for testing the voltage on my hybrid battery using Iphone?
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Where do you live? Every state should have tax?
     
  9. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I am in Utah, but I thought there is no tax in Oregon? I remember reading about $1600 toyota hybrid batteries in Oregon. I priced one in Durango CO, $1950 plus tax and $1300 core charge. Seems that getting a new battery is better than a "reconditioned" one? Maybe I try replacing a few cells for now though? I got the car for a good price a figured I would have to deal with the battery eventually, but was hoping it would go a bit longer.
     
  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    When I said recondition, it is just a series of battery discharge and charge cycles. Hybrid Automotive makes this equipment but it's quite expensive ($700) and the benefits can be short lived.........there are no guarantees.

    You don't have a failed battery so there are no modules to switch out. Your entire battery pack is probably weak and many (most) modules in the pack are probably running at a much lower capacity (good guess would be 25%) but has not failed. That's why you are seeing the 1 bar often on the battery SOC.

    You can buy an aftermarket hv battery for $1600 but you would have to DIY the work and the battery is heavy and is high voltage. And you are correct, a new battery is 100x better than a reconditioned one.

    But with these cars getting old, you'll soon realize you'll have to spend more and more money on them as different systems start to fail. Examples are

    1. combination meter
    2. hv battery
    3. inverter pump
    4. brake actuator
    5. and many many other smaller repairs.

    So you're just going to endure this journey with your Prius and hopefully you won't get too many of those failures along the way.
     
    Skibob and Raytheeagle like this.
  11. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Thanks for the assessment and advice. I only get the one purple if I am climbing a long tall hill/mountain, mosty in the 3 middle blue, or even full green bars, when coming down the hills. Mileage seems OK, 45-47 MPG according to the readout. I will look for the torque app equivalent for my iphone and see what the battery is looking like, but I bet you are right that the 11 year old battery is weak, but not failing. Just weird that something caused it to loose a charge in 30 minutes during that one stop?? I am gonna stick it out and keep her rolling, I'm not scared to pull the hybrid battery and have my friend who is electrical whiz and has a 07 prius to give me a hand. This particular car is very comfortable and was well cared for, original owner paid to have custom leather installed and price was good to me, so probably in for the long haul.
     
  12. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Before going on your trip, check your 12v battery and get it tested (if it's over 5 years, I would just replace it). Have all the connections tightened to make sure you won't have any issues on your long road trip. If you are only seeing the 1 purple bar on steep inclines, that's actually something normal for the car. If it's happening all the time, then that's a cause for concern.
     
  13. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I am sure it is the original hybrid battery, but you must be talking the 12V one? I will get a new one and eliminate that as a cause for concern. I have AAA and maybe I figure out where some shops are along my route. I would probably do much better breaking down on west coast, to find prius savvy mechanical help or a new hybrid battery, than I would out in the deserts of SW Utah. I bet the car is not liking 100+ temps out here, I know it shuts me down. Well tomorrow it will be oil and transaxle fluids and I will work on getting whatever app will work on my iphone to monitor the hybrid SOC. Maybe the Durango Toyota will be the solution, $2100 for toyota hybrid battery out the door price and not be messing with "reconditioned battery" issues?? I assume they are new from Japan, but maybe toyota buys reconditioned batteries for their parts departments to sell so they make a profit from service and you have to buy a new car to get a new one?
     
  14. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Toyota doesn't buy used parts or reconditioned parts, they are all new. A $2100 battery is definitely the way to go when you need it, but I wouldn't say you are needing it right away....unless of course you want to spend that type of money. A more important repair to do right now is the combination meter, since that's actually a failed item on the car. The parts can be purchased for $150 from texashybridbatteries.com.

    I also would suggest you get the 12v battery tested first, if it's a good battery, no need to spend $200+ on a new one. Just double check and make sure all your connections are tight.
     
    #14 JC91006, Sep 4, 2019
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  15. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I already checked the terminals on 12V and all good. I will call TX hybrids and see about getting a rebuilt combo meter. I know I could remove and carefully solder in a new capacitor, but probably not worth taking the risk of having to install and remove the dash more than once. I know the dash will come out easy with the heat we have here and probably the thing to do first as you have pointed out.
     
  16. dig4dirt

    dig4dirt MoonGlow

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2012
    1,150
    741
    0
    Location:
    Lancaster Co PA
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    Alaska, Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire and Delaware have no Sales Tax

    Check out the Dr Prius App to take a closer looksee at your HV

    Good Luck
     
    Skibob likes this.
  17. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2016
    6,058
    5,783
    0
    Location:
    Columbia, SC
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Taking the scenic route !! :) :eek:
     
    mcmars likes this.
  18. dig4dirt

    dig4dirt MoonGlow

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2012
    1,150
    741
    0
    Location:
    Lancaster Co PA
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    If a car could do 3mil miles, lets hope it would be a toyota, but not sure it being the Prius line :LOL:
     
    mcmars likes this.
  19. mcmars

    mcmars Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2019
    61
    30
    0
    Location:
    4 corners/SW US
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I thought I might go the moon and back a few times for the great view! but maybe with a likely weak battery, I will just do the normal boring interstate and then check out Oregon coast, haha. Anyone know a good price on hybrid battery in Oregon? I could make that part of the trip if I could find a great tax free price.
     
  20. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2018
    2,912
    1,494
    0
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Round trip perhaps? :cool: