All of the Lights on the Dash on and Car Will Not Start - 2004

2006 Prius
180,000 Miles
Hybrid Battery Replaced Approximately 4 Years Ago - Not by Toyota
Had to Jump the Battery Twice in the Last Six Months After Leaving the Lights On
Located in Saint Paul, MN

Okay, here is the full story...

14 May 2020 - Thursday
Drove to my friends house in the morning to help him with some computer issues he was having. Car drove fine in the morning with no issues. When I tried to leave all of the dash lights came on including the Red Triangle and the car would not start. The key FOB worked, I could lock and unlock the door. The headlights worked, and the dome light worked. Everything seemed a little week though. I tried starting the car five or six times with the same results. I did some quick searches here and thought (hoped?) that maybe there was an issue with the 12V battery so I called AAA to come jump me. The guy from AAA connected his jump pack to the terminal under the hood and nothing happened. We then took everything out of the back to get to the 12V battery and he connected his jump pack and again nothing. He tested the battery and said it was at 25% so we both figured the battery needed changing. It was too late at that point to find a battery so I left the car at my friend's house and he let me use his extra vehicle

15 May 2020 - Friday
Stopped at Batteries Plus on my way to my friend's house and picked up a new battery. Got to my friend's and installed the battery. When I first tried to start the car it did the same thing as the day before and would not start but on the second attempt it started up with no problems. I stayed at my friend's place for a few hours and when I went to leave it would not start again and had all the same symptoms as before. This time though there seemed to be a little more power when I did things like lock and unlock the doors, and the lights seemed a bit brighter. It could have been my imagination though. I called AAA and a new guy came out and tried a few things (including connecting his jump pack to the front lead) to no avail. I asked him to take a look at the battery to make sure everything looked good and right away he said the cable on the positive terminal was loose and that it was very high on the post. He loosened the cable and tapped it down further on the terminal and then retightened it. I tried to start the car with the same results as earlier. He then connected his jump pack to the battery and it started right up. Aside from the gas gauge blinking one bar everything seemed fine. After about five minutes of driving the gas gauge corrected itself and I drove the car home with no issues.

16 May 2020 - Saturday
In the morning I had to run out to pick up supplies for my mother, a family friend, and myself and ended up stopping at about four or five different places. No issues, everything was working perfectly. Got home, parked next to the building we live in, turned off the car to unload everything, got back in the car and drove to the monthly pay lot where we park the car which is about two block from the apartment.
After being home for a few hours I packed up everything to make my deliveries, went and got the car and parked it next to the building and went and got the supplies. When I got back into the car it started, but all of the lights on the dash came on again. To be safe I drove the car to our parking spot and turned it off. When I tired to start the car all the lights came on and it would not start just as it had done before. At this point it has started to rain so I walked back to the apartment and called a (different) friend of mine that I knew had a small jump pack. It is one of the tiny hand held units. He came over and we tried to jump the car but it would not start. It started raining so we called it a day, but he left the jump pack with me.

17 May 2020 - Sunday
It rained all day so I did not try anything new with the car, but figured if I could get it back to my friends house somehow I could use his extra vehicle while I figured out what was going on with the Prius.

18 May2020 - Monday
Went to the car in the morning and tried the small jump pack and there were no changes. All the lights came on and the car would not start. Called AAA and when after the guy arrived we tried everything (including trying to jump using the front and rear terminals) but could not get the car to start. Since he had the tools I asked if he would disconnect the battery and then reconnect it. He did and there was no change. I asked him to test the battery and he said the health was great (higher than the rated health) but the charge was only 40%. I then asked him to try jumping the car with his jump pack. The first time I tired it did not start, but the second time it did. There was something wonky about the second time though, I cannot remember the details. I am not sure why I did any of this but I believe I pushed the start button and maybe did not push the brake in, and all of the lights on the dashboard come on except the Red Triangle. I think I then pushed the brake in and pushed start and the car started, but all of the lights stayed on. I am not completely sure that is how it happened, but somehow we got the car to run even though all of the lights were on. Since I had it running I drove to my friend's house and the whole way there it drove as if there were no issues. The battery monitor on the display screen seemed to act normally and there was no sluggishness or any other issues other than all of the dashboard lights being on. Once I got to my friend's I turned the car off and upon trying to start it had the same issues as before. After reading a few threads on here I decided to order an OBDII from Amazon. I ordered the BAFX Wifi reader for IOS. Unfortunately it was not going to be delivered until Friday which was okay since I had a vehicle to use in the meantime.

22 May 2020 - Friday
I received the OBDII today and downloaded the OBD Fusion App, I did not purchase the Enhanced Diagnostics. I plugged the interface into the car started the app and everything went very smoothly except when I ran the diagnostics, no errors codes came up. Nothing. I then came inside and posted this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Hello all, sorry for the long delay in posting my follow up. For some reason I was not receiving notifications from PriusChat, and then when I came back to check the replies, I immediately called Strawbrad. First let me say, Strawbrad is an exceptional human being. I called him Monday (25 May) morning around 11:00 AM, and by 1:30 PM I had a new (reconditioned) hybrid battery installed in my car and was good to go. As it turns out I did have an HV voltage leak. Strawbrad did a great job of explaining exactly what that meant, so hopefully he or someone else here can give the details so that any future readers completely understands what is going on, but basically what it means is that the car will not start because of a "safety" feature put in place to make sure that anybody in the vehicle does not get shocked or electrocuted. If you can get the car started it will run fine, but once the car detects an HV voltage leak it will default to not starting. By disconnecting the battery I just happen to be reseting the error codes so my car was starting. For some reason on Saturday (16 May) morning, I was just getting "lucky" and my car was starting. It just happened to be right after I replaced my 12V battery so I assumed everything was good. As it turns out my 12V battery was in pretty bad condition so I do not regret purchasing a new one. Below are the important points to take away from this post.

* If all of your dashboard lights come on (see photo in my original post) and your car will not start, try disconnecting the 12V battery in the way Strawbrad explains above. After disconnecting the battery you will have to try starting the car twice before it will start. If it starts and runs fine there is a good chance you have an HV voltage leak.

* Do not purchase the BAFX Wifi reader for IOS, or the Fusion App if you have the above symptoms. While they are able to provide basic information for your Prius, they will not help you with any issues specific to hybrid vehicles.

* If you are in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area and you are having hybrid battery issues or just need to speak to someone that is knowledable about Prii, CALL STRAWBRAD!!!