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

Impacts of Running out of Gas

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by asposner, Aug 12, 2005.

  1. SanPR

    SanPR New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2007
    31
    0
    0
    Location:
    Miami Fl
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    hey there...

    I ran out of gas approx 6 months ago...

    Car worked fine until about a month ago, when al sorts of lights went on on the dashboard while driving on the highway.

    I was able to drive home, but when I took the car to the dealer, they said that since the car ran out of gas, the battery was discharged and this voided the warranty. I called toyota to see if the dealer was correct, and they said that they stood by what their tech said.

    So....

    Long story short.... There is a DTC that shows up when the car runs out of gas... and if your battery goes bad, the dealer might turn you down and say that running out of gas voided the warranty. It happened to me and toyota backed up the mechanic.

    dont let it run out of gas.
     
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    27,067
    15,372
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    Details? Speed? Distance covered? Temperature?

    Late, you might have been able to clear the code by disconnecting the 12V battery for 5-10 minutes. I understand this clears old error codes.

    Details like module voltage(s)? Can you get their error codes? Miles on vehicle?

    Are you buying a replacement battery or will you try to fix it yourself?

    Bob Wilson
     
  3. SanPR

    SanPR New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2007
    31
    0
    0
    Location:
    Miami Fl
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    well.. the running out of gas was a while ago... Im in miami, so the temperature wasnt under 70.... I wasnt able to cover a lot of distance, I had to drive up a small ramp to get out of traffic. I had to push the last few feet...

    anyways, yeah, now I know a lot of stuff... but I went to the dealer thinking they were going to cover me... you know...

    I bought a battery off ebay, and the car is working! but now it looks like the 12v went... Im getting the message that the car does not charge in neutral when the car is in Drive.... and I have had to jump the battery 3 times already.

    it wasnt hard... a lot of screws and stuff... but once the orange thing goes, the battery circuit is open and the poles give you 0 Volts.

    I even opened the old battery... it doesnt look like replacing a module is that hard either...


    Car has 80K

    all modules had similar voltages, they were dirty as hell though!! I thnk it was 7.2 V, 15.4V? the Diagnostics from TOyota only gave me one number, (I dont have the papers on me, left them at work) but looking at the open battery it was almost all messed up.
     
  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    27,067
    15,372
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    I bought an NHW20 module, $35, from a salvage via Ebay and tested it with my MRC 989 and it came out at 6.5 Ahr, like new. If you decide to rebuild the original pack, it might make sense to start a new thread in the technical forum. Of course you're 1/3d of the way there if you decide to try and go plug-in.

    I'm curious, what did the replacement battery assembly go for?

    Bob Wilson
     
  5. SanPR

    SanPR New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2007
    31
    0
    0
    Location:
    Miami Fl
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius


    Oh paid too much!

    I got the pack on Ebay for 1100, there were plenty that were cheaper (one was 650), but this was the only guy that gave me warranty... if it didnt work, he would replace or refund...

    I cracked open the ebay battery too... all terminals were clean... you could tell the difference from mine.... I probably would have had to replace most of my original modules anyways...

    the only thing was that the housing got beat up during travel, so the footprint of the thing changed a little bit and I had to bang it in. If I had the space in the house I would have just replaced all modules on my battery, but hey, I just wanted the thing to run, you know...

    Oh, and Ive never even changed oil... heh what $4000 will do huh...
     
  6. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2007
    10,096
    4,795
    0
    Location:
    Clearwater, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Your post started out quite lovely but ended up blaming the car. I really think the only thing you might notice is if there was maybe a really big hammer restrained by a very large MADE IN JAPAN rubber band mounted in the back seat right behind you so when the little blinking gas gauge last bar is activated the glove compartment would pop open...it would then launch a lighted road flare into the back seat..catch the back seat on fire...eventually melt the rubber band..and then the hammer would smash you quite sharply on the back of your head...your head would then be forced quite mightily forward on the steering wheel..forcing you to see through your very bloody eyes that hey...I'm out of gas.
     
  7. herkeyhawk3

    herkeyhawk3 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2008
    2
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Asposner, did the red warning light ever go off? Or did you take it to the dealer for a readout?
     
  8. Dngrsone

    Dngrsone Underwhelmed, to say the least

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2008
    189
    19
    2
    Location:
    Lost in a desert somewhere...
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Guys, the original post was two and a half years ago... the guy who created the thread is probably dead by now.
     
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    27,067
    15,372
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    I was responding to the recent posting in the thread, not the original poster. It is not uncommon to find even old threads resurrect when someone posts a new piece of information.

    Bob Wilson
     
  10. Jamez P

    Jamez P Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2020
    34
    16
    0
    Location:
    Brownsville Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    Can confirm this. I got 90 miles after the bar started to flash. Did this on purpose (with gas and OBD scannner JIC) in order to get that valuable bit of info.