2014 Prius Won't Start

Sorry, I forget to check stuff like this a lot. It's a think I'm working on. I did look at the vin number though, and it's from plant 0 and the number is definitely higher.

In other news, I finally found good time to try that thing suggested about jumping straight to the 12v battery and it did nothing. Still haven't been able to try a slow charge yet, but I'm off work tomorrow and will be heading down to see if maintenance can help me figure something out with some of the stuff they have access to that I don't. Fingers crossed we get it running, so I don't have to have it towed 2 hours to the facility carvana wants me to take it to for their warranty stuff. But after tomorrow, I will try to give you guys another update on if we figure something out to get it started up.

 

No, I didn't have any tools to disconnect with, so I just jumped straight to the 12v battery. It probably wasn't the best way to do it, in hindsight, but I'm going to talk to maintenance tomorrow, and they should have the right tools to try all the things I can't do on my own.

 

Hopefully, it's not so bad that it won't hold a charge long enough for me to get it to the shop in a couple of weeks. I got someone in maintenance to take the battery out and put it on a slow charge for a couple of hours and we're gonna test it after to make sure it starts up okay and then maybe keep the battery unattached and charged up somewhere with maintenance until I need it to get to the appointment with the auto shop. That way, at least, it doesn't die again just sitting there. Fingers crossed it works well enough that I don't need a tow. I know for sure it's the 12v, though, because he tested the battery before putting it on charge and it was completely dead.

 

Yeah, at this point, it's probably better to just let the shop figure out which of these things is the real issue. I'm sure maintenance at my job can help with some little things, but at the least, with the shop, I have a decent chance that Carvana's warranty will cover the cost of repairs. Hopefully, whatever the issue is, it's not going to be super expensive to fix, just in case they don't cover it.

 

Well, there is definitely a parasitic drain on the battery somewhere because it was completely dead again after barely 2 days, and they tested the battery when they charged it, so I don't think the battery is bad yet (might be headed that direction after all this). Hopefully, the lights are all tied to whatever the issue is with all of that. I've got an appointment with a shop in just over a week, so I'll just have a professional take a look at all of it and find out what the problems are. It's better than struggling to figure all this out on my own, at least, even as helpful as everyone here has been.

 

As it turns out, there's nothing wrong with the car or the battery. Apparently, the driver who dropped it off left an internal light on that I didn't see the 2 times I'd driven it (hard to see lights like that in broad daylight when that's not what you're looking for), and that's what was killing the battery. It's at the shop now because I'm not able to go get it at the moment, but they did all the basic tests for the battery and the parasitic draw thing and everything came back good. So, nothing is actually wrong with the car; I'm just too blind to see the light someone else left on just above my head.

 

Honestly, I talked to the people at the shop today, and the hybrid battery is going out. I'm not sure of all the details because I don't understand shop talk well enough to remember and repeat it, but he's going to try to get Carvana to cover it while the car is still under warranty.

I just find it amazing how this worked out, though, because without this specific visit to the shop, there's no guarantee the issue would have been noticed in time to be fixed under warranty, and hybrid batteries are expensive. I just wonder how differently everything would have gone in any other situation.

 

Funny, I got the car back on Wednesday, and he said the battery is good, just that it might have gotten low from sitting for a little while before it made it's way to me. Didn't actually need to replace it, or anything. And even though upon dropping off the car, I mentioned the warning lights that were appearing on the dash only when I started it up, nothing more was said on that matter, nothing was checked specifically in regards to the lights, and they're still going off when I start the car, even now. Hell, last night, the overhead push light came on all by itself (I know this for sure because it was off a few minutes earlier and it had been putting stuff into the back when I came back with another handful of stuff and saw the light on), and I sent him an email earlier (calling wasn't working today) explaining everything I'd noticed (I'm one of those people who is oddly good with details, and it feels connected somehow; I checked the oil yesterday and it's clearly been serviced somewhat recently) and all he says in response is that he can do another scan for me if I want some "peace of mind", and it just rubbed me the wrong way. Like he doesn't believe me, or something. I know for sure that the brake and abs light were part of the circuit coming on, but the others disappeared too quickly for me to recognize them. The warning lights appearing upon startup and an overhead light coming on all by itself? That seems like something to me.

Edit: I'm even starting to wonder if that's what caused the whole issue in the first place, if the light came on all by itself and killed my battery. Could be why I never noticed the light, in the first place.

Edit02: I feel kinda stupid. My coworkers told me that the warning lights coming on when you start the car is normal, so now I know that particular issue is actually nothing. Granted, the overhead light coming on all by itself is definitely something. It's probably what's been killing my battery, either a bad fuse or a short somewhere in the wiring, according to another coworker of mine who actually does know cars.