Battery died, had to tow. New 12v and it won't start

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Eggtea, Dec 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM.

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  1. Eggtea

    Eggtea Junior Member

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    I doordash for a living and while I was driving to pickup an order my car completely died on me. It went into limp mode I barely got off the main road into a neighborhood where it died in the middle of the road.

    Tried to Jumpstart it with my 12v Jumpstarter pack, then tried to Jumpstart it with another vehicle. Both didnt work so I got it towed on a flatbed. They could barely get it to turn on with a giant 12v pack to put it into neutral.

    Once the tow truck driver got it parked on a sidestreet by my house I replaced the 12v battery after a few days, had to come up with the money. When I went to start it the engine tried to start but then would stall out. Now it doesnt even engage the engine and I hear clicking in the back hybrid battery area and most of the lights are illuminated on the dash.

    Is there anyway to get the engine to turn over so it can charge the hybrid battery? I can't afford the estimated $1-2k to repair the battery. And at this point the hybrid battery is so low they would rather replace the whole thing...

    I need to drive for a living and cant get a credit card or loan to get the hybrid battery replaced. I have an eviction trial coming up, because I cant make money dashing. If anyone knows services/loans to repair the hybrid battery with zero upfront cost, I can make $800 to $1k a week dashing.

    Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated!

    Is it possible to just disconnect the hybrid battery and drive on gas, until I can save up to replace the hybrid battery?
     
    #1 Eggtea, Dec 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
  2. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    No, the traction battery drives the starter motor, located in the transmission.
     
    #2 BiomedO1, Dec 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    If the problem was just the hybrid battery pack I could loan you a charger (I'm a couple hours north of you) but the problem is your engine isn't starting and you'll just drain down the battery pack again until you find out why the engine isn't starting. If you get one of these devices: http://www.ebay.com/itm/265484403768 you can use apps like Car Scanner (ELM) and Dr. Prius app to read error codes that will point to why the engine isn't starting.
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Dec 29, 2025 at 6:48 PM
  4. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    There is no starter on a Prius. The hybrid battery rotates the generator to start the engine.

    Are you writing that the "engine" quit running? Then you drove on the hybrid battery until it cut off?
    Which depleted the hybrid battery enough to not have enough power to turn the engine over....

    The 12v battery is likely NOT the issue. That's why jumping it didn't work.

    You need to find out why the engine stopped working. For no cost, YOU can look over the electrical
    connections and vacuum lines to see if one is disconnected. If not, they you'll have to pay someone to
    figure out why it's not running. Not a whole lot of options for your situation. Sorry...

    You might be able to find someone selling a Prolong system to charge the hybrid battery.
     
    #4 ASRDogman, Dec 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how many miles on her?
     
    #5 bisco, Dec 29, 2025 at 7:53 PM
  6. Eggtea

    Eggtea Junior Member

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    I guess the engine could have died, for a few months I kept just clearing the errors with an obd so that the traction control wouldnt turn off. They would randomly show up sometimes not for days, sometimes multiple times a night.

    I'll list the error codes tomorrow when I try to get it to start again. I know it has like three of the P codes and one that mentions the dash cluster.

    I read something about an inverter extended warranty and I will look up my vin to see if mine is covered. Although I know at least one of the cell blocks are going bad and would need repair.
    https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2017/08/130396_ZE3.pdf
     
    #6 Eggtea, Dec 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
  7. Eggtea

    Eggtea Junior Member

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    It's in the 350,000 range. I replaced the engine around 320k miles with a japan engine about two years ago. Due to a bad head gasket that kept burning coolant.
     
    #7 Eggtea, Dec 29, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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