2007 Prius power button not responding

Hello all,

I’m in real trouble now.

I last drove my 2007 Prius earlier in the week.

Today I got in and when I pressed the power button, nothing happened.

No warning lights on the dashboard because the dashboard didn’t start.

No display.

The doors did open, I didn’t test the lights but will go outside and do so after I hit send on this.

Relevant recent repairs: several cells of the hybrid battery were recently repaired/replaced. I had overcharged the battery by following advice to start the car for five minutes every few days. I did so without driving it, because I was giving 24/7 care to a relative and couldn’t leave them alone.

After the hybrid battery was repaired I would drive it at least once a week for up to half an hour, which was the maximum time I had a sitter available for my sick relative.

I know that not driving the car is bad and wrong and I deserve for this to happen to me, however, I now need to find a solution. My relative has just now died and I was counting on using this car to have enough employment prospects to keep body and soul together.

Another possibly relevant condition is that there was a body leak a couple years ago which I had repaired. However there has been continuous rain here and I find that the interior of the car is damp. There is a dehumidifier bag which indicates there is a lot of moisture, and when I picked up the handbook it was clearly affected by the damp. There was a damp patch in the centre of the display last time the car had a functioning display.

 

Update: the lights are working.

 

I realize I’m not one of the most helpable posters here, because I’m barely willing to engage in any maintenance myself (I break things), and am really only looking to quell my panic while I wait to take it to a garage.

Having said that, I am going to place my bets that it will turn out to be the AM2 fuse.

A look at the pinned threads makes me speculate it’s water in the spark plug wells, because it’s been raining AF here for weeks. Also, the last time my car had noticeable water damage, it was parked in the exact same space it is now (and there’s no obvious reason why that *should* make a difference, but maybe it does).

 

The hybrid specialist told me it could only be a dead 12v battery and that the garage that replaced it should fix it under warranty.

That garage didn’t have appointments till today. This morning I got a recovery service to jump start it. But they couldn’t. No visible wiring problems under the hood. They tested the 12v battery directly in the trunk and said it was good to go.

This is making me miserable. I poured four figures of repairs into this car last year and followed every instruction in every detail, going to great lengths to make sure the car would always be in working order.

I got away with driving it 12 or 13 times since the last repair before I’m back to the regular scenario that I go to get in it and it won’t start.

My current job doesn’t pay enough for me to be able to reliably buy food. I was counting on that car to get me to another job that would fill the gap but which would require me to drive to and from the site each time.

I don’t understand why it has to be this difficult.

 

Right. I need to get to a point of affording an adaptor so I can use the Mr Prius app.

The good news is there are no codes to read, because there’s no power. A different recovery service had to come with a crane to move the car, because there’s no way to get it out of neutral.

I also need to afford a volt meter.