05 Prius Won't Start

So this morning our trusty 05 with 152k on the clock wouldn't start. I quickly realized my son had flipped on some lights inside and they had likely been running for 2 days (didn't drive it yesterday).

So... went to try my first ever jump on a hybrid and was unsuccessful. Figuring the battery had been run completely dead due to the time the lights had been on I went ahead and left the "donor" car running for a good 15 minutes. I now hear the chime when you leave your keys in the "ignition", when I push power the light blinks orange 7-8 times and if I depress the break while pushing power the engine light pops up for a split second.

No other lights on the dash at any point.

Hopefully I have provided all useful info. Any help would be appreciated. I spent a good hour browsing here and elsewhere and did not find a solution.

Thank you!

 

the trouble I am having is that I can't get back to the battery to do that. The trunk switch isn't working.

 

took some doing and the cover was already gone on my latch, which made it confusing, but I got it open. Same symptoms as described above.

 

Had my neighbor swing by. Battery tests fine but was at 10% charge. We plugged it into a charger, and is now at 67% after about 45 minutes.

 

After giving it a charge the headlights do light up, though the car still doesn't start yet. Will give it some more time on the charger.

 

One other thing I found strange (though maybe it isn't) is that the car in the ignition chime goes off even when it is not in there. Strange or no...?

 

Figured I would update here since I hate reading through threads about a problem I'm having only for a person not to do a final follow up.

The battery is/was fine. It was drained and I suspect there was a bad jump (however I followed the directions and it supplied juice to the battery so I can't really comment further).

Anyway the issue was a blown fusible link. You can see it in the photo I provided.

I used the this page to remove it. It wasn't too terribly difficult. My dealer charged $97 for it, which was a bit rough, but it was next day delivery and the vehicle is a daily driver so it was worth not waiting a week for a part at half that price. From what I read that was definitely the upper end on price there. Should be around $75 new and as low as $40 used, maybe even less. I'd shop around if I had the time.

 

It's my mothers car that she basically gave to us. She took it to Toyota religiously for service in sure overpaying all the way. We got it about three years ago. Unfortunately there isn't a date that I can find in the battery. It definitely looks like a Toyota battery based on pictures. So if it was ever replaced it was done so by Toyota. I couldn't find any records of that happening though.

 

I think that's what it's called. It's not something I had ever seen before but forums like this one made learning a bit about it easier.

I'm surprised that polarity was reversed particularly with everything color coded these days, but I guess I don't have much of another explanation. Car hasn't really caused us a moment of headache aside from a bad wheel bearing a few years back.

As far as cost, I hear you. There was another dealer that was two hours away that would have charged $65 plus $10 shipping (they charge shipping either way, even if you pick up, how cool is that?!) but I didn't have the time to take the drive nornthentime to way 4-7 days for the part in the mail. The dealer I went to was just s couple of miles from home. I was just happy to get back to two working vehicles asap.