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2010 battery dead due to unused for couple months

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by totoroliao, Aug 8, 2017.

  1. totoroliao

    totoroliao New Member

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    I'm thinking about purchasing a 2010 Prius. The car had been sitting in the garage for months and the battery is so dead that even the power lock doesn't work now. I called some stores and one of them said they don't recommend jumpstart, and stated it might already hurt the hybrid battery that might need to change the whole thing. I am hesitate that I'm gonna potentially spend thousands of dollars before the car can move... any suggestion T____T?
     
  2. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    First question to seller: why has it been sitting for so long? Does it need an expensive repair, etc?

    Yes, you can put a charger on the 12v supply points under the hood. A metal key (should be inside the key FOB) will be needed to open the door and pop the hood. Get out the owners manual to read the jump starting instructions. It's IMPERATIVE to not get the positive/negative cables crossed. The 12v doesn't crank the engine, it only supplies power to the ECU's and opens the relays to the high voltage hybrid battery which is then used to crank start the gasoline engine.

    GOOD LUCK!
     
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  3. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    There is nothing wrong with jump starting a Prius, you just have to be very careful to connect the batteries in parallel. A mistake can be very costly, therefore it is better to use an intelligent jump start kit. It is a good investment if you intend to own a Prius. The condition of the hybrid battery will be unknown until you can power up the car. If there are lights on the dash that do not go out, you will need to have to read the codes that the ECUs are reporting. Again, a scan tool similar to the one below, along with the Torque app for Android will be a good investment if you intend to own a Prius. Without knowing what codes the car is throwing, we can't give appropriate advice.

     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah it's fine to jumpstart for a test drive, with the cautions listed above. And I'd doubt a dead 12 volt is affecting anything else, say the hybrid batter condition. If you opt to buy, expect to be needing to replace the 12 volt battery, or at the least doing a proper recharge session or two.

    FWIW, our brand-new 2010 sat on a lot for about 15 months: 12 volt was dead as a doornail. We stipulated a new battery as a condition of sale. No problems since. I did replace the battery, preemptively, about a year back.
     
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  5. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    I believe it's the owner's manual that specifies a charge rate less than 5 A. I use a battery maintainer and set it to 2 A.
     
  6. totoroliao

    totoroliao New Member

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    Thanks for quick replies by everyone >_<. I might gonna use my aaa battery services to jump start it since I am far from an expert lol
     
  7. fopoku2k2

    fopoku2k2 Member

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    I've jump started my car about 3 times and my batteries are very healthy

    MI 5s ?
     
  8. FuelMiser

    FuelMiser Senior Member

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    If I read your post correctly, you have not bought the car yet. I would insist that the seller get the car running. It might turn into a situation of "you broke it, you buy it" if you or your AAA jumpstart messes up his car. Or, at least get him to sign a "release of liability" before you touch the car.
     
  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    A jumpstart is just for the 12V battery. A botched jumpstart won't do anything to the hybrid battery, but instead may damage other electronics of similar expense.

    Fortunately, many cases of botched jumpstarts have been found to blow a fusible link (a form of protective fuse that is more like a sacrificial wire section) in the 12V system. Replacing this is far cheaper than replacing the electronics, though still more hassle than replacing ordinary fuses.
     
  10. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    Note that if jumping the battery does get the car started but after jumping it acts strange afterward, it may still not be supplying enough volts for the car to act properly even though it started the engine. Recently my battery was only putting out 11.9 volts and it did start the car but LOTS of weird stuff was happening, like only 1/2 of my dash display came on, etc. It didn't supply enough volts to power up "all" the ECU's, just some of them.

    So if you do get it started after jumping it, and you see weird stuff happening, get the battery tested. You may need to replace it. Most are getting about 6 years out of the 12v batter on the Prius.
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Again: this is sombody else's car, for sale. Maybe seller should get on this, and/or buyer should walk.
     
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  12. danlatu

    danlatu Senior Member

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    Not driving the prius for months can also result in a cel from the hv battery. Battery being weak, one bad cell, insufficient voltage etc.
     
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Forget months, 2 weeks would do it on an older weak battery.
     
  14. NutzAboutBolts

    NutzAboutBolts Senior Member

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    Way over thinking a simple solution, If the seller promised a working vehicle, have him make it work. If seller saying buy as is, then it's up to the buyer to buy the vehicle as is and tow it off of the seller property.

    If you are asking how to fix a dead battery Prius with no other issues you know of after purchasing the vehicle already, then just buy a new battery since it's a 2010 Prius and the original battery won't last longer than 6 years like someone suggested.

    That's it.

    If you have more issues, go from there and create a new thread. If you have doubts in buying this car, then don't buy it or else you might regret it.

    That's my 2 cent.

    One more time thing, if you jump the battery and accidentally crossing the cable and blowing the fusible link, I checked online that it was a 70$ part... so it's cheaper to buy a new battery if you don't know what you're doing. :)
     
    #14 NutzAboutBolts, Aug 9, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2017