Drove through car wash, now malfunction EDIT is was debris in the throttle from the oil change

On a Gen2 you do not want to discharge the HV battery ...you need the gaso engine to charge it up.
Gen2 will allow complete discharge of the HV battery, which is not good for an older battery. I do not know why the car wash hurt the ICE but you might want to check under the hood air filter etc. You could also check rear compartment /12v for water but it sounds like something under the hood.

I don't do the car washes, but the issue can be when in Neutral the HV batt does not charge and that can lead to low battery.

Sounds like your HV battery may be low so turn off A/C and do not drive too much at all unless the engine comes on. Sounds like the car is in a vulnerable position so take caution.

 

I take my Gen 2 through a touchless car wash once a month. Never any issues.

Do you remember which warning light illuminated? Was it a check engine sign, a red triangle, Vcc... Prius has several different lights that come on in different situations.

Engine not starting can be any number of things. Could be your throttle body needs a good cleaning, could be your coolant pump is going and with all that hot water being sprayed at the car the temperature got to dangerous levels faster... I'm sure there's other conditions. If it happens again you definitely want someone to run a computer diagnostic on it, so if you don't own your own miniVCI and don't know a hybrid-aware independent mechanic, the stealership may indeed be your best bet...

 

I run mine through a touchless wash once a month too. It's one of those where you pull the car in, stop it and then the machinery moves around the car. I always put the car in "Park" as opposed to "Neutral" and have not had any problems.

I'm inclined to believe the problem is not directly related to car washes.If water is the problem a few thousand Prii a day would be shorting out in rainstorms.

 

The Prius is vulnerable to hybrid battery damage in pull-through car washes, due to:

1. The inability for the car to be left in Neutral when off.
2. Extended sitting with the car on in Neutral can drain the battery.

 

You're right. that's why I only use a car wash where I stay in the car and the car is stopped while it is washed.

 

Put it in neutral like they tell you to. If you're worried about your HV pack discharging too much while you're in there, make sure your AC is off for the duration. That's what I do. And again, no issues.

 

You're overthinking this. Routinely coasting towards stop lights in neutral to deliberately disable regen braking can drain your battery. Going through a 1-2 minute pull through car wash in neutral isn't an issue. If neutral was that dangerous, it wouldn't exist on our gear shifts.

 

Kate - Put it in neutral like who tells me to? It's a self serve car wash where I key in an access code and enter the wash. There are no attendants, the car doesn't move during the wash. There is absolutely no reason for the car to be left in neutral and, in fact, it is probably more dangerous to leave it in neutral without the parking brake engaged than it is to have it in Park or turned off.

 

With the kind of car wash where the car's pulled through, it gets REAL interesting in Park, lol.

 

If the op would come back and say if he left the car in acc it would make sense, or possibly the 12v chose that moment to die, but I'd charge the 12v before calling a dealer.

 

I've had my 12v die on me actually. It doesn't stop the ICE suddenly like that. It spent a week or two beeping extra beeps at me every time I powered the car up and, if I remember right, every time I locked the doors and then eventually it got to the point where sometimes I'd have to hit the power button several times to get it to start. Replaced it with the Optima YellowTop.

I'm an utter loss as to how you guys went from the ICE not coming on to a discussion about the HV pack getting drained, too. The HV pack getting drained is certainly extremely bad but wouldn't directly affect the ICE. Inverter failure would be a lot more relevant.

 

Kate - I can't respond on behalf of others but I only responded to the OP, who clearly blamed a touchless car wash for his problem with not only his description as to the timing of his problem but also the quote "...motto: do not take your Prius gen II through a touchless car wash."

A touchless car wash did not cause his problem.

 

I take mine thru a machine car wash about once a week or more if I have a hot date. The only problem I had was the first one I went thru I didn't know how to get the car to stay in Neutral and when it tried to pull my car thru in park it stopped the entire car wash and the guy had to teach me how to shift to neutral in a prius. Sounded like I wasn't the only one that didn't know how to shift to N in a prius. lol

 

One thing: if you're regularly running your car through a car wash, never washing by hand, you will be neglecting the wheel wells and other corner areas, missing scratches and dings.

 

The problem is when you people talk in absolutes.
Such as "Never" take it through a car wash.

If you've had a bad experience? You are going to think you can't and shouldn't.

But the truth is, with a little common sense, and vigilance to a few factors...primarily HV battery charge and health, IT is possible to use an automated car wash, drive thru...or touchless.

If you aren't comfortable doing so? Don't do it.

 

Ours goes through a pull-through car wash at the dealership, every year or two when it's in for a recall or similar, survives.

 

I wash mine pretty often as I'm one of the near tidy clean persons from exterior to interior keeping it like new. I started off going through those automated ones and realize those are just too rough on the paint and makes me feel lazy as well. I now do it the old school way by doing it myself with a power washer and use microfiber towels. Never had a problem. I doubt your issue had anything to do with your carwash as it seems like it was some kind of malfunction going on that happend around that time.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Also sounds like it could be running out of gas or another engine failure. The carwash could be completely coincidental. Have the codes read and post back if you'd like some additional help.