New to Gen 1 and now have a Gen 2 with dead main battery?

Just got a gen 2 at the auction for a reasonable price with an inspection sticker "Runs & Drives", but as usual, at the time of inspection, the Aux. battery will be dead.. So I takes my chances.

Brought it home and put the 12v charger in the underhood terminals, as recommended and limited charge to >4 amps for a couple hours. Voltage recovered in the Aux Batt to 12.4v and systems seem to be powering up ok, but not engine start and the MFD energy display showed the main battery at or near zero charge. Ouch, I didn't need to see that or at least I wished I had seen that much earlier.

The intial display only showed a little engine simble and brief "mainT req-- something" then it goes out. Otherwise I was able to find the ODO etc. and display indicators. No triangle of death at first. I hooked up my OBD II reader and everything is blank as far as the system signals since nothing has run since the batteries were dead and when I force a read, I get the ERR!

Turned everything off and had a cup of coffee. Went back and the Aux battery had charged for another hour. While the power was on, I started playing with the shift control, etc.. and sometimes there was a sound from the engine compartment, like the engine was starting but then went off. After a couple attempts I got it to do that again but also died, Now I notice the Red Triangle of Death. For the moment, I can't get the engine to try and start.

Is there anyway to trick the engine to start with the little juice that might still be in the main battery. (It is my understanding that the engine on the Gen2 starts from the main, or am I wrong there??)

I still have my Gen2 but don't know if there is a way to switch out batteries between these two generations.??

I presently don't have the knowledge or equipment go thru this battery.

Oh! Yah! For what it's worth, I talked to the CoPart people about this and of course, AS-IS, Where-Is regardless of the Runs & Drives sticker. (waste of ink). I wasn't born yesterday and I know something like this could happen under these terms and conditions. Not like I lost the Farm on this deal. A Prius will almost always Part Out for more than I paid for this one. (less the $800-900 for the battery)

Still a learning experience. (75 and still learning)

Steve

 

So, after giving this some thought!
What I'm really looking for is a procedure to get the ICE to start, with what little juice is left in the main battery.
Or, since I'm a newbie to the HEV and just about figured out my Gen1, maybe I'm not doing something right.

I don't even have a glove compartment owner manual and I'm follow the little Prius Valet Instruction Procedures card I found. So far I haven't gotten the "READY" light yet. I can make the P(ark) work.

Sometimes I'm able to get the shift indicator to follow the shift lever into N but never into D,R or B and I assume that is because the engine or battery isn't "READY".


BTW, the MFD was working and shut off the last time I was playing with thing and I couldn't get it to come back on again. Might be the Aux battery was getting low cause I had disconnected the charger.

More puzzles and things to learn.

Steve

 

It was rear ended and no bags deployed. Could have been driven but has set for a while. From what I understand from my complaints to CoPart, these my set in insurance impound for a year and then another 2 month while they clean them up, photo and 'test'? inspect operating condition. So my complaint with them is, if it "Runs/Drives" then I would expect the battery to still be up or car in running condition when jumped 2 months later. If they just jump the battery to get the instruments up to get the mileage then I don't thing that qualifies for their statement.

I've been crawling around to see if any ECU or major component has since been removed/robbed (seen that happen in ordinary salvage yards).

Steve

 

Something just occurs to me as I read that PDF file on the special charger. They mention that the Gen2 system will lock out Start after so many attempts, like for out of gas. As is usual in the impound and salvage yard, they routinely suck the gas out of the cars (damm). (When I look at their photos of the mileage display, I frequently notice 3/4 or sometime s anear full tank, but at the time of the auction the ODO hasn't changed but the tank is alway near empty!)
That said, this car is still sitting on the tow dolly with rear down and the gage is flashing. Could be out of gas at that angle and the start attempt has been locked out as in "out of gas". I'll check that tomorrow and that will be "My Bad". and glad to except the blame!

Steve

 

Thanks Jim and Rob, I agree that I should follow the simpliest path and go across the street and get a can of gas and see what happens.
However (always the "However"!) Have to pry the gas door open since it won't unlatch due to the body damage in that area. Since it's already damaged, a screw drive should do the trick! Gas tank and fill connections seem to be ok from what I can see.

Thanks for all the wisdom you all bring to this forum. I'm hoping, over time and exposture to these cars I can contribute as well.
Steve

 

Well I went out this morning and the Aux batt was dead again only about 2.5 volts. The my smart? charger says error code F1 which indicates an internal short. Since I was charging throught the power terminal in the engine compartment, I disconnected the battery and found the positive terminal corroded bad. (same problem I had found on my Gen1 when I got it last month). Cleaned the terminals and began charging again with out connecting the vehicule leads. Charging appears to be going fine now.

Now before I go any further I should ask/confirm what type of battery is this OEM aux battery. My choices on the charger are Wet, Gel or AGM?? The battery doesn't state, just the usual warnings. I'm sure it is OEM batt with all the markings in Japanese, etc.. None of the mounting hardware had ever been disturbed either.

Steve

 

I charged the OEM battery on the AGM setting of my charger for the better part of the afternoon but since it is over 5 years old, I went and picked up a Optima Yellow Top from my battery supplier. Paid $159.96 (no tax since I have a business acct with them). When I got back to the shop, the old battery was at 13.7 volts and still charging. I left the charger on and reinstalled the HV disconnect and gave it a try. The displays came up fine and the Red Triange was gone and the the Maint. Required simble went out. Little Engine symble still on along with ABS and a couple others.
But never heard the engine try and start. The noise I had mentioned earlier turns out to be the vacuum pump from my pressing the brake pedal. Right now I don't think the HV engine not starting has anything to do with the Aux battery.
Otherwise, everything seems to be normal. Just no engine start and that must be due to low HV battery. I will try and take a reading in the morning. I am leaving the charger off the Aux. battery overnite to see if there is any voltage in the morning.

I should ask if there is any place to measure the HV without removing the covers on the battery box?? Can it be measued at the disconnect and if so where would I pick up the ground without taking the cover off??

Steve

 

The OEM battery went dead over nite so I change out to the new Yellow top. Repowered the system again and basically got the same results as before. Nothing happening with the ICE. Just the vac pump and something else, like the fuel pump brief purr. The Dreaded Red Triangle is back again and didn't go out this time. And no OBD code and I don't really think I will get any of these until the ICE runs. My OBDII reader is Prius Aware and I have used it on my Gen1 and got the code normally associated with the HEVs.
I then pulled the covers on the right end of the HV battery, after pulling the safety pull. Checked the voltage at the two terminals with the white plastic safety covers, next to the current sensor area, where the two main power leads come out. I took those covers off but later determined I could insert the meter probes through a slot in the cover edge and make a safe contact with the terminal. However! I could have put my wet finger on them, I suspect, since there was only about .5 VDC between the Plus and Neg. terminal. I wasn't surprised, but had some hope there might be something more useable.

Went to check out a "Fresh Road Kill Prius" (wreck, less than 10 days old). However when I tested it, I couldn't get a reading at all. It was late so I left thinking it was another bad battery. On the way home I got to thinking, "there is something wrong here." Sure enough, I had a bad lead on my meter. I fixed it and verified contenuity and retested my own battery. Nah! still dead as a tomb stone. However, I think I will go back next week and recheck that wreck since the price was going to be worth the trip.. The seller was sure it should be good since his brother had been driving it when it was wrecked last week and they pulled the power safety plug as soon as the tow truck bought it in. For his sake and mine, of course I hope it is good.

Still wonder if I am testing these batteries at the correct location. Is there a relay or circuit breaker in there between my test point and the actual battery pack??