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No oil draining battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by squintero, Oct 28, 2019.

  1. squintero

    squintero New Member

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    upload_2019-10-28_19-2-50.jpeg
     
    #1 squintero, Oct 28, 2019
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    If red triangle comes on it's very unlikely that it can't be fixed with charging... The drop in charge overnight is fixed with reconditioning to pack: Prolong Battery Systems. Extending the life of your hybrid. — Hybrid Automotive But once you have the red triangle your battery pack needs repair/rebuild or replace with new. FIrst step is to read the error codes that are stored when the red triangle and dash lights come on.
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Oct 28, 2019
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how many miles on her?

    if the question is why would low oil cause the battery to be low in the morning, you got me. i would watch the oil level more closely, and the next time you get a dash light, have the codes read at a dealer.
     
    #3 bisco, Oct 29, 2019
  4. squintero

    squintero New Member

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    I replaced the large battery last week and the 12 volt about a month ago due to battery not maintaining charge. Issued continued after changing 12 volt so new large battery put in last week. After doing this no lights coming on and battery maintaining charge per normal for about a week. This past Sunday I Took a 4 hour drive and began having issues with battery in purple the next two mornings in a row— red triangle etc coming on. I drove around for 20 minutes and watched battery turn to blue and charge up to 3/4 level on screen. Continued without problems for rest of each day. I was pretty bummed because this was the same issue happening before I got the new battery’s. Checked all fluid levels and found oil to be way below level. Added 1.5 quarts oil to proper level and basically the battery is bCk to normal blue 3/4 level and no lights. No problems since adding the oil. My question is could the low ( very low) oil level cause red triangle and battery charge issues. 240K miles and those were the original batteries.
     
    #4 squintero, Oct 29, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2019
  5. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    You said you brought it in, but didn't say where you brought it. You said codes didn't show a battery problem. What codes did you have? And were they read by a Prius literate code reader? Most code readers can't see the proprietary hybrid codes a Prius can generate. The Advance Auto store that can real all the Prius codes is probably very rare.

    The low oil would have nothing to do with the battery condition. Correlation is not causation. My guess on Hybrid 911 asking about the oil is that they have possibly had customers running out of oil, seizing up the engine, and thinking it was the battery. Just a guess here. It would have to do with not checking the oil often enough on a nearly 10 year old car.
     
    #5 jerrymildred, Oct 29, 2019
  6. squintero

    squintero New Member

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    Appreciate the feedback! I definitely will be checking the oil much more often than every 3000 miles.it was just weird that I had replaced both batteries and all was fine for a week of daily driving and then after a long trip the same thing was happening. Added oil and haven’t had a problem since— battery blue and green every time I start it now ( knock on wood).
     
    #6 squintero, Oct 29, 2019
    bisco likes this.
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