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No Power on Initial Start (Intermittently)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Aidais, May 17, 2020.

  1. Aidais

    Aidais New Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2020
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    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Hey ya'll looking for some help on my 2010 with 150k miles. We've owned this car for about 4 years and 50k miles, never had any issues until about 3 days ago. I went to get in the car and press the power but no power up sequence and no lights on the dash, I did hear a weaker hum than usual, so it seemed like something was happening. I try multiple times, nothing, I start thinking it the 12V battery, having never jumped this one I though I knew it was somewhere in the trunk I tried to go back there but couldn't open the trunk, tried to unlock once the locks sounded weak and moved slow. Tried a second time got in and her the normal hum the car makes, went back to try and start again and boom it fires up without issue.

    So I'm testing out what I can for the past two days, and I guess luckily I'm able to replicate the condition. Started reading about the low key fob battery, but holding that close to the power button doesn't work, the indicator light doesn't change color. When the car was in the failed state I was able to climb through the back seat and put a multi-meter up to the 12V battery and got 12.25V. Also the open door indicator will sometimes show and other times not, along with the locks move slow when it's in this condition. Then auto-magically everything starts working like normal. It seems to happen after leaving the car sit for a few hours, although I just had it sitting for about 3/4 hours and it fired up without issue.

    I've read through a host of similar problems and am thinking the break switch may be the culprit but this doesn't explain the slow lock movement or inability to unlock the trunk, which sounds more like a battery issue. Is there a chance the battery could be bad but give a good reading? The terminal leads are clean as a whistle.

    I took two videos of the situation, the first was the situation being reproduced. As soon as I ended that video the auto-magic started working and the car came back on. I put the meter up to the battery which does show a little low but that was after a couple starts of not letting it charge up.

    Any help is greatly appreciated!


     
  2. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2012
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    Location:
    Central MO
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    II
    Need to replace 12v battery
     
    pjksr02 and Mendel Leisk like this.
  3. Aidais

    Aidais New Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2020
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    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Thanks @tankyuong, what leads you to that assessment?
     
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
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    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    How frequently have you been using the car, and what length of drives? Maybe with COVID restrictions a lot less recently?
    Do you know how old the battery is?
    Have you tried charging it, say with smart charger, that'll assess the battery, run through a charging regimen?
     
  5. Aidais

    Aidais New Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2020
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    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Looks like it's the battery, found it in the same condition this morning, unable to unlock an no electric hum when opening the door, battery was at 11.6V. I put cables from the other car directly to the battery, measured 14V, started right up. Looks like O'Reilly's is the only shop with a deal, 15% off, so I'll install and update.
     
  6. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Central MO
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    II
    Voltage too low
     
    Mendel Leisk and pjksr02 like this.
  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2016
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    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Might want to check the ground connection if you were getting those voltage readings across the battery terminals rather than from positive to the car body. The car should start at 11.6 volts and lower. I've started my old 2005 at well under that.

    Not that it doesn't need a new battery. But a quick check for rust or loose connection where the ground cable fastens to the body won't hurt. You're in there anyway.