Prius 04 won't turn on, OBDII scanner gets link error

My Prius has been working pretty decently give or take a few weird hiccups lately. I'll detail the current issue and other things that could help below. Thank you for taking the time to read this, this is currently my families only working vehicle, so it's important that we get it running, but we don't have the money currently to get more tow trucks and expensive fixes at the dealer (if at all possible).

Yesterday, my father was driving my car on the freeway, and according to him, the car made weird sounds, and just turned off. He managed to safely pull over to the side of the road.

He said there was beeping, the brake lights were flashing, and there was a smell that he described as burning rubber. The tow truck driver tried to jump start my car, but apparently he plugged in his trucks battery to my Prius's hybrid battery somehow. It obviously did nothing, I hope it didn't cause any damages to it.

After the tow truck brought it back, I had a friend of ours that knows a bit about cars (nothing about hybrids). He tested the battery in the back and he said it's still good. He did note that the battery was surrounded by liquid oddly enough, which seemed like water. But it hasn't rained in AZ for quite a while. All the fluids are fine, besides the motor oil needing a change soon. The car was topped off with gas the day prior to this issue, and the hybrid battery tested fine not too long ago.

My car has about 200k miles, but the hybrid battery and actuator should only have 70k as they were replaced (from a 20k prius that got hit on the side) at 150k miles.

My friend took me to walmart to buy this scanner:

Autel AutoLink AL319 OBDII & CAN Code Reader - Walmart.com

However, the scanner keeps saying "Link error". I guess that's since the car won't turn on.

When I try to turn on the car, The dash lights flash, and then turn off immediately, followed by a few squares on the screen.

Link to video I took today showing this:

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When I tried reseting the computer by holding down the ODO + MPH button, and then pressing the start button. This did nothing, although the touch screen worked for the while. Now resetting gets no reaction from the car.

The only other notable repair I did was change the combination meter with a refurb one when it stopped displaying anything about 6 months ago. This one works just fine, but it occasionally turns off every few months. Although, it doesn't not effect the motor.

Thank you for taking the time to read, hopefully someone has some clue as to what could be causing this issue.

 

Thank you for the response.

The rubber smell happened before, not after the tow truck appeared, so I don't think it would be the battery. The hybrid battery also is from a newer Gen 2, like 2008 I think.

I don't know what a continuity tester is, but I'll check if my local walmart has one tomorrow morning as I have no way of getting there tonight. But then I'll go ahead and check the fuses, since I haven't done that yet.

I don't remember him mentioning any sparks, nor did I see any today. I don't know where the tow truck driver connected his battery to my hybrid, but there's no light indicating any problems. The scanner does check CAN codes.

Oh ok, that might definitely be the water then.

I'll get on those fuses though.

 

Oh ok, yeah I have a cheap one from HF. I'll go ahead and use that. Walmart doesn't carry those meters in store in seems.

Yeah, I don't know what he did honestly. My father said he hooked his battery up to a positive pin on the hybrid, and hooked the negative lead to my cars frame. Hopefully it didn't mess up the hybrid battery.

Yeah, it's possible. I get it checked every few months, and they keep saying it's in perfect condition. So i'd be surprised if it suddenly went bad out of nowhere. But hopefully it's not it.

 

My buddy tested the battery from the front, and from the actual battery in the back (the start battery, not the hybrid). He got 12.3 volts or so, which is what it's always been.