We're on our 3rd hybrid. Our new RX450h traction battery cooling fan under the back seat seems to run consistently after the car is driven for a few minutes. Our previous Prius and CT200h did not exhibit this. Is this typical of the 450h?
View 4 RepliesHow often should the traction battery cooling fan come on? It started to be warmer here in FL, and I hear this fan more often now. I bought my 2011 in December and up until now almost never heard this fan working. Now it comes on at least couple of times a day, mostly under heavy acceleration in Power mode.
View 6 RepliesLong time since I have posted anything here, but I noticed the fan running far more than normal here. Now the outside temp was fairly warm, but the most recent day I noticed it, the temps were only around 80-85 degrees out.
I usually don't run the AC in my car unless it is terribly hot out - so when I hear a fan running it stands out to me. It is very obvious that it is coming from the rear seat vent area.
The temps here have taken a dip (highs tomorrow are only about 70-75F), so I will keep an ear out for it to continue. Is this something to be concerned about? It is a 2010 Prius IV with about 32k miles...
If my traction battery has plenty of 'juice' in it, and my 12v battery is dead....is there any way to 'jump' the 12 volt battery with the traction battery to get the car started?
View 19 RepliesMy hybrid battery is shot and I do plan on rebuilding it when I can afford the cells. I was talking with Mike at xvipers.com yesterday and he said he could disable the hybrid system and make it run on the engine only for $40. He also says it will get 27mpg that way which is not bad. How one could do this?
View 19 RepliesSome years back my "farm" '05 prius when a host of bells and whistles went off, cooling fan ran more than normal, and I lost power a couple of times. Turned out this farm prius had an accumulation of dirt, dog hair, hay and other debris that needed to be cleaned out. You got me through the whole process, and the car's run fine until.... . Fast forward a couple of years to 200,003 miles. Now the cooling fan is running pretty constantly, the red triangle stays lit, the check engine light comes on, the (!) is on, and the VSC light is on. Haven't hooked it up to check codes, but did check cooling fan and it's clean. Would it possibly possibly better to change the 12 volt battery?
View 19 RepliesThis is my first year driving my prius during a hot season, and for past 3 weeks my mpg has dropped from 49 to 41-43 mpg, and the reason is my traction battery keeps getting HOT! I can hear the battery cooling fan turning on constantly at max when i reach 20 mph, my car doesn't want to start in EV mode the engine just kicks in no matter how light you press the throttle, the EV motor is not assisting with the engine, the infamous slow rpm drop keep occurring and I when to touch the traction battery case and it its HOT, Ive open up the case to check for any dust on the fan and ducts but so far its spotless. I really wished they place an AC vent for the battery because the back passenger area with full A/C doesn't t get as cold as the front dose which doesn't cool off the battery.
View 19 RepliesPurchased a second traction battery and installed it in parallel with the existing battery? Perhaps one from a wrecked Prius.
I'm thinking that would double the Ev range, which would be very handy in my current commute due to long term construction on one of the highways I use. I am in sub-5 mph stop and go so long each day that I wear down my battery and the ice ends up running while stopped, thus killing my hypermiler goals.
My prius is almost 5 years old and has 88K Klm (49K Miles) My battery has gone down to one bar of late. This never happened until recently, never went below two. The bars seem to fluctuate up and down much quicker than before. My mileage is slightly down but it could be because of other reasons. Does it seem that there is something wrong with the battery? No warning lights are coming on
View 14 RepliesI know car likes to shut off at 3-4 bar, but what if I want to keep the battery closer to full in order to get more power. Is there any way to tell the computer to keep engine running?
View 19 Replies2nd time happening to me: I started my car, backed up and drove few hundred feet before stopping at a traffic light.
While stopping there, I noticed the engine cooling fan was running at max and the temperature was going rapidly up (in less than 10sec the gauge almost hit the red line).
While the gauge was going up I shifted the gear stick to P and the gauge dropped to normal in less than 5sec.
I shifted back to D and the car drove normally ever since.
Just bought a 2013 GS 350 FSport. Noticed the cooling fan runs kinda loud. Seems to run a little louder than prior cars. Had the car inspected at a Lexus dealer before purchase. They didn't say anything about it.
View 4 RepliesSo I have searched about engine rattle/knock and I have found lots of results for cold starts but I haven't found it for the issue that I am having. I have a 2010 and anytime the battery is real low, around 2 bars and the ICE fires up to charge it, any time I give it a little throttle input, I get heavy valve rattling. It doesn't matter if its cold or hot, it does it as long as the battery is low. I never get this noise when battery is charged up, only when low. I have a link to the video below and you can see once I give it some input, it starts to sound like an old diesel tractor. Prius has close to 200K on the odometer and all my maintenance is up to date. Please turn the speakers up but the noise is right at 5 seconds in or so.
View 13 RepliesI have had my 2010 Prius 2010 for a year now. I have been taking my Prius to a full service car wash with the conveyor belt. They have always seemed ver Prius savvy. But the last couple of times, after getting in the car and driving away, the car seemed to hesitate upon initial acceleration. Then the problem goes away.
The last time I took it to this car wash, I sat in the car, because I only needed the express exterior wash. About a third of the way through, the instrument panel said "Low Traction Battery... put into Park" I did not obey the warning because I was afraid of putting it in Park while the conveyor belt system was pushing my Prius along. So I ignored it. By the end of the car wash, the engine had shut down. I had to start it up and drive out, and I got that same momentary, initial hesitation as I accelerated, like before. The hesitation went away after that.
I've noticed that after sitting over night my battery for the hybrid system is not charged enough to operate the car in EV or for the first mile or two it does not seem to use as much electric power to supplement the car. After a couple miles it is charged or near charged and I see more use.
View 5 RepliesOn a hot sunny day, occasionally I have to be stopped for extended periods with the A/C running which means the engine will come on for a few minutes out of every 10 minutes or so. to charge the traction battery. Engine comes on at 2 bars and goes off at 3 bars.
As engine efficiency at idle is low, would it be better to put it in D with the brake firmly pressed and push the accelerator so that the engine speed is in the high efficiency range so as to produce more charge for the fuel burnt and maybe also I could charge it to a few more bars on the battery indicator?
Today after running several errands, I stopped by the local CarWash to rinse the car. Same as always, parking brake off, shift into neutral and away we go. Half way threw she starts beeping, I see the yellow triangle and to the right a boxed message "LOW TRACTION BATTERY SHIFT INTO P POSITION". There was a sudden rush of anxiety because I could not shift while being conveyor-ed threw the wash. As soon as I was pushed out and the light turned green, I shifted into drive to exit. The warning and box cleared instantly.
I pulled into parking, shifted into P, and noticed the battery indicator had only 1 bar. Did a quick walk around of the car and got back on the road thinking, head directly the Dealership. Before I got to the freeway I was back up 4 bars and climbing. Continued on the freeway and within 2 exits all looked normal. As it is Saturday and the Dealership was 1 hour from closing, I proceeded home. Later we went to dinner and an event, then came home. All is still normal. Owners Manual only states to follow the command on page 515.
I know this is a long story and was intentional to starve off multiple questions. The only thing I can think is that the air conditioner, radio and headlights were on prior to, while waiting my turn for wash (park-roll-park-roll...) and up to the point of the warning (tuned off all at that point) while in the tunnel. However this is normal for me. Will monitor the battery indicator more closely for a while. I'm sure this event latched in a computer somewhere, so will run by the Dealer if anything else acts up again. A/C and radio and lights are turned off now while in "neutral", for whatever reason. The car is a 2010 II and only 27600 miles. Was not a pleasant feeling.
This used RX has been a nightmare so far. In the shop again, this time because the driver side AC is not cold but the passenger side is. Shop told me they are doing a system evac and recharge but I don't think that is it. My son's Yukon has a dual air setup and the blend doors are issues on those.
I think something similar is happening with the RX but I am not familiar enough with them to know.
My car began to not start almost every other time i tried to start without being jumped and now will not start at all without being jumped. the battery won't stay charged and I bought the battery brand new 6 months ago.
1987 chevy cavalier, over 100,000 miles....
My LS460 is in the shop for the valve spring recall. When I dropped off the car they gave me a 2011 RX350. That evening I went out to dinner with my wife, daughter, mother in law, and father in law. While heading to dinner we had to stop hard at a red light. The strange thing is when the RX came to a complete stop the traction control light came on for about 10 seconds. During this time when I took my foot off of the brake, the car wouldn't move. I don't know why it did that.
View 10 RepliesI recently bought a 1969 chevy c10 pickup. I have been having problems with the electrical system, the battery consistently going dead despite a new battery and alternator installed by the previous owner. Is there a step-by-step for diagnosis of this problem?
View 3 Replies