Once a Gen I battery starts showing signs of dying (overcharging when should be in "sleep' mode, MPH loss, loss of power, etc.), what is the range for how long the battery might go before all the lights go on indicating "now it's really dying"?
View 4 RepliesSo here's the deal my '02 prius' traction battery is dying really fast. But here's the thing, it will charge fully and be fine for a few months and then one day Its like the battery says, "now I don't want to play anymore." and dies really fast and is a pain to charge even a little bit. I can even drive to work (at least half an hour away) and I can get to freeway speeds and charging 95% of the way and it will still be at a very low charge. Then after a while it will charge all the time while staying fully charged. I'm eventually going to replace the battery anyway but wanted to know if it sounded like something else, too.
View 7 RepliesI have a 2004 Ford F150 and the battery keeps dying. We do not use the truck a lot and it sometimes sits outside for 2-4 weeks without being used. If it sits that long, it might be completely dead, but starts up easily with a jump and then works fine for a while. The battery is a 650 amp Motocraft w prorated replacement from 37-100 mo. The local Ford dealer has checked it several times in the past 2 yr and said it is fine, and that if the truck sits for a couple of weeks the battery will die. Is that right? I am not a car moron, nor am I an expert, but I am concerned that they are missing a small draw somewhere in the system. Should I be concerned about a draw or is this just something that happens to batteries as they get older?
View 2 Replies2005 prius only starts when negative terminal is disconnected/reconnected. I recently bought this car with the dead 12 volt battery. Jump started to drive home next morning put new battery it started but all kind of sign lit up VSC, (!), snowflake symbol on the road, big triangle with exclamation mark. I was able to drive the car for 1 hour with very poor gas Milage. Now each time I have to start I have to disconnect the terminal for 10-15 min. I have already replaced the MAF SENSOR, and 12 volt battery. During battery installation My 10mm key accidentally touched the positive terminal as well for a split sec. But warning lights were present before the replacement and the gentleman who sold me the said once battery is replaced lights will go away? When I replaced the MAF sensor they were gone for brief moment but came back on after 1/2 a block?
View 3 RepliesFor the past month or so, my 2002 Kia Sedona has been stalling/dying whenever I stop at lights or signs. We've gotten the alternator fixed, gotten a new battery, replaced the ignition coils, but still have the same problem. A friend of mine says that there is probably an issue with the idle air control valve and suggests I replace it. Looking online, it seems like I can possibly just clean it out, but I don't know where to begin. Where exactly is the IAC valve and is replacing/cleaning it a basic DIY job?
View 8 RepliesMy Fsport suspension ALL AROUND shown signs of leakage after only 35000 KM....
View 5 RepliesFirstly let me say that the car is still running perfectly and giving great MPG, but I just wanted to document some early signs of traction battery weakness.
View 13 RepliesBought a 2010 Prius V new and have put 100K on it since Sept. 2009. About 9 months ago, the 12v battery died. I ordered a Yellow Top replacement from Amazon, charged and installed it. Six weeks later, the new battery's died. I charged it again and suspected the engine's wasn't charging the battery. I took it to Toyota for an electrical checkup and they say all is fine. Six weeks later, the battery's dead again.
This time, the charger says it has a dead cell and won't take a charge. Amazon replaces the battery for free. The cycle repeats three more times and again, dead cell. This time I go to Toyota and buy their expensive battery. The cycle continued four more times (although I haven't had a dead cell indication). I've been back to Toyota for follow-up twice and each time they say there's nothing wrong with the car. The last time they told me we weren't driving it enough to charge the battery but I know that's because we take several 150 miles trips every other week or so (plus daily commuting time).
I'm thinking there's something that's causing a slow drain and wondering if it could be the digital system that keeps your inside lights on after you exit the vehicle and then slowly dims them, only it's not going completely off due to age.
Well I work overnight security and I'm able to watch movies in my car or be on my laptop at work but I ruined my battery( didn't have the car engine on) and now that my battery is dying I noticed huge drop in gas mileage .
View 18 RepliesSo this morning when i started up my car the cel came on. The car seems to be running fine so i decided id try to go to work and hope for the best. Well nothing happened and i made it to work fine, but i noticed i was always regenerating power. My drive is 45 miles all freeway and little traffic most the drive.. ive never had this happen on my drive to work and ive had the car for a year now. Could the hybrid battery be dying? i have a cheap scan tool but that doesnt mean i will get the correct reading...
View 16 RepliesTrying to figure out whether to fix or scrap our 2005 Prius with 193,000 miles and a mysterious 12V battery problem. What would you do in my situation?
We've had a recurring problem with the 12V accessory battery: I have replaced it myself three times. The last failure was the most mysterious, because after replacing the 12V battery for the third time, I conducted nearly daily voltage tests using the Prius' "secret" vehicle signal check. Voltage coming off of the 12V was normal, if not high the entire time in all of the Prius's various starting and ready modes. I wired up a solar panel to trickle-charge the 12V battery when we weren't around, and we plugged the 12V in at night to a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up.
Nonetheless the day came a few months after the latest replacement when we had our usual 12V failure symptoms: the time on the clock started resetting, the car didn't turn on on the first press, the Prius computer rebooted, and eventually the car wouldn't start without a jump start. This has been super-frustrating, and googling around, I haven't been impressed by people's reported experiences trying to have the dealer try to resolve such problems. My worry is that a dealer repair person will change the accessory 12V battery without fixing the underlying problem. I would suspect a parasitic draw somewhere, but voltage tests when the car was overnighted without any kind of charging did not suggest a serious voltage draw on the 12V battery.
Other details about the car: our keyless entry hasn't worked for several years (dead batteries in the key fob?) and we open the car manually using the key each time. We stick the fob in the slot each time we want to start it. MPG is comparatively low vs. other Priuses, perhaps 44-45 MPG, and lower when the 12V battery starts to die (37-40). I have had the car serviced (oil, etc.) like clockwork every three months; recently, I've noticed the engine is starting to burn oil a bit (level is reported low on each change).
Most of the driving has been done in the flats and the heat of California's Central Valley, and we've put something like 120,000 miles on it just in the last five years. Besides the fact that the 12V battery keeps dying, the car has been very reliable.
We just inherited a free Prius with just 60,000 miles on it, and I have a 1993 Camry with 150k miles on the chassis and maybe 60k miles on the replacement engine I had dropped into it a few years ago. The Camry just passed California's smog test and seems to be running well. We don't want or need three cars.
Our choice is to try to fix the Prius with 193k miles on it and donate the Camry (which gets about 20 miles to the gallon, the horror...), or keep the Camry and donate the Prius. My instinct is to not drop thousands of dollars into the high-mileage Prius, especially if these issues might be pointing to a dying main battery.
I have got Prius 2004. I have got a problem. With MFD. It's showing the screen where it should show that the battery is charging but it's not showing the charging at all. Car is running fine and starts as normal. I have changed the 12V battery but it's still not showing the charging.
View 6 RepliesMy 2002 Toyota Prius keeps dying (triangle of death and OBD Code 3191) after running smoothly for a few seconds each time I start the engine. Clearing the DTC code allows restart. But the check engine light and triangle of death keep returning after a few seconds.
It has been doing all this since I recharged the 12V battery (which had been drained completely by a dome light left on for 3 days). Initial attempts to recharge the 12V battery were causing current spikes at charger, and (relay?) clicking sound under the hood. So I disconnected positive battery cable and charged the battery in isolation, then reconnected it to the vehicle after charging was complete.
When I reconnected the recharged 12V battery the vehicle (honking horn) alarm went off. But that stopped when I unlocked door with key. It may not be related, but I'm also hearing a fan-like sound (under driver seat) when ignition key is in run position. I don't recall hearing that sound in the past.
I have been experiencing this problem for sometime now. I notice it especially when the battery shows low and after stopping at a Stop sign. Also when I go uphill.
View 17 RepliesHad a company install fog lights on my replacement 2007 Prius I picked up after I totaled my 2008. When i went to pick the car up, the car wouldn't start. Showed the triangle of death and threw a code that the 12v was bad. Probably from having the car off and testing the fog lights continually - resulted in a drained battery. I picked up a brand new yellow top optima battery and thought this would resolve my issues. Nope, once the batter was replaced, the car wouldn't go into Drive or Reverse, only park or neutral. The current code is P0A0D. The shop is baffled. They removed all modified parts and still can't figure out the issue. They are currently replacing the interlock plug in hopes that this will resolve the issue.
View 19 RepliesI am on vacation and the AC has stopped working in my '01 Prius. I have run the HVAC diagnostic and it shows the "21" code. The only thing I can find related to this code is the solar sensor fault. I have located the solar sensor on the dash but am not sure how to remove (to replace) it. I have gotten the little black cover off of it but don't know how the rest comes out. Does it just pull out or unscrew or do I have to squeeze some tabs or what?
View 2 RepliesSo this morning, I started the car and quickly shifted into "R". Midway out the drive, ~20 yards, the engine stopped and triangle "!". Turn off and restart, no problem and alarm light remains. At a stop light, the Graham miniscanner found P3101; cleared the code, and; it is time for the Spring oil change the throttle body cleaning.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2001 toyota prius with 130k miles on it. 4 days back the triangle of death showed up on the dash board. The car would run fine for 3-4 miles, then brake light (on the dashboard) would turn on.
Sometimes the car would run fine with the brake lights, other times it would really slow down. Turning the car off and then on again gives me another 3-4 miles before the same story repeats again.
This triangle of death used to appear earlier too(6-7 month back), stay for few hours and then magically disappear, but this time I m not so lucky.
Since the summer started, our hybrid battery has been acting different - when the AC is on (even on low), the battery starts to go down quickly! It happens when we are not driving, but standing in traffic or parked. We just changed our 12V battery and I though it would work, but it didn't work much. In order for it to charge up, we have to keep driving. Is that normal? If not, what can be the problem? What can happen when the hybrid battery will loose charge?
View 19 RepliesWe've owned the 2009 LX570 (approx 101k miles) for about a month now. The vehicle has run fine, no issues. This morning it started very briefly (.25sec) then quit. Same thing over and over. I charged the battery, had it load tested and it all checks out fine. I cleared codes and rechecked it. No standard OBDII codes show, only the enhanced codes. Dash shows a CEL. We drove the vehicle yesterday a few times and all was fine...normal acceleration, started, etc. Then, this morning, it went down. I also pulled the MAF, cleaned it, reinstalled. Pulled the intake tube, cleaned the throttle body butterfly and corresponding area around the butterfly. It was slightly dirty but looked normal.
Here's what I have for codes:
P0300 Random Misfire Detected
P0011 Intake camshaft position timing - over - advanced (Bank 1)
P0012 Intake camshaft position timing - over - retarded (Bank 1)
P0014 Exhaust camshaft position timing - over - advanced (Bank 1)
P0015 Exhaust camshaft position timing - over - retarded (Bank 1)
P0016 Camshaft position - camshaft position correlation - Bank 1 Sensor A
P0017 Crankshaft position - camshaft position correlation - Bank 1 Sensor B
P0018 Crankshaft position - camshaft position correlation - Bank 2 Sensor A
P0019 Crankshaft position - camshaft position correlation - Bank 2 Sensor B
P0021 Intake camshaft position timing - over - advanced (Bank 2)
P0022 Intake camshaft position timing - over - retarded (Bank 2)
P0024 Exhaust camshaft position timing - over - advanced (Bank 2)
P0025 Exhaust camshaft position timing - over - retarded (Bank 2)
P0032 HO2S Heater Control Circuit High (Bank 1, Sensor 1)
P0052 HO2S Heater Control Circuit High (Bank 2, Sensor 1)
P0101 Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Range/Performance
I am uploading a short video to Photobucket, which perhaps illustrates what's happening better than I can describe. I will post it up once it clears on Photobucket. Cranking sounds normal and I can hear what sounds like the fuel pump activating as well. I know that low voltage on a CANBUS system can make weird things happen. However, since my battery checks out, I'm not sure on this one.
2000 Chevrolet 3500, rear wheel drive Fleetwood, 5.7 liter engine. Slightly over 200k miles on it. I bought it used on June 2nd this year. Bought it from a construction company and they take good care of their vehicles. They must have used it a lot on dusty roads. I made sure the air filter and brake fluids are OK.
June 2014, got new rotor and spark plugs, then after the engine quit on the road home, I had a sensor replaced somewhere in the axle, or transmission, an odd place. Now after 2.5 months of smooth operation, the 5 year battery died (it lived almost 6 years). I put in a new 84 month, heavy duty battery yesterday. Got in the truck to start it up and "click." The battery is doing its thing, lights up the dials and lights if necessary. I turn the key and pause a moment, I hear the fuel pump turn on. Then I turn the key and "Click." The engine does not make any effort to turn over. "Click." Nothing. There is a half tank of gas in it.
I suspect maybe a solenoid as part of the starter, maybe the fuel pump, maybe a blown starter fuse, or blown fuel pump fuse. Thing is they are square fuses and I can't see inside of them whether something is worn out.
We live 60 miles from a Chevrolet shop and maybe 50 from a generic shop. Having the truck towed that far will cost a fortune.