Prius (2004-09) :: Battery Drain On Long Hill / Mountain Climb
Apr 23, 2012
I go over a mountain pass, to and from work. It is about a two mile up and down incline/decline. On several occasions while going up the pass,the gas motor has rapidly accelerated at a high rpm. I back off the gas pedal and check the 'battery indicator bars' and there are none. I then drive very slowly to the top of the pass and the batteries quickly recharge on the decline to a color of all light green bars, indicating a full charge. Same experience coming home. Once I do normal town driving, the bars settle around 'four or five blue bars.' Local dealer says there is on problem. I am driving at 55 mph when this happens.
View 4 Replies
Advertisement
My 2007 Prius has 120,000 miles. I live in a mountainous area. I need to climb 3 miles at 6% grade to get out of my neighborhood. Lately I've been noticing the traction battery loses charge fairly quickly and I've been thinking about replacing the battery. Much of my driving is in steep hills and I run a full charge cycle many times a day, so I guess I should expect some loss of life.
View 7 Replies
2005 Prius transmission starting to slip after hard mountain road climb? Just started to do this. Is there a transmission dip or check capability?
View 12 Replies
Will it drain the battery to leave the rear hatch open for extended time? i.e. for tailgating or camping (2008 Prius)
View 6 Replies
A few days ago I posted a thread about losing power on a steep hill climb with a cold engine. I replaced the hybrid battery and all seemed well. A few days later, the problem occurred again--bummer. (The car has 120K miles and has spent most of its life in a hot and mountainous environment, and I knew the hybrid battery was failing, so that's not a problem.)
The car starts the climb OK, gains a few hundred feet in elevation, still has some charge left in the hybrid battery, then loses power, surges a couple of times, then comes to stop. The engine continues to run at idle and I get no warning or check engine lights. The "ready" light stays on. This time, the second time it happened, I turned off the car, turned it back on again immediately, and all was well. The remainder of the 1000' climb went fine. As did several other similar climbs on the same drive. Since then I've climbed this hill with a cold engine without a problem, so it's intermittent.
I hesitate to pay Toyota for a code scan since the check engine light did not come on. Should I do this anyway? My local auto parts store will scan for free, but I know that their scanner will not read Toyota-specific codes, just industry standards.
View 9 Replies
I recently got my 2007 Prius back from the body shop after a 13k repair following a crash that crumpled my front end. The car seemed to be doing fine, until a long, steep climb had the battery drop to one bar, speed dropping to 40 despite a floored accelerator, and a red triangle that appeared briefly before disappearing just as we completed the climb. It's the dropping speed despite a floored accelerator and the warning light that have me worried.
View 19 Replies
I've noticed that my 2012 Passat TDI heats up a bit when going over a steep hill or mountain pass. When driving up steep hills I notice that the temp gauge climbs from the dummy position 190* to about 200*. Once I crest the hill the temp will go down and it won't go up again unless I go up another hill. Is this normal? I had assumed that the temp gauge was a dummy gauge like in most cars so seeing the temp actually climb has me concerned.
View 4 Replies
I recently bought a 2004 Prius with 104,000 miles on it. When I try to go up into the mountains I only get a few miles or up to 1,000 to 2,000 ft. elevation (from 300 ft. starting) and the battery level gradually drops from 6 bars to 1 bar. The red triangle light and check engine light comes on and the car speed gradually begins to drop even if I continue to press on the gas pedal. I have only gotten down to about 35 MPH from 60-65 mph before stopping and turning around. Within a few miles of turning around the light goes off and the battery goes back up to 6 bars and works good going down hill.
The dealer I bought the car from has been working with me to figure out the problem but so far we have not figured it out. He has replaced the main battery as well as the inverter/converter. The mechanic was with me on a test drive to the mountains and had his car computer plugged in while we drove and experienced the same thing. It gave the code for the catalytic converter so we changed the entire CC/muffler (one long piece) and still got the same code. The battery indicator on this car has never shown more than 6 bars. I personally think it has a bad "Gas Engine" or something wrong with the gas engine.
View 3 Replies
I started having a problem last week when my 2007 Prius was setting for two days while I was using my pickup truck. Found the 12 volt battery dead so I disconnected it and tested it with a battery load tester. And it showed it was bad. Well Ok, that figures, since it was an OEM battery and ~6-7 years old.
I have another 2007 Prius here for body repairs so I took the aftermarket (newer) battery out of it and topped the charge off in it. The battery load test indicated it was still a serviceable battery.
Put it in the car and cleared the red triangle, etc.. Everything was fine.
Since I was still going to be short one battery, I contacted Battery Systems, my shops battery dealer and ask them to drop off a new Yellow Top Optima that fits the Prius (FYI my shop price is $159.96). I would be a couple days til their deliver truck would be here and again I left the car sit for a couple days and drove my truck. On the day of the delivery, I had an appointment and drove the Prius, about 15 miles. No problem. Left it at in a street parking space for about 2 hours. Came out and all systems were dead. Nothing. Dome light was the only indication that the battery was so low that it was very dim. Head light were off and I hadn't used them while driving.
I called for road service and got a jump start and the systems came up and I was able to clear the Read Triangle when I got home by turning the car off and back on again.
The new Yellow Top Optima arrived shortly there after and I installed it. Drove the car for 6 days and this morning everything was fine when I drove to church and left it, head lites off (never had used them), came out 2 hours later and when I started the car, I got the Red Triangle and Ready but continued home. I turn it off and on again but this time I got no Ready but the Triangle and the whole sting of check light. Could only get it from park into neutral. Nothing else. Wouldn't clear.
Using my Torque Pro program, tried to read the ECU and it indicate no codes stored, Several tries, no codes or history. Called friend who has reader that will read the CAN Bus and he managed to find an odd P0503 code having to do with a speed sensor. Cleared that and the Triangle went out.
In the end I went and checked the voltage of the new battery and it was only 12.01 volts. I put the load tester on it and the condition is fine. Just the charge voltage is low.
View 19 Replies
I've a 01 elantra its a 2 litre tubro diesel. There is no power in the engine even to climb a small hill...
View 1 Replies
We have experience dead car, no start conditions with our 07 Prius at least 4 times. The nearest we can figure is that there is a drain when we place the car in ACC mode, close the power windows then turn it off. This kills the car in less than 3 hours. The last time the hybrid system complained about being in neutral when jumped...we NEVER use Neutral
View 5 Replies
At about 92k miles (2 months ago), my 2005 Prius started having a battery issue... When going about 40 mph and above and not having to stop or apply my brakes, my battery would drain (to just 1-2 bars) in about 5-10 minutes and not recharge until I got into stop-and-go traffic (this would happen about 9 out of 10 times). Mpg was still pretty good during that time, but when I finally had to stop, the engine had to kick on to recharge the battery and my mpg just sucked...I went from averaging 45 mph to 39 mph.
I took my car into the dealership for them to have a look and to also perform my 95k service. When I told them that I feared the battery was dying, they said that the good news was that I had another year on my warranty (not sure if the battery warranty is extended in California). The service advisor eventually came back and stated that they had also observed the battery charging problem and that they had to pinpoint the exact problem (either an igniter, a battery cell, or something else that I can't remember). They even started the process of getting me a rental car for a couple of days.
However, the service advisor then came back and stated that no problem was found...he even walked me back into the garage where they were working on all of the cars just to ask the technician working on my car if there was a problem...he also stated that no problem was found. When I asked how initially a problem was found and then suddenly not found, I really didn't get a straight answer (I should have pressed harder). Anyway...after 10 hours in the shop, they pulled my car around and the manager came out to speak to me...stating how the 95k service showed no problems and how no problem with the battery was found. When I asked about how to prove to them that there really was an issue, he stated that if the problem kept occurring I could bring it back in and they could have one of their tech leads drive it home for the night as kind of a road test.
View 13 Replies
gen 3 owner here. Pretty happy with the car and the mpg. One thing I don't fully understand is when I going uphill on the freeway at 65 mph (such as LA's 405 sepulveda pass), the bar gauge is telling me I am in the power region, but the energy flow graph is showing the battery is switching back and forth between charging and discharging. The battery level just stuck at 1 bar below full. Any way to get the battery to work out more during uphill, as I expect I can recover them shortly as I go downhill?
View 19 Replies
My neighbor has a 1995 Dodge Dakota 3.9L that I have been trying to get back in good reliable condition. It has the 3.9L V6, manual transmission, and is 2WD if that matters. It is a pretty basic truck and must have about the fewest options they had that year. It has air conditioning but no radio as it came this way from the factory.
It has an issue which I suspect is vacuum related. When you accelerate or climb a hill, the HVAC acts really crazy. The vents start blowing air and then stop. It doesn't do this on a flat surface but does it immediately when you accelerate or otherwise put the engine under greater load.
I have inspected all the vacuum lines and found nothing wrong. There have been some issues with mice building a nest in the air cleaner but I couldn't find anything chewed. Where to look?
View 9 Replies
I have had this happen before (and drove right to the dealer but it was fine when I got there) and it happened again today. Its a very hot day and I had forgot to turn off my AC and radio when I shut the car down. So I started it up put it in drive (or reverse) and it would just jump to neutral and the battery was drained (purple lines) because this had happened before I knew that if I held it in place and turned off the AC I could drive and be fine in a few minutes and that's what happened. Is it just because on a hot day it drains the battery too fast. Its a 2008 Prius with no other problems but this. Its just an annoying thing that makes me crazy.
View 15 Replies
99 F-150 V8 - During mountain driving after a long downhill I get a cloud of smoke when I get back on the gas. Appears to be darker smoke not oil like blue smoke. Only other issue I have with the truck is an occasional cloud of blue smoke when I start it which I believe is just aging valve seals. What is causing the cloud of smoke after a downhill?
View 9 Replies
I have an opportunity to get a high voltage battery from a salvage Prius. I don't need a replacement now but thought having an extra battery would be a good idea. How long can the battery be stored? Maybe switch them out every few months to keep both charged?
View 3 Replies
2008 Prius gen ll.. I had to take an unplanned out of state trip this week. For most of the highway time (2 days each way at +/- 65mph) the hybrid battery was almost always fully charged(green bars). The arrow every few seconds pointed towards the battery indicating charging even though the battery showed all green bars. Every now and then, several times per minute it would out pulse a short blast of energy to the system but not enough to bring it down to blue bars.
MPG was down about 10% . P>G didn't seem to except when I was in town. Taking my foot off the gas pedal didn't always result in the 99.9 indication unless I was going down an incline. I went from Northern Michigan to South Louisiana so temperature wasn't the culprit. The only thing different is that my 12v ignition battery failed just before leaving and the dealership replaced it.
At normal speeds, when I pulled off the interstate for gas/food/sleep the system worked OK, blue bars charging and discharging and good gas mileage. P&G worked normally. I've had this car for 5 years now and only a few times over that period have I noticed the hybrid battery fully green.
View 8 Replies
I've noticed that my car is struggling a lot to climb uphill. I am not seeing any signs yet but I hear the gas engine running hard all the time going 30mph-50mph depending on elevation. Battery level on the monitor is always one or two purples when climbing up but it charges pretty quickly downhill. Should I risk driving the car anymore? My next destination is Yellowstone and Banff National Park so these driving conditions will continue.
View 19 Replies
Just wondering if leaving the USB plugged in with the car is off drains the battery at all? Should I unplug it when I shut the car off or is it ok to just leave it plugged in?
View 4 Replies
I never reset my avg MPG readout but this morning I did. The digital readout jumped to 99.9mpg (was going down a long hill) but the needle stayed at 25mpg. If anything I thought it would have jumped to the highest possible which would have been 60 i think.. it didn't budge. I tried resetting a few times after that and it still stayed at 25 no matter what the digital one said.. how to fix it? I seriously probably haven't reset it in almost 2 years so is it possible the needle is literally just stuck from not being reset? The mpg needle doesn't bother me that much but if that's the quality of the gauge needles I worry about the gas one quitting on me..
View 3 Replies
