I think this happened last year. Whenever it happened, I know it's happened before. It only happens when it's cold outside. Yesterday, it was 18ºF which, Priapus was happy to show me, equates to -6ºC.
View 14 Replies"Vehicle with smart key system: The indicator light flashes after the "POWER" switch has been turned OFF to indicate that the system is operating." I have noticed that my immobilizer light will not blink when it has the no start issue. usually when the key is out the light blinks but when it won't blink.... it won't start.
View 19 RepliesIt has been cold recently (out of the past week, highs in 20's or lower). This hasn't been as much of an issue before, but in the past week I have had the red triangle of death, brake warning light, check engine light, and VSC light all come on at the same time, three separate times. Also, the display screen shows a red outline of a car with "!" through it. Each time this has happened, the lights didn't come on as soon as the car was "Ready" but only after the gas engine was running for a minute or two.
The first time the lights came on, I was driving back from class, but after I got back to my house I did some internet research and saw it may be a low oil indicator. Checked the oil, it was almost at the bottom mark on the dipstick, and it had been over 10,000 miles since the last one (oops! we don't normally do that). After reading some stories online, I took it in to get an oil change, and the lights went off for a couple days. Second time the lights came on, I checked the oil level, it was definitely over-filled, so I took it back to Walmart and had them redo the oil so that it was at the right level. I checked the oil level before leaving the parking lot that time and it was at the top mark on the dipstick. Again, all the lights were off for a couple days.
Today, I drove my car for about an hour in the morning (temperature was around upper teens, wind chill below 10) and had no problems. Then, this evening I turn the car on and start driving out of the parking lot when the car beeps at me and flashes all of the warning lights again. I drove back to my house and it is now sitting in the driveway. I am not planning on driving it until I can have a car mechanic friend take a look at it on Tuesday, but he doesn't know anything about the hybrid system/battery.
My wife and I have also noticed that since the weather has been colder, the hybrid battery (shown on the "Energy" screen when driving) seems to be charging and discharging much faster than normal. I haven't seen it at only 1 bar or full of green bars more than a couple times in the 2.5ish years we have owned the car, but in the past two weeks it has happened 5-10 times (estimated). I am not sure if this is due to the weather, or if it could indicate a problem with the (hybrid?) battery. For obvious reasons, this makes us nervous :/
As a side note, I changed the transmission fluid sometime in December, so I was wondering if possibly I didn't put enough fluid back in. I have checked the diagnostic screen and found some codes, but most of them seem to relate to the audio, which doesn't concern me as much as the code that seems to indicate the transmission, which is why I mention the change I did a while back. I just don't know why it wouldn't have shown up until now. I'll attach some pictures I took tonight of the codes and lights.
Also, the battery is a couple years old, but after sitting for a couple hours the battery was reading 12.1 V according to the diagnostic screen, so I don't think that is the issue. We haven't had any trouble getting the car to start, and once it is running it still seems to drive normally with the warning lights on. What these codes mean, and a possible cause for the warning lights?
I have an 05 Prius with 108k miles I bought about 2 months ago. My commute to work each morning is 1.5 miles with speeds of 25mph or less.
Usually the car has acted the same way each day. The ice spins consistently as I creep along to work. But last night the temps dropped to -10f and this morning when I left for work it was about 3 above. I turned on the car and instead of the few seconds after ready it takes for the ice to turn on it turned on right away today. I let it warm for about 3 minutes then set off. Right away I noticed the ice start to Rev up.
And as I slowly approached 25 MPH it was revving abnormally high. It was showing energy from the ice to the wheels and to the mg and charging the battery which was at the normal state of charge. All blue, right before green. When I stopped at a light about 1 mile in the ice turned off as normal, and started right away as normal. But it seemed the ice was still revving as if it was working very hard to pick up a slow increase in speed.
I pulled into my parking spot, battery showing green state of charge now, and the motor stopped as usual. I do not run the heat on this trip and it takes usually 5 minutes, so I just tough it out.
I've got a 2008 Prius which I bought used last summer. It works quite well except for one behavior: In cold weather, sometimes, the car either does not start at all, or starts without the dashboard gauges lighting up.
View 13 RepliesMy 2005 Prius shifts into Neutral, "N", when I put it either into Drive, "D", or Reverse, "R", during Cold weather, mid 20's and below. It will only stay in "B" to drive, and I have to hold the shifter in "R" to back up or "D" to drive. After the car warms up while driving 15-20 minutes in "B", I can shift it into "D" and it will stay there. I normally start the car and let it warm up in the morning for 10-15 minutes on cold days, below 25F but still I'm only able to drive it in "B" until it's ready. I just moved to Montana after driving this car in normal Southern California driving conditions. It happened while vacationing in Montana during the winter of 2007 a few times but it didn't bother me since I wasn't living there. I reported to Toyota but they couldn't do anything since the weather wouldn't co-operate. This car is still under 70,000 miles.
View 9 RepliesOn some cold winter mornings, my dashboard stays dark. Later, sometimes hours later, it lights up normally.
View 4 RepliesMy wife's 2007 Prius Dash lights stop working in extreme cold weather. We have asked the dealer 3 times about it but to no avail! I don't even know where to start with this one?
View 2 RepliesThis is the second year I've owned my 2007 Prius, and it seems to be getting worse.
In the summer, the hatch will open with ease! The handle recognizes my hand there and unlocks the hatch and whammo bammo we're in business. In the winter, especially the really really cold weather like we're having now (down to about 10 over night) the hatch refuses to open.
When it is cold (below 30 degrees) and above about 30mph, there is a loud high pitched squeal (rather like the pitch of a squealing hearing aide)that seems to come form the front drivers side. The colder it is, the louder it is.
When I am able to take it in it is too warm to hear it. What might be causing the noise and will they be able to figure it out if it isn't making the sound?
My CM will only display in metric (as opposed to US) standards, regardless of how much, how often or when you push the button to switch between US and metric. In addition the ODO no longer displays the correct millage and flashes constantly.
View 1 RepliesNot the usual. I stopped on my way home to get gas tonight when the gauge was showing one pip. Naturally it wasn't low, but I'm used to that.
The odd thing is that after I got in the car and turned it back on the gauge stayed at one pip and the fuel display on the multi-function display didn't reset.
I was heading home last night from work and noticed something odd. It was the first pretty cold night that we have had around 20-25 deg. and I took off from the parking lot like normal.
When I got to the first stop light about a mile down the road I heard what sounded like the engine revving up right when I took my foot off the gas pedal. It did this as I coasted to the stop light. It also did it again at the next stop light just up the street. I thought maybe it was the heater blower, but It really sounded and felt like the engine revving. The car did not accelerate or anything, is this part of the warm up or normal? I also have the lower grill blocked but I don't see how that would make any difference.
2004 Passat 1.8t that is intermittently not starting. The problem only happens when the car is cold. When I turn the key, the car cranks just fine but will not start. All of the dash lights light up and I had the battery tested and it is fine. Tonight it took about 5 minutes of repeated cranking and waiting before the car started.
After a 15-minute trip home and it had a chance to warm up, the car starts just fine. I've taken it to my mechanic but they haven't been able to replicate the problem. I'm thinking about leaving it overnight just so they'll be able to replicate it.
Not sure if it could be related, but I just had a coil replaced a few weeks ago (the coil was <1 year old). The plugs are only 3 months old.
Need to know if the brake line fittings are SAE or metric? Mine blew a leak on the line that runs behind the gas tank on the drivers side frame. It's a 2004 5.4l f 350 4 x 4, 4 wheel disc brakes...
View 4 RepliesI got a new Prius Plug-in 2012 and when the cold weather came this winter, which isn't that cold at 40F, the 12v battery seems to get discharged very often. This week, I must have jumpstarted the car twice already. The 12v battery seems to get drained when I park outside in the (not so) cold, or when I park underground for hours. I also notice that the traction battery gets filled up; it's as if the 12v battery drains into the traction battery.
(I leased a Prius 2010, not plug-in, for 3 years and this never happened even if I parked it for days in even colder weather.)
I have a 2004 2.4 liter camry .
When I first started the car it hesitated a bit but,it was very cold. I went to give it a shot of gas but had no pedal response . I shut the car off gave the gas pedal a few whacks and it worked fine .
On the way home the car worked fine for about 30 km , just before I got home the pedal had no response again, shut the car off , started it and drove home .
The next day it was worse , so I put it on a scanner ,the scans said bad throttle position sensor (tps) and also a few codes for throttle body valve sticking or bad signal .
I tried the easy fix first and changed the gas pedal with sensor , same thing , then I changed the throttle body itself , same thing, then went a installed a computer (ecu) and that won't even start the car .
My ecu 89661-06a0, replaced it with 89661-06a2.
The car will start on all 4 cyl and idle high for a few sec then drop like normal , once the idle hits 8k rpm the car is only fires on 2 cylinders 2 and 3 , (changed then swapped coils no difference) as its idling on 2 cylinders and I press the gas pedal it will rev to about 2k rpm and run on all 4.
Our late '04 touarg has been experiencing an intermittent tpms failure. Seems to occur only during sub-20 degree farenhiet whether and only when the 'egg is cold (i.e. parked outdoors or in an unheated garage) and generally occurrs shortly after starting/driving the car. Message we receive states that the system has failed (not flat tire/defective wheel/etc). The fault will then clear itself after around 10 minutes. Any solutions?
View 16 RepliesUneven throttle response during cold weather engine warm-up? When sub freezing weather arrived a few weeks ago my 2010 Prius developed uneven acceleration during engine warm-up. The car was purchased in October and it ha less than 3,000 miles.
Gradual depression of the accelerator results in a very small, tiny in fact, amount of increasing power to the wheels, not in proportion to the usual smooth and responsive amount of cold starts above freezing temperatures.
Continued depression leads to a point about halfway to the floor when the engine, which of course has been running all along, suddenly surges and the car takes off with a jolt of power. Not smooth, impossible to control well and unacceptable. Many would say this is unsafe.
My 2005 Prius never had, and my wife's 2007 does not have this issue. Could be a cold weather related accelerator defect as with the Camrys, but this is not mechanical sticking as was the case with the Camrys, its an electronics error like a faulty sensor or cold start injector.
In our recent -20 F cold spell in Chicago, I noticed the ride got very stiff, have others experienced this in very cold weather? My theory is that the oil in the shocks or dampers become extra viscous at these temps and the cold shocks causes the ride to becomes like that of a Honda Civic with a dropped suspension. (It's so amusing to watch those Civic "low riders" going over railroad crossings, but it's all image right????)
Anyway I would think the colder temps would lower the air pressure in the tires, softening the tires a bit, but perhaps the rubber hardens counteracting that benefit. I have Michelin Primacy BTW. Since temps went back up above about +10 F ride seem to be OK again.
I read about the white smoke and I found that is normal in cold weather!! Is that true and what do you think ?
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