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 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 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 RepliesI 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.
My 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.
I have the LED mod and several weeks ago, my LED stopped indicating and the truck would not start in cold weather unless I jumped the terminal on the relay. I replaced the relay and while I was tightening one of the small lugs, the one towards the nose of the truck, I felt it break.
The truck acted just like it had been for the weeks prior, if I didn't jump the relay, it wouldn't cold start, so I assumed, because I had broken that small lug, it wasn't getting the signal to turn them on.
So what now? obviously the GP's themselves are working, as the truck starts when I jump them. But for some reason no signal is getting to the relay. What do I need to check to see what is going on between the PCM and the relay?
The power steering fluid in my 2004 Nissan Frontier crew cab leaks as the weather turns cold, the colder it gets the worse it leaks.
View 4 RepliesWhen 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?
Anyway, I went out to start my truck just now and I'm getting a weird symptom.
The truck gets partial revolution and then to me it seems like the starter bendix pulls back in prematurely and this nasty clank and then a slight "zing". all within a second.
If I try a few more times, it seems to fire. But all the attempts before it fires sound pretty nasty to me.
Does this sound like a symptom of a bad starter/bendix?
A little further history, my excursion was broken into several years ago and they stole my pioneer head unit, in doing so, they forced the shifter down and since then it has been a little "loose". I'm wondering if it could be a neutral safety switch on the transmission?
Anyway, I'm getting ready to order a new neutral safety switch but wondering if I should go ahead a purchase a new starter as well?
just got the car drove over 1000 miles without issue. Then it rained a few days, could be unrelated. Drove a quarter mile and it all went to ... Finished the 3 miles and it wouldn't start. During said trip red triangle engine and exclamation mark yellow haunted to screen. Turned off the AC to listen. No strange noise. I believe only the ice was running, no hybrid. Regen was working. Current lights red triangle, yellow exclamation, brake, engine, abs, red car with exclaim, anti skid, will go into neutral. Power button will not turn green just amber. Battery 12.4. Hybrid almost full, inverter pump working. No thrown codes under info 3 seconds slash lights on off 3 times. Emv says ok. Brake lights working.
View 19 RepliesMy 96 mercedes c280 will not start in the winter. I moved from florida to ohio and when it gets close to freezing or below my car will not start. The lights on rear view mirror (immobilizer lights) blink for 30 sec. I have to wait any where from 5-30 min. to start car depending on how cold it is, otherwise car runs great.
View 2 RepliesI have a Chrysler Neon 2001 and due to the recent cold weather in Montreal i had issues starting it. The battery seems to be functioning properly but when i try to start it, there wont be any sound what so ever, also i found a broken plastic pipe which im not sure what its there for ( I have uploaded a photo of it).
Link to picture : [URL] ....
The colder it gets the harder it takes to start my 2000 Ford Explorer. Have read that it's the Intake Air Temperature Sensor.
View 3 RepliesMy Chevy Cobalt will not start in cold weather. I don't think bad battery is the case here because it's started in warmer temperatures. What could be wrong??
View 6 RepliesIn Jan my 94 Toyota Camry started having issues with starting- for instance, I would run an errand for 10 minutes get back in the car and it wouldn't start. However, this tended to be random. When this problem happened more often I took it in and they said I needed a new starter so I got one (Feb) and didn't have any issues for a month, but then began to have the same issue on and off again. I took my car back in for the second time and they said it must have been a bad starter. They gave me ANOTHER new starter (Apr) and my issues continued soon after. I took it back in and they didn't have an answer for me other than the starter was good. Took it to another mechanic and he had the car for two days and could not find ANY ISSUE with the car. I let it brush over during the summer months because I never had this issue (June-Aug) and now that it's gotten cold again I'm having this problem.
Few things to note: -Anytime I have this issue I'll hit the starter with a hammer and it will ALWAYS start. This has been the case since January.-It ALWAYS starts in the morning and when I get back in my car after working all day. However, if I were to run errands in the morning or at night it would not start with the stop and go. -This only happens in the cold months -They tested the newest starter and they say there's nothing wrong with it.-Within the past two years I've had MANY things replaced on this car and any shops I've taken it to say it's a great car with no issues they can find.
Cold start issues that my 2006 2.0T Passat is having. A few weeks ago, during a stretch of cold weather (10-20F), my Passat would sputter when I tried starting it up. It would either start and immediately shut off, would attempt to turn over, and generally on the 3rd attempt would turn over and run fine. I was only having this issue in the morning, and it would start fine when I would leave work (9 hour shifts).
I got my battery tested, and it proved to be failing. Replaced it. A few days later cylinder 4 started to misfire. I replaced all spark plugs and coil packs (85k on the car). During this service discovered that my oil had gotten some moisture in it and have off-white residue, flushed oil, replaced with new filter. A few days go by and I get code P2181 (cooling system performance). I cleared this out earlier today and it hasn't come back (50 miles later).
Are things just starting to go at the same time, or might there be another underlying issue? I have plans to flush the tranny and do the timing belt/coolant/water pump in the next month.
It will turn over just fine but it won't start. If we wait almost exactly 10 minutes, it will start fine.
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