It appears as though my car is charging just slightly when I'm driving and my foot is neither on the accelerator or the brake. Is this normal?
Also, this light is on. I'm not sure what this is....
How I can charge my hybrid battery while driving on city streets with an average speed of 35-45MPH. Once I get off the highway, the hybrid battery is almost full, only missing two "bricks" or "Bars." I will then accelerate very slowly only using the electric motor to drive the vehicle for the next couple of miles.
Once the battery has depleted to where it only has two bars, I will then accelerate a little faster to run the engine so it can charge the battery. But, I bring up the energy monitor and then watch the arrows.. making sure that arrows are coming out of then engine to drive the vehicle AND making sure that the electric motor is not supporting the engine.
I have a 2010 with about 166k miles. I am getting a slight hesitation at slight acceleration or constant speed. It does not matter if it's on highway or freeway speeds. Now I am not sure if this in junction with me changing the PCV valve, cleaning the EGR pipe, or cleaning the TB for carbon recently. It started happening a week after it though.
View 19 RepliesI just bought a 2012 Prius c. There are oftentimes when I don't drive my car for a few days. When this happens, I have heard that the car might not start, especially in the winter. Is this true?
View 7 RepliesFrom my understanding, there are 3 batteries in the PIP. 2 of them are for EV mode, and 1 is for Hybrid mode. they are all hooked up together and also the electric motor when it is fully charged. when the first pack (ev pack) get's depleted, it will disconnect via relays from the remaining 2 packs. then when the second pack is depleted (second EV pack) it will discontinue from the last remaining pack. below is a small simple diagram of what it looks like:
Fully charged: (EV1)-----(EV2)-----(HYBRID)-----[motor]
1st pack depleted. still in EV mode: (EV1)---x---(EV2)-----(HYBRID)-----[motor]
both EV packs depleted and in HYBRID mode: (EV1)---x---(EV2)---x---(HYBRID)----[motor]
(x = disconnected)
195k miles.... I have charged the battery, I have bought a new battery, I have Charged the new battery... All with no avail.. Slowly but surely one at a time the abs trac control and stability control lights come on and eventually the triangle of death... Meaning when I shut it off its not going to restart.. If i drive it sparingly it might take a week if i drive it all day then it takes one day... when fully charged there is no warning or sign that there is a battery issue or draining untill the voltage is starting to get low. I have an ultra gauge hooked up and shows 14.14 while driving, I am lost as to whats the issue. also no codes or pending codes... I have taken the new battery to auto zone and had a functional test done.. said checked good... signed befuddled
View 19 Replieswhy the engine keep running but no charging and no driving? the car was down hill, the battery was fully charged (green), I did not accelerate ( my foot was not on the paddle), but the engine sometimes keep running with a very low gas consumption. this become more often in winter, even when car stopped. I would like to know is this normal for Prius or there is any I can do to improve this?
View 11 RepliesPrius Five 2012 fully loaded in Blizzard Pearl. A/C keep changing mode from face/head only to feet every 2-3 minutes on its own. Auto button light is off and this continues..... I've stumped all the dealers, no one has a fix.
View 11 RepliesMy dad's Gen III has been sitting garaged for almost a year now, and of course the 12 volt battery is dead. Firstly, it's sitting in a one car garage, and secondly I have a Gen II so a straight jump isn't possible. I have a trickle charger that should be able to bring the 12 volt back up in 15-19 hours, but here's my question:
Maybe I'm being lazy, but I'd rather not deal with climbing in the back to release the hatch and running an extension cord so I can get the charger close enough to hook straight up to the battery..
2010 gen III bought Aug 2009.
Would it be possible to disable HV battery charging or regeneration (with torque pro regen coop)? This way I could use battery and ICE power when going up a long mountainous area, and end up with 30% charge at the top instead of 60%. Then on the way down I could use regen to build back up the battery.
I noticed last night that my phone wasn't charging when plugged into the port under the dash. I tried the port in the arm rest and it too wasn't supplying power. The USB port did charge, however; so it's a limited issue, but one that will require a service call. My Prius is only two months old...
View 6 RepliesYesterday I was stuck in traffic and the battery eventually went down to 2 bars and the engine came on.
My question is: In stop and go traffic, if I stay in the first half (left part) of the HSI while the engine is on to recharge the battery, is the ICE turning the wheels or just charging the battery?
My 12 volt battery is flat. I attached my CTEK MXS 5.0 and started on the Normal setting. I figured (wrongly it seems) that having the battery charger attached would support in starting the car. The green light displayed when I depressed the brake pedal and I pressed the Start button, but everything went dim and the brake pump slowly wound into life. The Start button glowed was on but no other functions started.
I pressed Start again and the light went out. Now when I connect the battery charger, a whining noise starts from near the inverter. The speed varies; dropping from a peak and rising again, and there's probably a pattern to it.
I've disconnected the charger a few times and the noise stops immediately. I wonder if the car has not switched itself off. I've disconnected the charger and I'm waiting some period of time before connecting it again to see if something will fall asleep. If not, I'll just have to climb over the back and disconnect the battery from the car before I charge it.
Curiosity question. I've noticed that on a downhill of a couple miles, especially in "braking" mode or with the cruise control on, the motor/generator and engine are used to keep the speed down and the battery gets charged to the very top quite quickly. That's good!
On a really long downhill, will the motor/generator still be used for braking and the excess electricity discarded to keep from overcharging the battery?
Just installed on new alternator when my 2008 Odyssey broke down while on Va-ca in Utah. Battery charging warning light went on, slight electrical burn smell, battery drained. No power, car went into limp mode. Had it towed to nearby mechanic. Three days waiting for part.Replaced alternator and told me everything was cool. Only made it 50 miles after I picked it up. Same problem traveling through Mountain pass 6% grade with my wife and kids aboard. Had it towed again, only 5 days to make it 1500 miles back to work..
View 19 RepliesI've put almost 3K miles on my Prius C and there have been times when I've gone up a long hill that required spending a lot of time in the red POWER zone. For example climbing up into the Berkeley hills, but always on a less steep switchback route. Quite often by the time I get to the top I can smell something like a mild burning coming from the engine. I imagine this is a normal reaction from the motor to being used to get up a long hill, but it is unnerving anyway. It is noticeable inside the cabin also, but more pronounced over the hood.
View 9 RepliesFrom day one my 2012 Prius 3 has had a shake that starts at 63mph and goes away at 69mph. Sometimes it's worse then others. I can feel it in the steering wheel and the floor broards. I took it back to the dealer and they said they felt it but couldn't find anything wrong. They actually put new wheels and tires on it! It seemed alright for while but I noticed it again the other day, I don't drive that speed that often. I'm either below or above it but the other day I got caught in traffic doing 65 and noticed it right away. I made a new appt this next week at the dealer again. It's not real bad just more annoying then anything. I searched on here but couldn't find anything.
View 17 RepliesAbout a month ago, I noticed a slight 'thump thump' at speeds under 20 and started thinking either tire or wheel bearing. Turns didn't seem to change the sound/feel but it always smoothed out over 30 mph. I could not see anything visibly wrong with the tires other than the front pair needed to be replaced. Wear otherwise looked normal. But Monday night, I needed to pickup my laptop computer at work and my wife and her two dogs came along.
It was midnight when we left but for good measure, I felt around the tires and could feel nothing. Overcast, storms were predicted and were on the radar west of us. We walked the dogs; got the computer, and; Holly said she'd like a nightcap. So we went to a local bar and had a good time. Got back in the car, backed up less than 2 ft and 'poof' a cloud of white power flew from the passenger side, front tire:
As I was getting the tire off, a brief 'sprinkling' occurred...
When traveling over bridges that have a ribbed steel ramp over the draw portion of the bridge, my 2012 Gen III does a slight shimmy.
View 3 RepliesHad my 2010 Prius in for oil change (at Ford) and they noticed slight amount of seepage on one of the wheels. unfortunately, i did not pick up the car until several hours after the service dept closed so still waiting to get some details but wondering
View 3 RepliesMy 2010 Prius with 140000km has developed a vibration noticeable anywhere from 50-80 km/hr when in slight acceleration (just over 1/2 on the green bars) with the ICE running. Dropping the throttle or hard acceleration makes it disappear completely - which tells me it's driveline related. It feels like its coming from the passenger side, particularly rear, but it's definitely getting worse and I can now feel it in the driver's door panel so it's becoming a major concern.
My first thought (due to the location) was a bad muffler but it's not any louder. I'm starting to worry it may be a transaxle bearing. I can't see it being a cv joint as there's no noises when cornering and everything underneath looked OK at a recent oil change. I love this car (what Prius owner doesn't?) and I sure can't afford to replace it. It's been babied since day one.