Repetetive unlock glitch drains battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by starla30, Feb 12, 2008.

  1. starla30

    starla30 New Member

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    So I left work today and heard a strange noise. Soft honking over and over. I started to approach my car and, oh no, please don't be... yes, it's my car.

    It sounded like the soft honk it makes when you unlock the car. Except I hadn't touched a button on the fob yet. Sure enough, that's my next step and nothing happened. My car continued to whimper at me as I tried in vain to get it to respond to my fob (which was lighting up so I know the fob is working).

    I popped the manual key out, got into my car, tried to start 'er up, and it sort of tried to light up the dashboard before sputtering off and freezing on "check engine" until the battery slowly drains that one away too.

    Now the car doesn't respond at all to anything.

    What the heck? I guess I'll replace the battery and hope that spares me a trip to the dealer. :p

    Is this at all normal?
     
    #1 starla30, Feb 12, 2008
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    No, not normal, but your cause and effect may be reversed. A low battery can cause the type of honking you describe. It's more likely you left a door ajar or a light on.

    Tom
     
    #2 qbee42, Feb 12, 2008
  3. starla30

    starla30 New Member

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    The strange thing is, I had gone to the car a few hours earlier and I clearly remember locking it afterwards and hearing the locking mechanism work. So the doors were shut.

    And I haven't had the cabin lights on for weeks.

    That's interesting that it can make that noise to warn about a dying battery though.
     
    #3 starla30, Feb 12, 2008
  4. starla30

    starla30 New Member

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    Oh, also, my cell phone was plugged into one of the outlets. Is there any chance at all it could have sucked power on a shutdown prius?
     
    #4 starla30, Feb 12, 2008
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    The Prius turns off the 12V outlets when it is powered down, so your cell phone shouldn't have caused any problems. The Prius doesn't make beeping noises to complain about a low battery, but a low battery can cause all sorts of weird behavior. There have been several reports of the alarm system going off due to low batteries. The alarm beeps loudly, but a low battery quiets it down.

    If you accidentally left the Prius in Ig-on mode, that would draw down the battery, but you should have noticed that when you locked the doors.

    Obviously I have no way of knowing if it was a battery problem, but it is one possible explanation.

    Tom
     
    #5 qbee42, Feb 12, 2008
  6. starla30

    starla30 New Member

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    Thank you very much Tom!
     
    #6 starla30, Feb 12, 2008
  7. MegansPrius

    MegansPrius GoogleMeister, AKA bongokitty

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    My wife had this exact thing happen to us this afternoon (2007 Prius, out of warranty).

    I'm going to try jump starting the battery tonight when I get home, following the manual (and of course being certian make sure the cables are correctly placed).

    Does anyone have any idea on how long I should let the car run to re-charge the 12V battery?
     
    #7 MegansPrius, Jan 25, 2011
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It takes several hours. The charger on the Prius isn't very aggressive.

    Tom
     
    #8 qbee42, Jan 25, 2011
  9. MegansPrius

    MegansPrius GoogleMeister, AKA bongokitty

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    Thanks Tom, that's good to know. --Scott
     
    #9 MegansPrius, Jan 25, 2011
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if your battery is original, you should probably replace it.
     
    #10 bisco, Jan 25, 2011
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