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Caution: Shift to the Position....

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011.

  1. jsquareg

    jsquareg New Member

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    2009 Prius.

    Several times recently, the following has occurred. I start the car and back out of the garage and put the car in to D. Immediately I get a Caution message saying some thing like, "Shift to the P position when parked. The batteries will not charge if the shift position is in neutral." All doors are closed and I am in D not in neutral The only way I can clear the warning is to shut every thing down and let the care sit for a few minutes so I put the car back into the garage and use my other car.

    Can someone tell me what is going on? Thank you very much.
     
    #1 jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011
  2. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Check your 12V battery voltage. This is one of the typical random alarms that are a sympton of low battery voltage.
     
    #2 jdcollins5, Dec 18, 2011
  3. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

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    Definitely check your 12v battery. Make sure all connections are tight.
     
    #3 firepa63, Dec 18, 2011
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    And please: check your spelling, LOL. It's not in the title so you can edit it. ;)
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Dec 18, 2011
  5. jsquareg

    jsquareg New Member

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    I checked the battery several months ago via the MFD but I'll be darned if I can remember how I did it. Would you remind me?

    Thank you.
     
    #5 jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011
  6. jsquareg

    jsquareg New Member

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    Re: Caution: Shift to the P Position....

    Wow, I missed that! Left out a space. Title should read ....Shift to the P position.

    Thanks for pointing that out.
     
    #6 jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011
  7. jsquareg

    jsquareg New Member

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    Is two goofs in one message a record? :)

    Found the other one to which I assume prompted your message. Inserted an 'F' where appropriate.

    Thanks again.
     
    #7 jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011
  8. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    The best way to test the battery voltage is with a voltmeter if you have one. I checked mine through the MFD and it read 0.7V lower than with a voltmeter at the battery terminals. So I do not trust the MFD screen any more.

    To get to the Maintenance screen, I believe you go to the Info-Phone screen then turn the headlights on and off 3 times. There are several threads on here if this does not work.
     
    #8 jdcollins5, Dec 18, 2011
  9. ItsNotAboutTheMoney

    ItsNotAboutTheMoney EditProfOptInfoCustomUser Title

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    Deleted: never mind, car in D.
     
    #9 ItsNotAboutTheMoney, Dec 18, 2011
  10. jsquareg

    jsquareg New Member

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    As it turns out, you turn the headlights on/off fourtimes:)

    Guess I will have to dig out my decades old Simpson meter and check that against the MFD.

    Thanks for all your help.
     
    #10 jsquareg, Dec 18, 2011
  11. prius2007owner

    prius2007owner New Member

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    I just had the same error message happened to me. I drive a 2007 Prius.
    I had left the interior light on and the battery died. After the jump from AAA, the car started back but when I put it in drive, the error came on - "Caution - Shift to the P position when parked. The batteries will not charge if the shift position is in neutral. "
    AAA checked the battery and told me it was WEAK.
    I had it towed to Toyota, but they are telling me over there that nothing is wrong with the battery, which I find really weird. They are saying that something is wrong with my Gear Selector Assembly, and want to replace it for over $600.
    I'm not sure what to do, but reading from various forum postings, it seems to me it would be a problem with the 12V battery, which is over 5 years old and should be changed anyway. So I told Toyota to start by replacing the battery, which I meant to do sooner or later anyway, and we'll take it from there. Needless to say, they weren't happy I didn't blindly agree with them and were a little rude I thought.
    If you have an update on your problem, jsquareg, I would love to find out what happened, if you got the problem fixed and how. Thank you.
     
    #11 prius2007owner, Apr 9, 2012
  12. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    No it's probably the battery and you were right in replacing it.
    For some reason dealers are notoriously incapable of detecting when that little battery is bad.
     
    #12 edthefox5, Apr 9, 2012
  13. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    On a side note, it just happens that the voltage drop through a Diode is .7 volt. The point that the MFD measures and displays the battery voltage, I would bet, is after a protection diode somewhere in the system!
    While the protection diode is a good thing, it will cause a .7v drop!
     
    #13 KK6PD, Apr 9, 2012
  14. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    No there definitely shouldn't by any diode drop between the 12V terminal and where the MFD measurement is sampled. I get displayed measurements that agree to within about 0.1 volts with my voltmeter readings.

    The most likely reason for getting that type of discrepancy would be if the battery was weak and the two readings were taken under different load conditions. Eg, voltmeter measurement under absolute no-load (prius off) and service menu measurement in Ig-On mode. This could easily result in one measurement at 12.3V and one at 11.8V if the battery was slightly weak, with the weaker the battery the more the discrepancy.
     
    #14 uart, Apr 9, 2012
  15. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    Hi there, so you took your Voltmeter and measured at the battery posts and that reading and the MFD voltage reading agreed within .1 v?
    If so that kicks the Diode idea out the window! :eek:

    I have run into situations where there was a discrepancy of .7 due to a protection diode, stupid I know, I just fix 'em. I don't designs 'em !!
    Thanks for your post!:D
     
    #15 KK6PD, Apr 9, 2012
  16. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Yes, I just searched out the post where I reported this previously and I'll cut and paste the results. (BTW, DVM = digital volt meter.)

    * I didn't measure the voltage at the battery terminals when charging because I know it's somewhere around 14 volts and wasn't too concerned with the exact value on this one.
     
    #16 uart, Apr 9, 2012
  17. Josh Sandusky

    Josh Sandusky New Member

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    One of your car doors is open. Check that all doors are completely closed. The Prius will signal this error whenever one of your car doors is open, assuming that you intend to be parked not driving. I bet this is more likely your problem than something a bit unusual like a drop in battery voltage.
     
    #17 Josh Sandusky, Apr 2, 2015
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  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that was it, thanks!
     
    #18 bisco, Apr 2, 2015
  19. rogerdpack

    rogerdpack Junior Member

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    For me this meant "the hood isn't all the way closed" guess it counts that as a door...

    As a note to the admins, the "login with google/facebook/twitter" all don't work...
     
    #19 rogerdpack, Apr 4, 2022
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