Weird stuff happening? MPGs dropping? Test The Battery

No...no odd warning lights...EXCEPT for the scenario I first described in post #170, if you care to start there and read through the whole saga.
No...door is closed.
No aftermarket alarm or any other non Toyota feature that I know of.
I am not original owner.
Bought it not quite 2 weeks ago from original owner.
28,500 miles.
Not aware of any water damage.

Thanks for your reply

 

Performed the battery check on my 2006 prius with 112400 miles on it, just got it last Sat , March 9th 2013
hitting the power button once it read 12.2v
hitting it again to acc mode 11.8v
turing it on to ready 14.2v
is this still ok or should I get a new 12v battery??
I had the ATF fluid change today and the PCV valve replaced
next week Im going to have the engine collant and the invertor collant changed out.
Does anyone know of a good mechanic that works on the prius hybrid that works near the philly suburbs ? 19438 is my zip
I thank everyone for all their help and all the good info on here, thanks Gregg

 

I'd go ahead and replace your 12v battery. Dealer version or optima version your choice either way you are looking at $150+ depending on how pricing is currently.

If you don't have some honkin big amplifier for a radio or everything under the sun turned on you should never see 10.x volts on the MFD.

When I saw 10.x volts I saw the P transmission warning and a few weeks later the car wouldn't turn on at all. Every trip you take at this point is risking that same fate.

 

it

personally I'd wait on yours until you see lower readings or start getting one of the weirder symptoms like the P transmission or MFD not coming on or noticeably lower non winter gas mileage. I was still getting good gas mileage on my 2005 even when the 12v battery was so weak I couldn't use it to start the car so I wouldn't let gas mileage worry you much on this issue.

If you are in the middle of nowhere often or in a bad part of town and want to be darn sure it'll start go ahead and replace it. If you have money to spare you can do so for the heck of it.

Myself I'd probably pull another summer out of it and replace it more around fall/winter when the voltage drops.

 

Yup- replaced at the Toyota dealer today in Ventura CA with a "TrueStart" brand battery, which is a Toyota OEM according to my service consultant and it has a "prorated" 7 year warranty.
One of the cells was bad according to mechanic and consultant.
Cost $300- $200 for battery and 100 labor.
Now I can take my ROAD TRIP!!

 

I had a similar (if not the same) thing happening with my '08 a few months ago. My voltage was dropping quickly during my meter test so I knew I needed to replace it soon. The beeping could better be described as a tone in my case because it stayed on until the door was closed. In written word: beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep (door closed - no tone). I eventually had a dead battery on my hands just as people had warned me on this thread. I jumped the car and got it to the dealer for a replacement axillary (drive?) battery. I asked everyone at the dealership about the tone and no one had a clear answer. It sounds like it is a warning for the low voltage on the axillary battery, which is good to know for the next time I need to replace it.

 

In my case it was a quick beep...In written word: beep..beep..beep..

 

So I was perusing my handy Prius 2008 Owner's Manual and ran across this:

When the outside temperature drops below 37 °F (3 °C).
Also except the screen where outside temperature is displayed, outside temperature and
* are displayed in the upper portion of the screen for a few seconds.
* : may not be displayed depending on the display type

The Astrix(*) is in place of a picture in the manual that looks like a road with a snow flake on it seemingly warning you to be careful of wintery road conditions.

I found it on page 190 and it can also be seen by clicking on the "2008 Prius: Using the touchscreen" PDF on the Toyota website:
Toyota Online Owners Manuals and Technical Manuals

 

Thank you for this info, I have a 2009 and a 2008 Prius, the 2009 is my work car, the other my wife's. Since my 40K service in November, I have gone from 50 mpg to 43.3. The dealership says nothing is wrong with the car, and Toyota referrred me back to the dealership. Any thought appreciated.

 

Scifipa,

Where do you live and what kind of driving do you do? Short trips in cold weather and the mileage drops which is why I ask. And that could explain some of the change. But only about half in my case.

Also what did they say they did to your car at the 40k?

 

Sorry all,
I drive the same 20 mile+ each way commute, city driving, year round in Virginia. So only occasionally do I see temps under freezing, and then only on the am portion. I had the tires replaced , at the dealership, and air pressure is as reccomended. My driving conditions have not changed, the only change, so far as I can see, is the 40K dealer service, but I took the car back and they were more amused than concerned!

 

My car is a 2005 with 177710 miles, bought used. Yesterday, the dash lit up with the ABS, VSC, (!), check engine, emergency brake and the red triangle. There was also a steady beeping sound, like you're driving with the door open. The car shift itself into neutral and then shut off into IG ON. The steering wheel locked up and the brakes felt stiff. I knew I had to have the oil and brakes changed, so I did that right away. The issue stopped, until tonight when the dash lit up again and the same issues with the IG ON, steering wheel and brakes. I did the battery test and it was sitting around 9.9 v, 10 v. Is this a battery issue or is this something more serious?

 

I believe this is a battery issue!

 

Great walkthrough! I'm going to give this a shot and see if the drop in mileage is due to the batter or just the cold weather (thanks Canada...)

 

Well i've been getting some preety bad milage lately, so i performed the battery check on my 2007 prius with 100k KMs on it, which i bought used 2 months ago. It was a JDM import, so all stuff is in JAP language. I dont know if the milage is original or not, but guessing around with the japanese export document i figure it would be around 100k km mark.



anyways, the car is all stock. stock rims/tyres and everything.

I did the battery check and here are my results:


hitting the power button once it read 12.2v, switching the lights "ON" took it down to 12.0v,
hitting it again to acc mode 11.8v, switching the lights "ON" took it down to 11.4v,
turing it on to ready 14.1v

is this ok or should I get a new 12v battery??

Since i bought the car, i have only replaced the plugs and the engine oil/filers.

BUTTTT...

The milage i am getting is around 15~16 km/l. On long i get 19~20km/l. All time Air Con switched on as the temps in my part of the world are now getting above 40C+.

I am afraid that my Hybrid battery is dying on my as for past few days i see more of my ICE active than before. Also the battery indicator on the MFD would drop suddenly. Sometimes even when i am backing up my car in the garage, the battery level would drop from 6 bars to just two bars.

Help plzz!!