So, in my last post(also my first ever), I was asking for opinions on buying a sight unseen 2005 Prius with around 96k miles on it. Well so far so good! I have been driving it for a little over two weeks now and have put 2k miles on it. The first week I spent mostly commuting to and from work. I drive mostly interstate and got about 48 mpg. I have affectionately named it "Killer" because in all my years of driving I have only hit maybe 1 small creature but in my 1 week commute two opossums lost their lives to this beast(not intentionally of course). We then took a trip from KY down to HHI, SC to go to the beach. On the interstate going about 75 mph the entire way we avg'd 49.9 mpg. Everything seems to be in great working order no knocks or anything like that and the transitions from Electric to Gas and vice versa are smooth. The only problem that I has on the drive north back to KY, about 500 miles in to the trip I stopped to get some food in the drive thru never shutting off the vehicle but when I got back on the interstate my cruise control light on the dash was flashing and would not allow me to put the car in cruise. Aside from being mildy annoying(first world problem) it made me nervous. However, after getting home and turning the car off over night and then starting it up today to come to work the cruise light remained solid and I was able to set cruise on my drive to work. Any ideas whats going on? Should I be concerned? Other than that, I have to say that in these two weeks I have fallen in love. I look forward to spending many more miles with Killer.
Yeah, the dealer actually replaced the 12v for me before I got it. Which I am extremely thankful for! Still just a weird thing to happen.
You'll find that at PriusChat we blame everything on the 12V battery Some cars will disable the cruise control if a brake switch failure has been detected. It's possible that there was some brake switch bounce when you were doing the drive up thing. This should clear itself after the car is shut down and restarted. OT: I had a BMW 528e that had a panel of system check lights. Its glitch was that it would light the brake circuit failure light any time I used the cruise control. The cruise control worked and the brake lights worked but it made the system status panel nervous apparently.
Yeah, yesterday a friend of mine was having trouble streaming his netflix movie. I blamed the 12 volt battery. He doesn't even own a Prius. Man, I've owned my Prius just over a month and I just broke 1200 miles, and I've been driving more than I normally do...a few frivolous road trips I wouldn't normally take. A 1000 miles a week? Maybe I don't get out enough.
Haha, dag 12v ruining everybody's fun. Yeah, well my commute is about 50 miles a day and then we took a 1200 mile road trip. It adds up quick!
Several post with pictures and instructions on how to clean the fan. Its something I suggest you do. Who knows if the prior owner had dogs that shed.
Did you leave the car in neutral? This is a no no for the Prius. Neutral is the only state that the car cannot look after the state of charge of either battery (the 12 volt and the HV battery). In neutral the engine cannot start automatically if needed to charge the HV battery this in turn charges the 12v battery and runs the AC. So no stopping in neutral, no using neutral in pull through car washes. If you need to leave the car in ready use park. John (Britprius)
Nope, I don't think I have ever put the car in neutral except for the first time I sat in it and I was playing with the shifter for the first time. Thanks!
One other thing to check, "but I do not think this is your problem" check the level of coolant in the inverter coolant tank and also with the car in ready check for fluid movement "turbulence" in the tank. If the inverter is overheating the Prius shuts down some systems to prevent failure. They are:- CC, AC, and DC to DC converter (12 volt battery charging). Worth checking. John (Britprius)
Don't want to open a can of worms here, but my understanding is in the majority of conveyor belt car wash's you don't really have a choice but to use neutral. The conveyor belt pulls the vehicle through, so you need the vehicle in neutral otherwise it's going to be a problem. That's why at most car wash's the instructions are "Car in Neutral, No Brakes". You are absolutely right about the vehicle not being able to charge the battery in neutral, and there is even a long thread where someone was in a car wash with a low state of charge on their battery and The Prius put itself in park to protect the battery. But the general consensus is that the battery has to be dangerously low and as long as you have a decent charge on the battery, entering the car wash and using neutral is fine. But I think if you try to go through most conveyor belt car wash's in either Park or Drive, you are asking for trouble. Park and the wheels won't turn which is a No No in most car wash's, and exactly why the instructions for normal cars are to remain in neutral and NOT brake. And drive would demand you keep your foot on the brake or emergency brake otherwise the vehicle creep would have the vehicle going forward in the car wash under it's own motivation. No I think specifically for conveyor belt car wash's the protocol is make sure your battery has a decent state of charge when you enter but DO use neutral.
FWIW, I think the above is the correct way if one is going to use a pull through car wash. One other thing that I recommend along with making sure you have a decent SOC (minimum 5 blue bars) would be to power down excessive electrical loads (A/C Compressor, Headlights, etc.) and also adjust the fan speed to the lowest setting or off. I do recall one instance where as I entered a car wash with a pull through and left the A/C running in Auto Mode on a hot day. Before I was able to get through the wash, the red triangle lit and the MFD showed the all to familiar warning about engaging P to allow the battery to charge. What I did was simply power down all loads at that point and let the alarm sound off as it was only a few feet until I was able to exit the wash. Once I shifted to D, the ICE fired up and the traction battery began to recharge. Since then, as long as I entered with a decent SOC and adjusted electrical loads, I have not had any more problems. I don't recommend those type of car washes are they are rather rough on the finish, but if the car is excessively dirty with a lot of bugs, road grime and what have you they can be beneficial at times. Ron
Very strange. The AC compressor runs off of the HV battery--only the blower would be any significant drain on the 12V battery.
Considering that the blower is powered by the 12 volt one needs to consider that the 12 volt is recharged by the DC to DC converter which is powered by the traction battery IIRC.
FWIW, a electric load is a electric load. Since we all know that the traction battery will not recharge when the Prius is in Neutral (N) it would be logical to eliminate as much load as possible. I haven't measured the actual wattage of the fan motor, however it is logical to think that by lowering the speed of the fan motor or even turning it off will in fact reduce power demands. Furthermore, I don't know of any conveyor type car wash that can pull you through in two minutes.
I do know and understand how the pull through car washes work "we do have some in the UK" but they are problematic for the Prius. Personally I avoid all automatic car washes preferring to wash the car myself or to use a hand wash. Unfortunately the load on the 12 volt battery with only the car made ready and no other electrical load whatsoever is about 12 amps. This is not to much for a good battery but for a battery that is marginal this could be enough to discharge it. The AC can load the HV battery to around 3kw and a discharged 12volt can add another 0.75kw load. This will rapidly discharge the HV battery. John (Britprius)
Just sayin' the advice to NOT use neutral in a pull through car wash was incorrect. Use Neutral...it's necessary. Just make sure your battery is decently charged. I think "Park" or "Drive" in a conveyor belt pull through car wash could be very dangerous. Here or in the UK.
