Hi guys, so i was away for about 40 days, and when i came back and tried to get in my car my remote control wont even open the door. I thought the fob battery had died so i changed it and still cant unlock my car. I tried to unlock it with the actual key that comes out of the fob but that doesnt seem to work. Any ideas on how to get in the car and also what might be wrong? Could the 12v battery be so dead that i cant even unlock the car with remote? Any help is appreciated, thanks!
ok so i jumpstarted my car and drove around for a while and then the red triangle came up with the codes for bad hybrid battery...is this due to the bad 12v or is my hybrid battery messed up as well...this is not looking too good right now
The 12V is likely toast at this point because it was allowed to fully discharge. You could try a smart trickle charger on it for a day or two but reviving it for any lengthy use is a long shot. A bad 12V can result in all kinds of strange readouts and occurrences. A good battery in use will eliminate that as a cause. Jumping...we are in hopes this was done correctly the first time with no reverse connection at all. Otherwise, it could be really bad and expensive news for the system. After the car is in READY you don't really have to drive it, It can just stay in READY and the system will work as needed. That is, the engine will cycle on to recharge the HV battery as needed, which works to charge the 12V. Is the engine cycling on and off? What does the battery indicator in the MFD look like?
What is the proper way and what is reverse connection? I just connected the jumper cables to the other cars battery and then to the positive terminal in the fuse box and a ground bolt on the prius and started the car. The engine did shut off after the hybrid battery was fully charded but then it discharged and it wouldnt charge again and thats when the triangle and the codes came up. Then i parked the car and after an hour tried to start again but the 12v was dead again.
not sure if its the original 12v i bought the car a year ago at 92k now its at 115k. I was able to use the key to open the door, had to put some more pressure on it as you said.
Positive to positive and negative to negative is the right way. Reverse is negative to positive. That would be bad. First thing you have to do is replace the 12V battery. You will not know if there are other issues until that is done.
ok yea i connected the cables properly. Im about to order a new battery from amazon and see what happens.
You can get a yellow Top battery for $175 from ELearnaid. That's probably less than Amazon. Correction: Price is now $180 shipped.
Ok guys so I got the 12v fixed and thats all fine however as I mentioned before now my hybrid battery isnt working and I got the code pa80 and the red triangle as well. Now I had issues with it a few months back and got some dead cells replaced at a shop, im wondering could the fact that I left it sitting for 40 days and let the 12v die be the cause of this hybrid battery issue or should I go back to the guy who worked on it before and and demand he fixes it again. Also is it ok to drive it like this? It drives ok but every once in a while it loses power and wont go and feels like its about to stall
It sounds like the cell replacements in your HV battery were perhaps not balanced properly. If you read the recent posts about those who DIY replaced their failing cells, there is good description of the careful charging and discharging cycles that are needed to insure that all the cells are at the same level of capacity and performance. Some have just thrown in a new cell and gotten away with it, but it is not the way to go for best reliability. If your mechanic gave you any sort of warranty, then I would go back to see him and get the cells at least measured to find out what is going on. Or get one of the scanners (like Torque) that can read all the cells for you. It might be that a round of cell balancing is all that is required. Also, make sure that your battery fan is keeping the battery as cool as possible. Check to make sure it is clean, if that was not done already.
