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Prius doesn't seem to fully turn off

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ahartnet, Jun 29, 2016.

  1. ahartnet

    ahartnet Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2014
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    II
    All,

    I've attempted to research this problem, but I can't seem to find anyone else that has had similar problems. Please feel free to link me to other threads if my google-fu isn't up to par.

    If I turn on my prius to drive it a short enough distance that the gas engine doesnt turn on (such as moving my car up or down the driveway, or realizing I'm not pulled up far enough in a parking spot or something), my 2006 Prius doesn't seem to turn off all the way. The only indication that I get of this is that the car dings/beeps when I get out, as if I had left my headlights on, but every time it's done that I've checked and there's nothing that's still giving any indication that it's on.

    If I get out of my car and shut the door quickly, I miss this beep. This can then lead me to come back to a car that I need to jump. In fact, I bought something to jump myself because this has happened often enough.

    I've been able to fix this by leaving the door open long enough for the dinging to start, and then if it beeps at me, I'll turn the car on, AC max blast, and shift into drive to try to kick the gas engine on.

    Has anyone else experience this? Any suggestions on what could be causing this?

    Thanks
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
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    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I'm really confused by your post. So when you press the on/off switch, the car doesn't turn off? The dash lights would be a good indicator if it's off? Everything would turn off......

    If it doesn't turn off, all your dash lights would remain on...along with your radio, AC, etc.

    If you don't want the engine to turn on, you would have approximately 15 seconds to operate under electric mode. So I'm not understanding how it doesn't turn off.
     
  3. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2015
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    Location:
    AZ
    Vehicle:
    2003 Prius
    Bizarre. Make absolutely certain your 12V is good. The only way to say for certain is to take it to a parts store and have it load tested.

    If you need to replace it, get a price on a genuine Toyota/Yuasa battery vs. a yellow top Optima. The Yuasa are only a little bit more at around $200.
     
  4. booke02

    booke02 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
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    Location:
    Israel
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    So do you your dash lights remain on? If Yes, then could just be a faulty switch. If No, then it is beyond me!
     
  5. goldfinger

    goldfinger Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2012
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    Location:
    Buffalo
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    It could be the combination meter acting up. Usually when it goes out it doesn't light, but yours could be hanging up. If the combination meter can't report speed to the engine control it won't turn off the car as you might be moving. There's an issue with reset timing and a capacitor on the combination meter. I think holding the power button for 30 seconds forces an off state.

    Does this happen frequently?
     
  6. CrazyLee

    CrazyLee Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2014
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    Location:
    Muskegon, MI USA
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I had a similar problem. It turned out that the 12 Volt battery positive cable connector was a little loose. I was getting intermittent resets, (momentary loss of 12V) and weird shutdowns that didn't shut down. I attributed that to a low 12 V battery, since it wasn't charging through the loose cable connector. I found the problem when I had zero 12 volts, (no dome light) and immediately went to the 12 V battery and discovered the loose cable connector.