It sat long enough for grass to grow

G'day Folks,

A local non profit of which I am a member had a 2006 Prius donated to the organization by a member who passed away. This is a small organization and the president of the organization has had the car sitting in their drive way while all the other aspects of the estate were addressed. And now it has been 11 months since it was driven to the drive way of resting and it is now unresponsive. I am told the odometer reading "is pretty low." So I would like to help them get this running so the organization can get some $$$ and someone can have a nice serviceable car.

I figure that the 12V battery will probably need to be replaced but may be able to be recharged and used for a while to get it running and testing all the other systems as well as smog checked. I gave the organization's president a volt meter (DVM) and some basic guidance as to how to open the door with the mechanical key, open the hood and prop it up and measure the voltage in the fuse box. I am waiting to hear what the results are.

I have a battery charger with 10/2/50 amp settings. I am expecting that the voltage on the battery will be pretty low, probably well below 10V. If that is the case do you think it would be possible to recharge the 12V aux battery using the 2 amp setting over night?

If the 12V battery can get up to voltage, say 11 volts or higher, even with diminished capacity, will I be able to open the aft transom hatch after resetting the door and window circuits? (being a "size gifted individual" I am not looking forward to crawling into cargo hold to use the manual opener. )

If the 12v battery is a goner, can I attach a generic 12v car battery to run the on board computers to access the OBD port and CAN bus for diagnostics. I have a near new group 25 battery from my Toy ENE (Toyota Ever Nimble Echo) that could be borrowed for diagnostic work on the Prius. And I have a variety of adapter clamps and battery cables.

Then a big scary question... What impact will this long sit have had on the HV traction battery bank?
And how much can we tell about the state of the traction battery without getting on the road?

I am also very concerned about the gas that is in the tank. With a more traditional tank I would open up the tank and use my hand dandy peristaltic pump to suck out the old fuel and suck up as much goo as possible. But this is a gen 2 Prius and don't all those have the inflate-o-tank? Any suggestions on dealing with the fuel situation would be appreciated too. A can of Seafoam(tm) maybe?

What other issues should we be checking? Rodent/spider invasions... I suppose.

The car is in Southern California so it has not seen freezing temps or extreme heat. In the last couple of months it did get rained on a fair bit.

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Well I am particularly happy to hear that the Traction batteries are fairly shelf stable.

The petrol situation concerns me because of experiences I have had with dealing with small boats that were not used for extended periods (6-12 months) both in and out of the water tended to form lots of gunk in the tanks that would wind up clogging the carburetor jets and even some of the fuel lines. And I know that this vehicle did not have any fuel stabilizers added to it when it was parked.
Given the approximate date of early March when the car was parked it probably had Ca winter blend (including 10%ethanol) in it. I wonder how different the NL gas and Ca RFG3-W are in terms of shelf stability?

 

When I get the 12 volt system up and have instruments, sensors, weapons and transporters back on line I can see how much gas it thinks it has. If it is really low on gas, say 1 or 2 blips, maybe "dilution is the solution to the (old gas) pollution" with some fresh gas?

What about say 8-16 oz of Seafoam? For Inboard/outboard boats that has helped me cleanup mildly to moderately gunky systems on boats and other seasonally used equipment.

I am still learning about this um, rather interesting, Gen2 tank system. So, one of the biggest breakdown points for fuel in a traditional tank is at the surface where fuel meets the atmosphere since there is more state changing going on from liquid to vapor and back at that boundary layer. I am told by a petroleum engineer that this is a very common point for moisture absorption into the fuel too. So I would like to speculate that MAYBE the bladder tank design in the Gen2 Prius will cut down on this sort of reaction?

What do y'all think of that wishful thinking?

Also if I did decide to drain the tank how would I go about that? I have not read all of the service manual yet, maybe there is a procedure for that in there?

 

G'day Bisco,
So when you mention the gumming takes place in the injectors and lines is that where it happens or where it piles up once it has happened?

 

Wait, you have a hybrid lawn mower too? Cool...

Ok what I wonder then is does it form on the surface of the fuel in the tank and then flow down stream to the port which is the narrowest point in the path?

 

Yeah, I read about the tank fill issue right before I bought my 2009 Gen 2. But, it bears repeating because I may not be the one adding gas and I'll need to remember to educate them about that issue. The car under discussion is a 2006 and it is ~55 miles from my home - through downtown LA traffic. I am REALLY hoping that a bit of air to the tires, a charge to the 12v battery through the jump point will get it up enough to look at other diagnostics. I'll take a spare 12V (non Prius) car battery with adapters and some fob batteries along too.

Once I am on site I might get more details about it's maintenance history and miles/light years. I don't want to take responsibility for getting all the paper work done and finding a buyer, but if I don't it might sit or another age. If it were a few months ago I would have bought it. I offered to do that but it was always a chore for them so they never got around to having me check, it out. I needed a new commute car at the time and bought The Darkstar. (2009 Prius)

I am wondering what else I will need to address mechanically or electrically?

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