Prius won't start after jumpstarting other car

From the OP's description, there is 12 V power reaching (at least some parts of) the car: the power button lights up, indicators around the shift-position display, apparently the MFD works (displays state of charge of traction battery).

So, that would eliminate any problem with the fusible link at the 12 V battery end of the battery cable (on a Gen 2, that's the big fuse-looking thing under the red cover over the + battery terminal Edit: oops, OP has a v? Probably more like my Gen 3 then, where the + battery terminal clamp has a red-covered plastic right-angle attachment to the cable, running over the edge and down the side of the battery, and the fuse link is in that). If that link opened, there would be none of these reported signs of life.

At the front end of that same cable (which runs to the box under the hood on the driver's side), things are more complicated. There are multiple fuse links there, from which different parts of the car's circuit tree branch off. I remember looking at that page in my Gen 1 wiring diagram and also my Gen 3, and kind of wondering what their rhyme or reason was for which circuits come off on which sides of which fuse links. The design does not fall into the "oh yeah, that's perfectly clear, of course they'd do it that way" category.

Anyway, there have been other threads on PriusChat where a Prius displayed very weird behavior when some of its circuits were receiving power and at the same time some were not. (That can also happen even if just some of the normal-sized, branch circuit fuses have opened in there; it doesn't have to be just the high-current links.)

I think I would start checking at that same front fuse box, just to see who is getting power and who isn't. Shouldn't be too tedious, as those ATM-type fuses have exposed contacts on top for fuse testing; you can just use a meter with one leg grounded and probe along those test terminals, both for each fuse. The heavier fuses don't have those test points on top, but you could gather a lot of info just from the easy ones that do.

I would be following along in the wiring diagram while doing that, just to see what's downstream of what. Naturally, there are some circuits that aren't expected to have power unless you can get the car to go into ACC, or ON, or READY. The diagram would stop you jumping to conclusions too fast when something is unpowered that's supposed to be unpowered.

-Chap

 

@ReluctantMechanic : I'll report your other thread (same subject), the one started one minute earlier, at 4:55, since this one seems to have the most responses. Maybe the moderators can bring the responses in that thread over to this one, and close the other.

Or maybe it's too late, not sure.

 

A fusible link would only be relevant if the system was running when it was jumped.

 

im not sure on the "V" ... have you used a code checker on it? the only other thing I can think of is the safety plug is also a fuse so it might be blown... if that's ok ill guess you fried one of the computers..

 

This thread looks like it is now (thanks to Mendel's report) a merge of two threads, so I can't tell whether you had already seen post 21 when you asked this. If you look it over now, you'll see it addresses your question about where the fuse links (plural) are.

One of them is back at the 12 V battery, but you've already eliminated that one by reporting that some things will light up on the car. Nothing would, if that one were open.

The ones at the front junction box are another story. But don't overlook ordinary fuses, either; it's not just the high-current fuse links that can open.

I think I can see the reasoning behind that, and it seems sensible, but I sometimes have some of my own sensible reasoning dashed on the rocks of reality. It may be, even with the car off, that some components with input capacitors could be on the wrong side of a fuse. I don't know for sure. I wouldn't necessarily expect the capacitors in anything to hold enough energy to melt one of the main fuse links, but a regular branch fuse might be possible, and some of those would certainly keep the car from starting.

I'm not against theorizing, but I would do it in conjunction with actual checks on the actual car.

That seems farther afield to me; the safety plug fuse is part of the high-voltage circuit, which is completely isolated when the car is OFF, as the OP says it was.

My inclination would be to just patiently keep checking the basics for as long as possible ... "must be one of those danged computers" too often sounds like a euphemism for "I didn't find the problem."

Patiently checking the basics on a complicated system can be a challenge for keeping track of what you have and haven't checked. Having the wiring diagram in front of you can really help you avoid either going in circles or overlooking things you haven't checked yet.

-Chap

 

Maybe retracing your steps regarding the initial jumpstart would help too. I know it's frowned on, but Prius owners have jumpstarted others without ill effects.

Usual hookup procedure is:

1.donor pos to dead pos
2. Donor neg to dead ground
3. Disconnect in opposite order.

 

I suppose retrospective "You Shouldn't Do That" proclamations don't really help. Seems pretty clear, the jump start caused some type of damage to the system. Where?- Well finding out may be a painful process.

Yeah, I bought one of those portable battery jump and air compressor combinations. I consider it one of the better purchases I've made in the past decade. Not only can I easily inflate my tires....but I have a something to use to jump batteries...hopefully not my own.

I bought it, actually when I owned my first Honda Fit, and The Fit automobile battery is SMALL...nearly the size of a motorcycle battery.
I was even happier I had it when I bought my Prius.

All modern cars have so much electronic interface, I simply wouldn't use my vehicle as a jump start station...for anything. Too risky. With a Prius, I think the risk is increased.

Eventually hopefully the problem will be tracked down. Then....don''t do that again.

 

Have you tried the obvious yet? RTFM....
I had a similar problem where the Prius wouldn't switch to Ready and won't allow to put it into gear. Then I read the manual and it actually said that it is by design the first time after a battery disconnect. You have to turn it off again and then the second time it is supposed to work. Don't have my manual handy right now but please check yours and let us know what it says

 

If this was a Gen2, some might ask if the dome light was working or not

 

Did the op charge the 12v yet?
It was discharged when it jump started the Honda while the Prius wasn’t running, charge it.
If the terminals were revered when jumpstarting the Honda, the inverter is toast.

 

If it had enough charge to start the Civic, it should be able to start its own Prius too.

(In a later post, he reports 13V.)

The inverter might be toast, but that is not inevitable. A fair number of posters here have had their inverter and other electronics saved by that 12V fusible link.

 

I used my Prius to boost a battery one time- I hooked up the jumper cables for 15 minutes to add charge to a low battery, then removed the cables to start the car. That is the only way I would do it with a Prius.

 

…but never forget that electronics (transistors/gates/diodes/etc) tend to blow in microseconds, whereas fuses tend to blow slowly (in comparism) …just sayin'

 

Well, sure, that can happen, but the problem with the OP's car in the OP's case will be found soon enough in the usual way: methodically testing the possibilities until there's one left. Then the answer will be whatever it turns out to be, and that hasn't happened yet.

What I don't get on this forum is the eagerness to leap into schadenfreude and berating the OP ("hahaha, it has to be the worst-case possibility, you really blew it there!"); after all, there'll be plenty of time for that if that's how the story turns out. But finding out how the story turns out is the order of business right now, and best done by not overlooking possibilities, even the easy ones.

-Chap

 

Of course. That is why I didn't indicate that all of them are saved by the fuse.

Yup. Use the Prius only to put a charge on their battery. Do not allow the other car's starter or charging system to operate while the Prius is connected to it.

The jumpee's starter might pull excessive current from the Prius. Then once the jumpee's engine fires up, its charging system might put an overvoltage on the Prius. Neither i$ certain to happen, but there have $imply been too many blown Prii to take this ri$k.

 

I’ve jump my Prius before when the battery died with my Honda Accord, it turned on like any other vehicle. I think the op battery was going to die eventually so it killed it when he jumped his other vehicle, but who knows since the op has been mia.

 

I know it IS possible to jump a Prius. Or use a Prius to jump another vehicle.

But my logic is...why?

For less than a $80 investment, I think I paid $60 for my jump start/compressor combination, you can divorce yourself from any risk of damage to your vehicle...especially if GIVING the jump to a different vehicle.
Given the possible damage that can be done if any or numerous things go wrong, that just seems like the wisest move.
Remove yourself from 1 happening like the OP's? And in terms of frustration and repair cost, it's already paid for itself.

My Honda Fit battery is about the size of a motorcycle battery. And it also, like most vehicles today, has a lot of electronic and computer controlled systems.
Not to be a "Bad Samaritan" but I don't give jump starts using my car anymore. It's no longer like the 70's when you had huge Dinosaur Battery....connected to Huge Dinosaur Battery....and not much else at risk.

Add that I can pump my tires up to correct PSI at home, without having to use those horrible gas station air stations, and the investment IMO is a slam dunk.

 

I started having second thoughts about providing jump starts to random strangers after having to pay to replace the electronic ignition module of a 1980s dinosaur, shortly after giving its 4th Good Samaritan jump start. It would have been cheaper to pay for aid calls for them out of my own pocket.

But that was still cheap compared to similarly wounded Prii.