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Battery electronically disconnects?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by slyguy_44, Dec 22, 2020.

  1. slyguy_44

    slyguy_44 Junior Member

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    Hey everybody,

    My Prius is a 2013 Prius3 with 161,000 miles. I commute long distance and rack up about 3,000 miles per month but the vehicle goes in to the dealer every 5,000 miles for a service and filters, fluids, coolant, tires and everything is kept well maintained. It’s been the most reliable vehicle I’ve ever had and has given me zero trouble in 4 years and over 120,000 miles since I bought it.

    Weird thing happened tonight. Car has sat for the last two weeks (vacation) and I went to hop into it for a quick errand. Had my key fob with me (with a good battery) and grabbed the driver’s door handle. Locks didn’t unlock. Like I didn’t have my key fob with me. Pressed the unlock button and nothing. Pull the spare key out of the fob and get the door open. Press the power switch and there’s no power. No lights, headlights, signals, hazards or anything. 12v battery is dead. Damn ok.

    Had the wife’s ICE car there with jumper cables so I thought I’d jump it. I’m familiar with the procedure and connect the vehicles. Dash lights up. Press the power button and voila! The Prius is back in action. I was already headed to a local auto parts store and so I asked them to hook up their battery meter that tests the battery and the result indicated the 12v battery is fine. Drove the car about 15 miles running errands and it worked normally.

    is there a failsafe/disconnect that preserves the 12v battery if the car is left parked for a specific period of time. The battery is fine and car is operating normally. I’m stumped here.


    Thanks,
    Ryan
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    no, there isn't. i'm missing your confusion. the car sat and the 12v died. you jumped it and it started and the 12v passed the test, so it is still good (enough) in all of this, did you ever get a static 12v reading?
    you drove it and it charged a bit, but when it sits again, it will die again. the car does not make a good charger, and the 12v is likely still near the low point of good (enough) get a smart charger if you're not going to drive it.
     
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  3. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    If the 12v battery died after sitting for just 2 weeks, I would suspect a bad or weak battery.
    How old it is? If it is 5 or more years, you should replace it.
    You could put a charger on it, 4 amps max., for several hours, overnight if possible.
    That should put a full charge on it. Then test it with a volt meter. It should be 12.5 or more.

    If you plan on letting it sit for a few weeks at a time, you could keep the smart charger on it.
     
  4. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    One of the most posted issues are related to low 12v battery & issue resolved by replacing it. If your statement is true then those threads would only be a few.
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    More’n likely their tester isn’t that discerning. An electronic load tester is your best bet, will test and display Cold Cranking Amps. If it’s lower than spec it’s time.
     
  6. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    This may not explain why you had to jump the battery, but there is a "failsafe" feature...
    From the 2010 Owner's Manual (p. 49):
    Screen Shot 2020-12-23 at 6.33.28 AM.png
     
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  7. slyguy_44

    slyguy_44 Junior Member

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    12v battery is only 2 years old and was working fine up until this incident. I’ll have it replaced at the next service soon. Thank you for your input...
     
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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  9. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Since the battery is only 2 years old, it should be fine. But you should fully charge it.


     
  10. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    THIS.
    And then get it tested again.
    Battery testes are notoriously inaccurate.

    It would also be rather unfortunate if your replaced the battery if the cause really is a loose or corroded main battery cable connection.
     
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  11. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    That short-pin is not very heavy gauge, which leads me to suspect that "isolates the battery" is more grandiose than what it actually does. Georgina wrote that it disables "Smart Key, the radio and all the parasitic current drains" ... but also, in the same thread, "you can still get in with the insert key and start the car with the back of the fob on the power switch", which suggests power is still getting at least to the Power Management Control ECU for it to notice when you are pushing the button, and the Certification ECU and ID Code Box to recognize you're holding the right key, and so on.

    The three fuses shown in the wiring diagram as downstream of the short pin are RAD NO. 1 (serving the radio), DOME, and ECU-B (which is the memory-holding power for some, but not all, of the ECUs; some are on the ECU-B2 circuit instead). The combination meter has an interesting arrangement of diodes so it can be powered by either of two different incoming circuits without backfeeding either of them. (I suppose that means if you develop a short in the combination meter itself, you end up blowing two fuses.)
     
    #11 ChapmanF, Dec 23, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2020
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  12. Chelsea Felker

    Chelsea Felker Junior Member

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    My car has been doing this for about the last month. I have been driving it a lot more and leaving it turned on. Have you found a solution? Was it a fuse?


    My car turns on fine if the fob is in but it’s basically a car husk if the fob isn’t in the dash. I can’t open my trunk, unlock the cars, my interior lights won’t turn on, the smart key function doesn’t work. I haven’t had it jumped at any point.
     
  13. Chelsea Felker

    Chelsea Felker Junior Member

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    It was one fuse. All is fixed

    The guy at Toyota was basically trying to talk me into getting rid of my car bc it was almost of deaths door 200,000 miles (after I got the combo meter replaced today). I felt like I was going crazy and being gaslit bc I told them the symptoms and they cherry picked the ones they wanted to hear. None of it was making sense - he told me the issues I listed were bc the key wasn’t a Toyota brand key (I got one for $13 on Amazon. Worlds amazing). It was one fuse.

    moral - get yourself a car guy - luckily I have a car guy - but he couldn’t get the combo meter part
     
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  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Talk to the service manager of that dealership, tell him/her about your experience. If it falls on deaf ears, email Toyota USA, let them know how one of their dealerships operates. Maybe a Yelp and/or Google review too? BS like this should not go unrewarded.
     
  15. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    New or used, and do you have a link you can share?