Low Barttery

The only gear you don't want to leave it sitting in is Neutral. I'm honestly not sure what happens in that case. My guess would be it shuts itself down, hopefully before you damage the battery. I wouldn't recommend trying it to find out. In drive or park, the car will just cycle the engine on as needed to keep the battery level where it needs to be. 1-2 bars is not at all unusual with the AC on and sitting or in stop and go traffic.

I have wondered a bit about the N case. The only time its ever come up is going through a car wash when its 110 in Phoenix. If your battery is a bit low going in, it can get down to 1 bar quickly. I shut off the AC half way through, just in case

In general you don't need to worry about the battery. The car will just take care of itself. Running out of gas and then continuing to drive until the car stops, and then restarting the car and driving some more until its really dead is about the only thing you can do to get the battery so low you might need the special Toyota charger. Its also probably a good way to shorten the life of your battery and void your battery warranty.

Rob

 

You make it sound so bad. A couple years of travel at warp and you're back in the game.

At least this wasn't another one of those panic reports, where drastic measures were taken based on an assumption that something needs to be done. Thankfully, no action is required.

Just drive it... and enjoy!

.

 

If you're stopped so long that you get tired of pressing on the brake pedal, shift into Park. Either way, the car, the A/C, everything, will run completely normally, until it runs out of gas. *Don't* leave it in Neutral; Neutral is only for getting pulled through a car wash.

 

Further, even if you left it in neutral you couldn't fully discharge the "traction battery" (this is the battery we are talking of here, not the 12V one). The car would shut down eventually if you left it in neutral, -before- it fully discharged the traction battery.

But as posted above, it's best to leave it in "D" (if moving frequently) or "P" (if "waiting" for long periods).

 

Which does bring up my question again. Anyone know for sure what happens if you sit in neutral with the AC on? I was at 3 bars going into the car wash, down to 1 before it was over and switched off AC just in case. I assume the car would have shut down with enough juice in the battery to restart as David says, but never heard of it actually happening to anyone. Would it trip the same shutdown that you run into if you drive after running out of gas?

Rob

 

Try it and tell us :_> But seriously, not allowing the car to manage the battery state of charge will reduce battery life by some trifle at each occurrence.

 

Oh, and bartering below value is not recommended, unless you can get away with it.

 

I too experienced the single purple when coming out of the car wash in Phoenix. I go to one of the car washes that have workers manually wash your car as it goes down the conveyor belt. I believe the last time they left it running and just put it in neutral rather than shut it off. I was a bit annoyed as it's the first time it's gone below 2 bars.

 

all,

I would try to make sure you have at least 3, 4, or 5 battery bars before going into one of those car washes & either shut the A/C off or turn it down to the lowest setting. If you go in with too few bars in "N" (& the A/C on too high) & the car shuts down, that would effectively put it in "Park" (lock'g up the wheels/transmission) & maybe doing some damage to your car as it gets dragged through the wash in the "locked" state. I don't worry about that problem though because I live out in the country & hand wash my car.

P.S. Oh yeah, if the ICE is already running when you shift to "N", then the ICE should stay running, however even though the ICE may be running, it will NOT charge your battery in "N".

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)