I've had this happen twice: Foot on Brake, press start, car powers up. RED Triangle with exclamation point on dash. Message on MFD screen says something like "Transmission not properly engaged, move vehicle to level area and press Park" I can't move it anywhere because nothing but the electrical system works. I can't even turn it back off. Toyota tells me have it towed. They send "their guy", who is also the area AAA guy. Tow truck driver says he can't tow it because it won't go into neutral. So he jumps it...car shuts off when power is pushed. Push power again. Car starts fine. Drive to Toyota. They keep it all day, do all kinds of diagnostic tests, tell me there's nothing wrong. I ask if it's the battery, they say it tests fine, but they'll replace it if I want (of course they don't keep it in stock and have to order it). The car did the same thing this morning, but I was able to turn it off & restart. (That makes it #3) Hit & miss repairs on this car can be expensive, hell it's $50 to change the headlight. Has anyone experienced this problem?
Is your 12V battery the original battery? It sounds like from other posts that the first place to look would be to test and probably replace the 12V battery, especially if it is the original battery. The 12V battery can cause a lot of unexplained electrical problems when the battery voltage gets low.
An appalling fraction of Toyota dealers seem incapable of properly testing a Prius battery. They rely on a pass/fail tester with the "passing low" voltage set much too low for reliable Prius operation. There have been several other recent threads hinging on this subject. Just to get it out of the way, check the 12V battery yourself as described here: http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/73400-weird-stuff-happening-mpgs-dropping-test-battery.html If the test cannot be started that's good evidence that the 12V battery is dead (or there is some far more serious problem). In that case get a voltmeter and stick one lead on the jump point under the hood and the other on any nearby bare metal on the car's frame. Tell us what it reads. And, what, the AAA guy doesn't have a tow dolly? No Prius is *ever* in Neutral when the car is OFF. It must be towed with the front wheels on a dolly or the entire car on a flatbed. There's no harm in dragging any car not in Neutral a couple of feet onto a flatbed.
Thank you Richard. I now know the voltage is only 10.7 and it dropped to 9.4 when I put load on. Guess I'm looking for a new dealer.
Yikes! That isn't a bad battery; that's a dead battery. That's an old plastic box storing former battery components. It's amazing it works at all. Tom
When testing a battery, any battery, with a multimeter: if the voltage only equates to the stated voltage. ie: 1.5, 6. 9 Volts etc The battery is BAD. One may in the case of a small portable radio shut it off and later it will return to working, temporarily. This is because batteries are able to slightly recharge. With a load it will read much less than stated voltage. In the case of a rechargeable battery, gel, wet cell one may be able to restore it to normal state, depending on plate deteriation Thier is much information on battery technology on PC if you search.
