Sitting here at the dealer as they tear apart my 2010 Prius to figure this out.... Left the car parked, came back an hour or so later; when I opened the door, the usual "beep" sounded sort of half-hearted, and once inside, the dashboard was dead and so was the car. Pressing start produced no results either. So, went back inside, made some calls, went back out maybe 10 minutes later...and it worked just fine. Drove to the dealer...tried to start/stop it a few times, no problem...then the service guy sat in it...went dead again. We walked over to his kiosk...1 minute or so later I look over, and the dashboard light is winking...yes, it's back from the dead. AGAIN. Battery is fine...and it isn't Easter Sunday...so what's up? Anyone seen anything like this?
Sounds like Orlando Magic to me. At least they finally got to do something this year! Could be a loose connection somewhere. Lucky you....you are at a dealer and the problem duplicated itself in front of them...so they have a record of it and hopefully can fix it.
Yeah...didn't help. They tried for 3 hours to duplicate it again so the mechanic could get a handle on it. No such luck. I have a medical appointment, so I took it home. I'll just have to see if anyone else has had a similar problem. Found some other examples online but none match.
Shot in the dark - any accidents involving body damage lately? I'd guess a ground wire has come partially loose. Intermittent electrical problems can be a hell to track down. I had a '78 Corolla with an intermittent starter electrical problem that never got fixed & drove me nutz.
It's a totally wild guess, but I read that the "Combination Meter" (Instrument Cluster) circuit boards can do this when they fail. Read the URL below with your dealer and see if it sounds like what's happening. Mind you, this article is about the Gen II Prius, and the Gen III could be different: http://lusciousgarage.com/blog/ Take a look at this one, too: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/57445-instrument-panel-problem-video.html
Just to one of the back doors about 8 months ago. Just a dent from a golf cart type vehicle. But I'll note the "ground wire" option as a possibility. Thank you.
Thanks...the first was one I found while searching at the dealership...it didn't match. The second is not a match as far as I can tell because it looks like they could still drive the car, unless I misread, whereas mine wouldn't go anyplace. Thank you even so...let's see if it works now as I go see the doctor...
Looks like we may have a resolution....this morning we found it dead in the garage, but it resurrected within 60 seconds...only this time, the right side of the dashboard display didn't come up (with all the neat diagrams -- left side with the speedometer did come up), and later, we were told, the horn and dome lights did not work. Drove to the dealer and didn't turn it off when I got there, so the tech could see this. Their conclusion after 2 hours of tests: A short IN the 12V battery itself, which was detected with better testing. That was replaced and everything came back up. Final answer? We shall see.
Quite interesting. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. Seems like it would be worth just replacing those OEM batteries right off the bat. Though I haven't a single problem with mine.
The collision with the golf cart may have been hard enough to damage the 12 V battery, particularly if the collision was on the passenger side rear door. You should try to get the insurance company involved to pay for the battery (if it was the other guy's fault).
