I have a 2013 Toyota Prius with 9K mile on it. It happened to me more that 6 or 7 times in the last 2 month, that when I try to start the car (it does not matter how long it has been off) some of the lights on the right corner goes on and the start bottom does not do any thing. I can't start the car. I called dealer they said it can be the remote control battery. I'm using the other remote and still have the same problem. Last time I had to jumper the car and then took it to dealer, they did not find anything wrong with the battery. I'm sure something is wrong with the small battery. Has anyone faced the same problem? any one knows what the problem is?
it is possible the 12v battery is bad. dealers are sometimes poor at diagnosing them because they may be borderline and dealer thinks it's acceptable, but prius does not and starting can be intermittent. check out a battery thread for testing proceedures. all the best!
Thank you so much for your reply. Any idea how I can test the 12v battery. Is there any way to do it myself?
yes, with a volt meter. i'm not familiar, but there are threads that describe it if you want to search. or perhaps someone will jump in with a link.
With everything off and the car in "on" mode (not ready), run all the windows down and up a few times and see how the battery handles it. If there is no issue, the battery is likely OK. It takes more juice to run the windows than to boot the system into ready mode. Also be aware that there could be something being left on or open over night that's draining the battery. That would be the first thing to rule out.
Also make sure you got the brake pedal pushed down real hard when it refuses to go into ready mode. If you have a bad break light switch it might not think you have your foot on the brake.
No, Actually it is the reverse. Pushing hard on the brake causes the buster pump to run draining the battery. If you are having trouble, do very light foot pressure on the brake. enough to get brake lights but not enough to deplete the accumulator. Also realize that as soon as it goes READY, the voltage goes to 14v and then you will not see the problem even if you have a bad 12v battery. Thanks, Dan
Thanks again I do push the brake pedal hard enough. And I check the car every night to make sure no light is ON, also I don't leave the remote control on the car, as I was told it can drain the battery. But still have the problem every once in while. One more question, is there any way to put the car in neutral in this situation? No way to tow the car as is....
no, try to leave it in a position where jumper cables will reach the bonnet, or purchase a jump battery.
That's the first I heard of that, but now that I think about it, it makes, sense. I was thinking to way back when the Gen. 2 had a batch of bad brake light switches. Back then if you had a hard time getting into the Ready mode, push real hard on the brake was the thing to try.
