Low Traction Battery Problem w/ Prius at my Car Wash

Yes. While in park, gently press the accelerator. the ICE will start and will send charge to the battery. a harder press gets a quicker charge. do this while waiting in line and you can easily enter the wash with 6 bars.

 

Thank you, that's good to know. I guess I was trying it in Drive with my foot on the brake and it would not charge.

 

Won't the car's computer just take over and start force-charging the main battery if needed. I guess by keeping the engine running.

BTW, I wonder how car wash owners like having vehicles going through their facility with their engines running, pumping carbon monoxide? This inability to have the car off and in Neutral bugged me from the get go.

 

I am bumping this thread because someone had asked about putting the car in neutral while waiting at a light.

That blasted beeping sound comes on very quickly and the first time I heard it it freaked me out. I didn't know what to do when I was in the car wash. It still happens sometimes when I go through the car wash and forget to check the battery level just before entering - and it's still unnerving.

Does anybody know how long the battery does last after the beeping starts??

Edit: Whoops, I actually bumped the wrong thread. I meant to bump the one about the low battery message coming on in the car wash.

 

I wonder if a weak 12V battery is creating an extra load on the traction battery to keep the 12V battery charged? Under normal operation the system could keep charing the weak 12V battery but without the ICE to compensate the traction battery will be forced to provide the charge. When I bought my 2010 in May the dealer replaced the 12V battery because it wasn't holding a charge anymore.

 

I feel so silly. I had read the posts about car washes that "pull" your car through requiring the car to be in neutral. I had concluded that I wouldn't take my Prius to a car wash like that. So what do I do? Well I needed a oil change but didn't have time to take it to the Toyota dealer because it is the opposite direction that I go home. Plus the place that used to get my oil change also does a complimentary car wash..... duh.... Their car wash must be a pull through type. When I got my car back from the oil change the battery was down to 2 bars, GRRRR!! Live and learn, I will be going back to Toyota. And yes I could change my own oil but too much going on right now.

 

I don't see that there's any harm in your battery being down to two bars. The only reason that it bothers me is that it is really scary when I'm in the car wash and it starts beeping loudly. It goes down to ONE bar and I'm really worried that it's going to run out before I get out of the car wash. The first time it happened to me, I panicked and put the car into park which is absolutely the wrong thing to do! Then I couldn't get it back into neutral because I didn't realize I had to hold it in place for a couple of seconds.

Does anybody know how long it will actually last when it reaches the beeping point?

 

Hmm... that's a thought. Maybe I should get it checked.
However, the first time I had the problem with the low traction battery in the car wash was when the car was pretty new, so I don't think the 12V battery should have been weak.

I never had this problem with my 2006 Prius.

 

A car wash only a block from my office has a deal for only $15 per month you can take your car through the car wash, daily if you want. About the third time this happened to me. Needless to say, I was concerned. Today, after finding this thread I turned off the climate control, lights, etc. No problems. I love old threads.

 

Glad the thread helped. I managed to take my car through the car wash twice since with no problems, but I'm always very careful about making sure I have a good charge before entering the property and have turned everything off. I can see that A/C might cause a draw, but not the lights, so I still don't see what is causing the battery to deplete so quickly.

 

It was the climate control. Plus, I was probably low on charge before entering. Turning off climate control has made the difference.

 

I had the same problem today
I went thru the car wash
I put the car in neutral and half way thru the traction battery sign went on
It says put the car in park
The air conditioner went off
Does this mean there is a problem with the traction battery??
Steve

 

nope, it just won't start the engine to charge the battery. make sure you go in with an almost full battery, otherwise, it could kill your 12 volt and it won't start. other option is no a/c going through.

 

A failing traction battery will make this worse.

But this problem alone doesn't point to a failing traction battery. It can be caused merely by entering the car wash when the battery SOC gauge showing fewer bars than normal, from the immediately previous driving and traffic.

 

Thanks for your help
I feel better now
I have a 2010 with 135k
I am worried that my battery may die in the near future
If this is not an indication of a failing battery
I will keep it going
Thanks
Steve

 

if your mpg's haven't declined significantly, your battery is fine, and can last for many thousands of more miles. all the best!

 

Steve - I have a 2010 with 111k miles that I bought new and my wife just had the same thing happen at the car wash. I rarely drive the car but a couple of times when I have I've been alarmed at how depleted the battery gets when idling for long periods in Park. The battery doesn't seem to last as long as it was when new but I don't have hard data on that. The Prius is also starting to use oil! It went from maybe 1/2 quart down at a 10k oil change to needing 2-3 quarts between oil changes within 10k miles. Does yours use any oil? If I have to replace the traction battery and the engine before 200k miles I'll not be buying another Toyota. That is a shame because my 2001 Sequoia has 200k miles and still doesn't use any oil.

Dave