Hello, got a "fun" one here, I bought a 2010 Prius at on auction from a faraway state (PA, I live in CA). Big mistake. Don't do this. After 6 months on the lot in PA it no longer drives. Great. I am shipping it to CA, but the shipper says that he can't even jump the car to get it in Neutral to move it. If a car with a digital odometer will never start...how can I get it titled? And how can I put it in neutral? HELP!
Tried to jump...nothing happened. Must be internal damage between the battery and the rest of the car. I have no idea. All I know is that I need to read the odometer in order to transfer the title in my name. And I need to put it in Neutral. So assuming it will NEVER jump...how do I do that?
Just trying to help here... Describe "nothing happened". Do you know if anything at all came up on the dash board when it was jumped? Because if its not the correct key FOB to the car, it will not do anything. If the shipper is not familiar with Prius, then this could very well be the problem. Or it could be a seriously dead 12v, or somebody who jumped it improperly before you bought it....
I bought the car at auction and the inspector said it worked. And then It was shipped to Brooklyn six months later and did not work. And then it was shipped to CA, and still did not work. The shipper tried to jump it, and said that there was no reaction whatsoever. I'm sure he was very careful about the leads. Everyone is talking about leads. It wasn't the leads. But assuming it's a wreck (which I am), there must be a way to disengage the parking break or read the odometer...
What documentation do you have certifying the Prius "worked" when you bid on it? That party is liable to correct the issue. Otherwise, they sold you defective goods, and you may have rights to at least recover what you paid for it. Even "as is" does not absolve specific warranties issued by the seller. If it stopped working the day after you first drove it, then it might be another matter, but you make it sound as if it's never worked since you received it. Hopefully, it's a matter of having the wrong key fob(s) for the car and not something more serious. IIRC, if you get in and try to start it and it doesn't detect the FOB, it will alert you. I presume you can't get anything to happen when you try to start or put it into ACC mode?
Trying to jump a dead battery is useless. Not having any information to offer for us to work with won't get you the help you need. Sounds like you need an experienced Prius mechanic to look at the car.
Now that its in CA, have it towed to a experienced Prius mechanic to have it diagnosed. If you want to diagnose it yourself, read the voltage at the under hood fuse box jump terminal and see if any sign of the 12v battery is present.
the parking brake is manual, but the transmission lock requires the computers to boot up. you need a working fob and a good 12 volt source.
There is no good answer here, because we know as little or less about what's happening than you do. A real concern I might have is you say "the shipper tried to jump it". If done improperly, you can toast a lot of vital Prius electronics. At this point, you probably just do need a experienced hybrid technician to look at it.
Simple tests: 1) open the driver's door - you should hear the brake pump run for a couple of seconds. Do you get any courtesy lamps lighting inside? 2) Try turning on the headlights - turn end of turn signal forward 2 clicks - any headlights? If you are getting nothing at this point, it's a dead battery. New ones are available now at automotive stores for about $185 (just bought one about 2 months ago). There are lots of posts here on how to change one out (in the trunk). Are you getting headlights? Then hold a fob right up to the power button with your foot on the brake and press power. It should boot up even if the fob battery is dead (try both fobs assuming you got 2 of them).
Good idea about the lights, phoenix. That should work regardless of battery state or having keys. I would double check that the physical key works in the door. Any chance the wrong key fob got tossed in with the car? Drop a new 12v and battery fobs in it. It's a good place to start. The high voltage battery could be too low as well, but that should not affect the dash from lighting up or key being recognized. Once you get the dash up, then you can do some other scans to see the status of the car. Keep us in the loop. I'm very interested in how this turns out.
I had a similar problem with a car I purchased at auction. The car was fine but the display was not working. Because we were not familiar with the car it was confusing. phoenixgreg's excellent post will tell you if your getting sufficient power from the Aux battery. If the car is not in your possession and you are getting this feedback second hand... I would recommend that they use a cellphone to video the steps they are taking so you can actually see the results. If the display is out... focus on the Power Button... see if it comes on orange or green... or not at all... that will tell you a lot about the status of the system. In my case the problem with the display seems to be heat related... it works when it’s warm or after the car has been driven for a while. While the display is off the clock and odometer are suspended at the previous values (ie the clock and odometer values are frozen... time and mileage do not advance when the displays is off). Even with the display dark the car will drive fine. If you do have a bad Aux battery... as an alternate... to get the car up and running you can use any cheap or used battery that will fit in the hole (especially if you’re not sure you want to put money in the car). I initially used a $50 battery from a PT Cruiser (ProStart 26R540PS) to drive mine home from back east. It was not an exact file but was not hard to make it work (and of course there was no vent tube). I used the $5 battery posts you can buy at Autozone etc. to provide a quick (and reversible) adapter from pencil post to the standard battery post. Once you bolt on the standard adapters you can use any battery what fits in the battery area. The standard battery (s34B20r): L: 9.25", W: 6.75", H: 8" 235, 172, 222mm 25lbs 46 Ah CCA: 310 Alternate (temp) battery (26R540PS): L: 8.5, W 6.75 H 7.75 208, 173, 197mm 31lbs 85 Ah CCA: 675 For troubleshooting the issues you could even use a 12v lawnmower battery or even one from a barbie car. The 12v aux battery is only needed to fire up the system and pull in the HV relay. Once you get the "Ready" light, the 12v power is assisted by the HV hybrid.
The underhood jump terminal can cause confusion because it is metal on one side, plastic on the other. Some jumper cables only reliably conduct to the "fixed" jaw of the clip. I'm not saying this is true here but it's possible to have metal to plastic for the conductor path. We've seen this movie before...
Good point css28... I would recommend that you have them jump the car from the Aux battery in the trunk. When I was having battery problems I carried one of those little jumper starter boxes (basically a barbie car battery with jumper cables) in the trunk. When they 12v battery was too low to start I did a quick jump and was one my way in no time. Its a lot easier to make the connections to the real battery in the trunk. The jumper connection near the fuse box is confusing to many and not so easy to get the jumper cables affixed to the positive lead. I also seen others struggle to find a good ground point using the "under the hood method".
