This is the second time this week this happened. I get to the car and it's completely dead... very dim interior lights. I jumped it and it started right up.. leaving this message on the dash. P lock malfunction. when parking Park in flat place and apply parking brake securely. Today after I jumped it, it fired up but when the cables were removed it died. So I jumped again but this time put the parking break on and then off. Worked. After the first time I took it to the mechanic. He checked the battery which is not old and it check out very good. Any thoughts ?? do I need to take it to Toyota ?
Depends on the mechanic and how he tested. Maybe get a second opinion. Most battery retailers will have, and be willing to test for free, with a new generation digital load tester. You can get a DIY version, the Solar BA5, for about $60.
Well it depends how much you want to diagnose problem yourself... My wife's Lexus RX400h was bought with almost completely dead 12V battery. It was replaced early December using Exide EB454 battery which immediately cured all winter time problems. Then, about March after coldest winter RX started to feel "slow" when entering in and not always keyed "Ready" from 1st key turn. Also electric seat and steering wheel positioning wasn't immediately functional. After tinkering this popped up hood and measured 12V battery. It got below 10V charge which explains a lot about car behavior. After overnight charging all was fine for a while... until early May same repeated, this time aided charging it longer drivers didn't keep charge over 10V. Per warranty went to dealer which used battery diagnostics equipment and judged cell damage. Got new battery and let's see how it works... warranty goes far enough to next winter to see how charge stays in. Don't know about Prius but Toyota seems to have pretty intelligent subsystem management built in for low charge or very cold conditions. Cannot say same about neighbor's fresh Audi Q7 eTron which completely failed January's cold days post starting. Nexus 5X ?
