Hello Prius Chat, I recently just bought my ‘05 Prius from a small dealership with 233,000 miles in May of 2019 which it came with a rebuilt battery. I could tell that mostly everything on the Prius was OEM, so I had to replace the tail lights, signal lights, tag lights and also the side indicator lights since some of them were burnt out. When I started to drive my car, everything was running great. After a week of buying the car, I drove home and parked the car in my driveway. I click the push start button to shut it off and it immediately shut off. Usually after clicking the start button to shut it off, it would take like half a second to shut off completely so I found this kinda of odd that there was an immediate shutoff. After trying to start it again by clicking the start button, it didn’t start which I was pressing the push start button multiple times. I even tried locking and unlocking my doors and they didn't even do that. My key didn't even work to lock the doors as well. Then after about 1 minute, it just automatically turned on by itself, but was not "fully started." What I mean by not "fully started" is that you can only access the AC and the radio so you couldn’t drive it. Eventually, I pressed the start button again and it started up the car, and it started running again like nothing happened. This "immediate shutoff" also resets the digital clock in my car as well. Is this because I need to replace the spark plugs? Or something different? I tried to find any sort or research on this problem but couldn’t find anything. This has happened multiple times to me now within 4 months of owning my Prius so I kind of figured this was a problem.
I've had similar problems... At first I traced it to it only happening when I partially pushed the start button, as if there's was a failing circuit in the button. But later on I notice my 12v battery terminals weren't securely mounted and once that was fixed the problem went away.
This "immediate shutoff" also resets the digital clock in my car as well. Is this because I need to replace the spark plugs? These are probably unrelated. I like Campers idea. Hopefully, you find a solution just as simple. Good luck!
Yes, to clarify most of the time that was the symptom... Most time I'd lose clock, radio presets, trip milage and one push driver side window automation. But in more rare instances I'd just lose the clock and not the others.
Don’t forget to check the negative cable to body ground. Sometimes that has come loose on people’s cars.
I would check the 12v battery connectors, the white ones next to the positive terminal. That happened to me once and those connectors were loose
Alright so after the rainy weather has passed around my area, I finally had the time to check the 12V battery since I’m in college without a garage and just a parking lot. It did seem fine to me, which I did disconnect and reconnect all the cables just in case they were loose and what not. The car seems to be running good so I do think it was just the white connectors that were loose. Thanks for the advice PriusChat mates! I’ll let you guys know if this ever happens again!
