Hello. I’m just looking for some advice since I am a dumb blonde who has no clue about cars and no help with it. I say That I’m a dumb blonde because I purchased a 2011 Toyota Prius from a used car dealership who completely overcharged me and seem to manipulate things in the car before I took over it. But with that being said, I’ve had it for months now, and everything has seemed OK for the most part with the car until now I for some reason came out and the battery was going dead. So I had somebody come out and give it a jump, which worked went right over to AutoZone and got a battery and everything seemed fine. I come out the next day and it won’t start again and it looks as though the batteries going dead again with all the lights going down and I kept getting a exclamation point and a check engine light coming on. I was not able to have it taken care of right away And now it’s completely dead and there is absolutely no charge whatsoever. I'm trying to save myself from spending much more money than I need to spend on this car and bringing it in and possibly finding a fix that I could work with. I was never given any information about the hybrid system, and I don’t think it ever actually worked. I don’t know if there is a separate battery for it and if so, it looks like it’s not even there and was given no information about charging it or anything so I am completely clueless there never knew anything about what to do with any of it and since the car was running just fine and I wasn’t really spending much on gas. I just kept going with it and completely forgot to even have any, but looked into but from looking up information, I see that there is should be a hybrid battery in the vehicle and from what I’m finding I’m not seeing it. I believe that I was sold the car without one if it’s supposed to have one I have no clue. I don’t know if that has to do with why it stopped running or not but I just need some assistance if I can get any from anyone. I am going to have to have it towed in and looked into. I’m just trying to avoid spreading those high cost since I’m already spending way too much on the car itself as it is. Thank you!
Sounds to me like the alternator is dead, it's not charging the battery. Should be an easy check at any local repair place. Buy a 12v battery charger ($20-30 Amazon/Wal Mart, etc) and charge it back up. if the car is working again, it's a good bet the alternator has died, take it somewhere to get it tested.
Used car places are a rip off 99% of the time. There is NO alternator in a Prius. The inverter/converter charges the battery when the car is on. Do you have a battery charger? 5 amps or less AGM charger. Walfart has them for $25-30. No dealer or parts store keeps the batteries charged. So it is very likey it needs to be fully charged. 8-12 hours of charging will do it. Leaving a dome light on WILL drain the 12v battery quickly. It's no a high amperage battery because it does not turn the engine over to start it. There is a small light on the drivers side trunk section that is easy to miss. It has 2 positions, off, and on. It will only come on when the rear deck lid is open. Those are the things you can do yourself, easily. And also get an inexpensive volt meter, about $25-30 is all you need to spend for one. That way you can actually check the voltage. There should be a metal key in the key fob you can use to unlock the front door to open the hood. On the side of the fob there is a button you press to release the key. On the drivers side is the fuse box under the engine hood. When you remove the cover, at the top closest to the firewall,you'll see a red flat piece of plastic. It flips up. You can attack the POSITIVE(red) charger cable to it. Then the NEGATIVE(black) cable to a metal nut on the engine. Then plug the charge into the wall outlet. You do have a hybrid battery, it's behind the rear passenger seat. The car will NOT run without it. And since the car runs/ran, the inverter likely is working. Hopefully, someone will chime in with a reliable Prius repair shop to help you out.
The Prius does not have an alternator. The 12v battery is charged by a DC/DC converter, which is located inside the inverter assembly. Power from the hybrid battery is used by the DC/DC converter to charge the 12v battery. I agree that a 12v battery charger should be used to charge the new 12v battery.
Many years ago one of my Saabs would (occasionally) completely drain the battery overnight. After many fruitless hours looking at what the problem could possibly be, I found the wiring diagram and discovered that if the relay for the rear heated screen stuck on, then even with the ignition off, connection between battery and screen was maintained. A new relay solved the problem. Modern cars are far more complicated and I am not sure where I would start looking on the Prius, but do buy a multimeter that is able to measure Amps. Removing the negative clamp on the battery and connecting the meter between the clamp and the post on the battery will show any discharge, which should be almost zero.
