Electrical issues with 2008 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by CindyF, Jan 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM.

  1. CindyF

    CindyF New Member

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    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I just inherited a 2008 that has had very limited use over the past several years. It has several issues: 1) the 12 volt battery has to be jumped to start it, even though my Mom says she has replaced it a couple of times in the last few years. Could this be an alternator issue? 2) driving it to Colorado from Texas the gas gauge would show it was close to empty, I would try to fill it up and it would only take around 4 gallons. Then the gauge would show full or close to it. I would drive about 120 miles and it would show low fuel again. I stopped to fill up 6 times on a 850 mile trip, each time only about 3-4 gallons. 3) the display screen and the menu screen are completely blank. I haven't tried the dest and map options on the right of the screen, but the info, climate and audio screens work. 4) it doesn't produce very much heat at all and the fan is anemic, to say the least, which is a problem in the cold temps of Colorado. I am wondering if there could be some kind of electrical issues going on. I've always had Hondas and when an alternator starts going bad on a Honda the gauges will start doing strange things. I've always done my own service and repairs on my Hondas, but this Prius is a totally unique animal. Any help ya'll can provide would be appreciated!
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
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    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Well if you look under your hood here you will have no alternator You have that big silver thing right in front of the driver that says hybrid synergy drive that's an inverter that charges your alternator with a circuit on the very bottom of that inverter It also runs your air conditioning so it charges your 12 volt runs your high voltage air conditioning system and charges your high voltage battery that helps drive your car It all works together The 12 volt battery in the trunk of your car on the right hand side of the rear is charged by that inverter when the car says ready on the dashboard and you put a test meter in the back of the car on the battery terminals you should see 13.7 to 14.5 volts. Then when you turn the car off leave the test meter connected to the battery terminals and see if it falls below 12 volts and say an hour If it does you're 12 volt isn't 12 volts and that's not good No matter how often you're replacing the battery If the battery is getting 13 and 1/2 to 14 and a half volts from the inverter when the car is ready then it's charging the battery The car could be left with lights on people not closing the doors fully people not driving the car kill the 12 volt battery because it doesn't work right in people are scared whatever the case may be. Gas issues sometimes once all the 12 volt stuff is sorted out and we're back to square one with 12 volts and the 12 volt battery the related energy behind that battery is good and all that many times gas gauges fans and the light will come back working properly. Heat in this car is generally controlled by this thing called a three-way coolant control valve many times when it's broken and the system is full of coolant and everything is correct with the car generally speaking the three-way coolant control valve will make a honking noise sometimes sometimes not You can also put your hand on the three-way coolant control valve after the car's been running about 5 minutes and you should feel two hoses getting hot as the warm water is flowing through them many times when the valve is broken the top hose has hot water coming to it but it's not getting to the second hose right below it because the valve is stuck or something like that you replace the coolant control valve and now you have heat coming to the heater core that can be blown out the vents when we sort out the fan problem. So you're saying putting the fan on high nothing happens seriously. Were you say it's anemic It is running off the 12 volt of the 12 volts not producing 12 volts with energy behind it your fan may suffer anything in the 12 volt loop may suffer including all the 20 computers in the car that are trying to talk to each other. Do you have lights on the dash red and amber ones in particular.?