I just bought 2004 prius from a Honda dealer. First let me describe the problem step by step: 1. I trun on the car with foot on the brake. Everything turns on including that the motor also runs for a couple of minutes and stops. I can turn on AC and radio and very thing on the dash board (the one disply the speed and total mileage) 2. The LCD display starts too, but it is not functioned right. You can no switch to the Audio or the Climate (AC) screen. The energy and comsumption screen don't show the trip information as well. 3. I left the car in the power-on position for 20minutes. Then everything goes back to normal. 4. Everything goes back to normal if I drive it for a trip around 20 minutes and stoped. The display was not functional during the time I was driving, and it turned on after I stopped. The energy and comsumption screen at that time included the trip mileage in the total which mean it didn't forget during the time when it was frozen. 5. I also noticed that the display was frozen after it functioned for a while and when I was continuesly driving. For example, the "Current MPG" reading was frozen at 48.7 MPG in a grey color during a whole 30 minute trip the went back to normal after I stopped. 6. Another thing I noticed was that if I only left it in parking and charge 20 minute for the LCD to be functional. Then after a hour when I start the car and let it sit, it took the motor to run much longer before it stopped. When I was test-driving it, I noticed the Audio Screen was not functioned right. I asked them to fix it. They thought it was a radio problem. They said OK they would fix it. Then they told me that it was working when they look at it again. However I think when they looked at it, the car already charged up. When I look at the car again, they just finish working on the Alarm and washing the car and the key was in the car all the time. When I test drove it again, it took about 3 minutes for the display to charge up. The sale person told me it was supposed to be like that. I only realized it was not the case after I drove it home. I called the Honda dealer again and they agree to bring the car to their electrical shop. But I doulbt that they have enough knowledge to deal with it. I suspect it is a problem of the 12V accessary battery. And I hope it was not a problem of the computer. I need your help with opinions. Thank you very much. A new lover of Prius.
I think the 04s (and maybe 05s) had a problem with the display. Might have to search around, or stand by for someone with better knowledge. It may be a known issue. If it is, you can have the dealer fix it.
It sounds like a well known problem w/earlier rev MFDs. See 2004 Prius owners -- MFD 'heads up' - GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars and see if your symptoms match what's in the TSB. There are a bunch of other threads here on this like http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...bleshooting/33923-mfd-issues-04-05-prius.html. Ha, regarding Honda dealers. I wouldn't expect them to be know how to fix this issue.
I took the car to the Honda dealer and I was able to convince them it was the MFD problem and they told me that they were going to fix it. I wonder how expensive it is for a Honda dealer to fix that.