Prius Won't Start - Chirstmas Tree Syndrome

Hello everyone,

My 2006 Prius won't start today. I took the car to the dealership for the 40,000 miles maintenance this morning and everything was fine. I drove the car back home and it was still ok.

About two hours later I tried to start the car and it wouldn't. All the lights on the dashboard are blinking and the MFD is not even coming up. I called the dealership back but got their voicemail, I guess I'll just get a callback on Monday.

I read on another thread that I could put the MFD in maintenance mode (or diagnostic mode) to read the battery info and other information by holding the Info button while in Acc mode and flashing the headlights three times, but the MFD won't come up at all.

I tried with both keys and I also tried with the key in the car and inserted in the keyhole, and got the same result every time.

I posted a video on Youtube showing what it does, you can view it here:

Has anyone encountered similar problems and most importantly, have you found a solution?

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated !

Thanks

 

Thanks. The gas tank is full, I filled it up yesterday.

My neighbor is an engineer for Nissan and came to check it out. We checked all the fuses under the hood and in the cabin as well as the relay and everything looks good.

He also though it was the battery, and gave me a slow charger, I'll charge it up overnight and we'll see ...

 

Thanks that what I was also thinking. I charged it overnight but still no go.

The battery is tiny in this car. I can't find a replacement anywhere. I'll go get one at the dealership tomorrow.

 

Confirmed it was a dead 12v battery.

I went to Advanded Auto Parts and got a Yellow Top Optima (gel battery).

It's the same size as the original but the posts as slightly bigger. I changed the Connector on the positive side that connects to the circuit and on the negative side I bought a new connector and connected it to the original wire. Took about 30 minutes to install with the modifications, $177 total with adapters.

It stated right up. I'm feeling better now, I didn't feel like taking it to the dealer and getting a $$$ invoice with all kind of trouble shooting diagnostics.

Thank you everyone for your help and support.

 

Sorry I'm a little illiterate when it comes to car terminology. I'm assuming you are referring to the little hose that connects to the battery on the + side.

No I didn't hook it up to the new battery. Actually, I was going to connect it but the connector didn't fit, so I went back to the store and asked the guys for an adapter that would fit my new battery and they seemed very confused and were wondering why I wanted to plug this in a gel battery. They told me gel batteries don't need it.

If you were asking whether I let the old battery ventilate out of the car to charge it, no I didn't either. That's my wife's car and I didn't want to mess with a battery that's starting to weaken, it was the original battery. She's often going out of town with the car for work and I am glad the battery failed in my garage and not 200 miles away from home.

 

OK I see. I had not read what was included in the conversion. Now I see that it comes with the adapter for the venting hose.

Thanks. I'll take care of this.