I am new to this forum...this is my first post! Fair warning, I'm a girl who knows nothing about cars but I'm smart, ambitious, and can follow directions pretty well! I have a 2002 Prius. The HV (aka traction) battery went kaput. I ordered a new one from Re-Involt (highly recommend them!) and installed it this weekend (which, btw, is SUPER easy even for a girl!) Upon installation, the car still had no power at all. I was pretty sure the 12-volt was dead since the car sat for over 6 months before replacing the HV battery so we "jumped" the car at the 12-volt, drove around for about 10 minutes, came back home, turned the car off, and it immediately had no power again - but it "jumps" to life just fine. The 12-volt is new. Installed by the dealer last year in July or August, I can't recall which and the HV battery went kaput just after that. Question 1: Do I just need to drive the car around for a lot longer to recharge the 12-volt? I'm not home right now so I can't look to see if it's one of the crappy Optima batteries I've read about. I'm hoping it's just run-down after sitting so long vs. having gone bad. Question 2: I need to "borrow" a scanner from Autozone to clear the codes from when the HV battery went kaput but I have no clue what that even means or how to do it. Thanks!
1) You don't need to drive it but just turn the car on (start it). The inverter will charge the battery as long as it is on. Your car can sit in a parking lot or open space but NOT in a garage with the garage door closed. It should be left on for at least 5 hours to get a good charge this way (I know that sounds like a long time but the charging is slow). It will not burn much gas though. 2) If your 12v is completely dead, the codes should have cleared. I recommend this (others will recommend something else): 1st, get your battery charged (one way or another, with a charger or as I detailed above). 2nd, once charged, disconnect the neg lead of the 12V battery for at least 30 sec's, reconnect and the codes should be cleared. The downfall with doing this is you clear the codes and the DTC will be unretrievable. Good job on the battery install BTW. (Its so easy, anyone can do it!!!!!!! .
What is "the DTC" that will be unretrievable? What I mean is, what the heck is "DTC"??? Thanks for your help!
DTC = Diagnostic Trouble Code Since you have a Check engine light (and maybe other indicators), that means you have some DTC's stored in the ECU's. If you do as I say above in step 2, you will lose those stored DTC's. This means if you have a "real" problem, you may have just cleared away your chance to have the computer point you in the right direction. In reality though, if you have a real problem, the DTC (along with the CEL and other indicators) should come back right away.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!! I left the car on in my driveway yesterday for about 5 1/2 hours. It started up perfectly this morning and NO error codes!!!!! I'm so excited. I am a lawyer, not a car enthusiast or techy type person and the fact that I was able to fix a car for $2k on my own that the dealership told me would cost over $8k to repair is beyond fantastic. And all I did was research the internet and ask a lot of questions. I feel like I won an Academy Award! I want to "thank" everyone!!!
Great job maddawoo. Please keep us updated periodically on the status of your car. We like to hear these type of success stories and we also like to know that all is still well or if new problems arise. Here are some things to think about/know. Your 12V battery sat for 6 months, because of that, the capacity likely decreased. The life expectancy also decreased along with the capacity. If you start to have trouble with it again (low power, weird symptoms), the first thing to suspect will be the 12V battery. Congrats on your Academy Award.
