I tried to start my car and it was dead. I checked the fob and got out a second one. It then started. I drove to the market and when I came back it wouldn't start again. AAA was able to jump start it and told me to drive it around for 30 mins. With the air conditioning on to fully recharge the battery. I did this and the battery went from 2 bars to fully charged. When at home, it immediately died again when I shut down the car. Now the engine is making a whirring noise for over an hour and the engine/hood area still hot. What's going on? Should I be worried? No dealers are open tomorrow...it's the holiday. Thanks for your help! Blyn
Open the trunk and charge your 12 Volt chassis battery. You could also disengage the traction battery switch to shut the system down while the 12 volt system is being charge. This should cure the immediate problem, but you need to have the 12 volt battery checked before it happens again.
Thanks. I can't get the trunk open. And even if I could, I'm not sure I could figure what what you are suggesting. I'm mostly worked about the noise the engine is making...like something is going so wrong under the hood. I can call AAA Friday and take to dealer on Friday.
Dr. Diesel, the noise stopped. I think I had left the power on and I corrected that. It has 57,000 miles, so I will take in Friday for the 60,000 maintenance. I think you are spot on that it is the 12 volt battery.... Thanks again! Blyn
when you can't open the back door find the jump start thingy under the fuse box lid and attach a 12 volt power source. Even two 6 volt torch batteries in series can do it. and their will be enough power to operate the back door lock. Alternately fold your back seats down and access the battery from there.
Thx again...yeah, I thought that through...going through by folding down seats...this "monkey" can think that much through...lol. But, admittedly, I'm not very handy mechanically being a female who always permitted men to do everything...so, charging the battery on my own is out of my scope. I'll call AAA tomorrow to do it . That's why I pay for ER roadside service....but, I will watch and learn to pay homage to PriusChat. As you all have given me peace of mind.
If you get the 12-volt battery checked/replaced and find that it is still being drained, then it could be an issue with the inverter. We briefly had a 2012 hybrid Camry that kept draining the low-voltage battery. Came to find that the inverter was defective and was draining the low-voltage battery dry every time the car was powered off.
Funny, my 2010 had nearly identical mileage as this guy's and had the exact same issues. Currently getting my 12v battery replaced after AAA gave me a boost this morning.
