Prius Won't Start

Maroon · Jan 13, 2014

Den49 said: ↑

My 12V battery discharged last week while waiting to pickup my wife from shopping. I sat in the car listening to the radio on accessory mode for about forty-five minutes, like I have done many times before, then suddenly the car would not shut off or start and the warning lights were flashing. I finally got the car to shut off and let it sit for about fifteen minutes. Luckily, during that time the battery charge came up enough to start the car and drive home. On the drive home the hybrid display had bright white vertical lines and the speedometer read way higher than my actual speed, like 70 mph when I was doing 30 mph, and the car seemed underpowered, all this during a snow storm. I disconnected and charged the battery when I got home, reconnected it and everything worked again. However, given that the OEM battery was four and a half years old and I had discharged it, I replaced it with the Optima Yellow Top S46B24R from Advance Auto. Cost with a 15% discount (Code DE31) and 6% sales tax was $198.21, less a $25.00 discount coupon on a future $50.00 purchase, which resulted in a net cost of $173.21. Below is a link to the Advance Auto deal:

Automotive Batteries & Battery Parts: Visit Advance Auto Parts for deals

Lessons learned:

1. Doesn't take much of a load to discharge a 4+ year old OEM battery.

2. Replacing the OEM battery after four years is probably a good idea to prevent being stranded.
Click to expand...

Why would you even use accessory mode? That's playing russian roulette right there.

Troy · Feb 22, 2014

How difficult is it to replace the battery yourself? Are there instructions somewhere?

Prius Won't Start

Maroon Member

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Prius Won't Start

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