Weird stuff happening? MPGs dropping? Test The Battery

I did a ICE coolant flush, transmission fluid change, oil change, and he found that 'hybrid' coolant issue. Just more info.

 

It's not only vague, it is non-nonsensical. Fluid doesn't typically disappear from not being changed. I would have to know exactly what was low in coolant. Was it the internal combustion engine or is he saying there is some other hybrid engine that was low in coolant? Either this mechanic is "mistaken" in his statement of "the hybrid engine had no coolant" or the ICE (internal combustion engine) coolant was low. It's not likely it was empty. If the ICE was low in coolant I would suspect there is a leak somewhere. The first place to suspect would be water/coolant pump, then hose connections, hoses, and radiator. There are other possibilities but the car seems to be running ok. I would definitely tell all this to your Toyota mechanic and have him look it over.

 

Finally got around to running the battery test on the 08 today - difficult to get a teenager to stop driving long enough to do the test. My daughter has done the majority of the driving in the 08 and have been averaging 43-45 mpg. I chalk part of it up to her driving habits, but thought I better check the battery.

Results aren't bad, but believe we should go ahead and replace the nearly 5 year old battery before something bad happens.

• unloaded - 12.1 volts
• loaded - 11.7 volts
• ready mode - charging at 14.1

Probably go for the optima.

 

thanks for the advice I left the dealer with a promise that they would call me back because the part for the steering wheel column recall was not on hand.

I'll update with any results. So far the car has been behaving. Thanks again for the insight.

 

Got the notice that the local dealer finally has the parts for the recall. After reading these posts I know what to watch for. Man, I hate a steering wheel that isn't straight when I'm going straight down the road. Looking to get the recall work done, a new battery, and transmission fluid change.

 

Checked my '07 the other day as the mileage is down to about 40MPG (UK) but had put some of that down to the weather and time of year.

The readings I got were:
First reading: 11.7
Second reading: 11.2
Third reading: 14.4

Ordered a new battery from my local Toyota dealer yesterday and it arrived today so I'll get round to fitting it in the next couple of days and see what happens to my mileage.

 

I'm thinking it must be time to swap out my battery as well on the 2009. I just checked it, and I believe it was 11.7 unloaded! I'm going to check again later, but if that is the case, it is definitely time for a swap out.

 

removed

 

I just bought a 2009 Prius with about 28,500 miles and noticed the " Caution There is a problem with the transmission "P" lock mechanism. Park your your car on a flat surface and fully apply the parking brake"​

as I was familiarizing myself with some of the functions, specifically pressing the Power button once, then twice without depressing the brake pedal and cycling through the Accessory functions.​

​

I performed the "DO-IT-YOURSELF TEST PROCEDURE (thanks to jdenenberg)" as described above and the battery showed 10V.​

Is it obvious that I need a new battery immediately?​

Is 28,500 miles and about 4 years an "average" time for the factory battery to last?​

​

Thanks very much for all your input​

 

Age seems to be a larger indication than mileage about how long a lead acid battery will last.

In the Prius, how much the battery was used with the car not in READY seems to be the strongest indicator.

 

As I wrote last night I was able to get into Maintenance Mode and get a reading of 10V.
I thought I would try again this morning.
The car has been sitting in my garage.
It's about 60 degrees.
Have not driven it since last night.
I am unable to get into Maintenance Mode using either the 3 times headlight on/off procedure (the one that worked last night) or the alternate procedure not using the headlights.
Also now the car is beeping continually whenever I open the door.

Can someone please explain:
Any reason why I can't get into Maintenance Mode?
And what does the continual beeping indicate?
I suspect (probably an understatement) I need a new battery but still debating whether I should have dealer put in Toyota replacement which will run total of about $300 for part and labor.
Or whether to get Optima Yellow for about $200, not including installation, which I'm not sure I want to do myself.
It's not that I'm unhandy...but I hate digging myself deeper into a hole and sometimes need to know when to just ask for help

 

OK- Update.
I tried again to get into Maintenance Mode.
Maybe because I turned the headlights on 4 times, or perhaps because I turned them on/off more quickly or slowly... I was able to get into it.
And, yes- first reading was about 10.3V or 10.1V- it changed quickly.
So - I have a call in to eLearnAid about the Yellow Optima.
I'll take the next step after that.
Comments welcome

 

The plot thickens.
A lot of what started all this for me was taking my car to the dealer yesterday for the 2 recent recalls- the HV electric water pump and the Steering shaft. I'm not indicating that these have anything to do with what this thread is really about.
So I'm talking to my Service Consultant just a few moments ago about my low battery concerns and he tells me that they checked the battery yesterday at the dealership (although not noted on the Workorder nor Invoice) and that the battery seemed fine. I asked him how they check it and he said with a meter.
I think I have read somewhere in these threads, perhaps more than once, that dealer battery tests ain't the most accurate.
So now??
I'm still leaning toward thinking I still need a replacement battery.
But perplexed...

 

son of a b****...
I decided to bring my car back to the dealer tomorrow morning so I could have them do their test on the battery one more time to see if they still conclude that the battery is OK.
So just now I go to the garage and decide to run Maintenance Mode one more time.
And sure enough- now it reads Normal- 12.5V at the start and within normal when putting a load on it and then the charging also seems normal.
The changes I recall making earlier today are disabling the SKS Smart System- pushing the button in down by your knee.
And also taking the headlights out of "automatic mode."
I also did a short trip about 3o miles total- not highway, but country road going about 40-50.
This is confusing.
Anyone have explanation/thoughts?

 

It could be that it was charged from the drive to the dealer (and back), but doesn't hold a charge very well. 10V is definitely low. 11V is the bottom of what you want to see. Some people are paranoid about battery life and change the battery every 3 years or so regardless. That's also what people who sell batteries will tell you.

My car has the original battery (now 7 years and 64,300 miles). I better run that check that's described as I'm probably pushing my luck, but it hasn't given me any problems so far, and I have a short commute and it was parked outside all winter. (I keep forgetting that the drive battery is the one that starts the car).

Reducing the drain by the SKS will make an effect, but the car should be able to handle that just fine for a few days - they recommend turning it off if leaving the car for a couple weeks. Headlights will make a difference only if the car is on but not in the Ready state, I would think.

 

Nerfer- thanks for your thoughts.
I have checked the battery twice since the first time I got the 12.5 reading.
And each time it now reads 12.3-12.5.
And this is after the car has sat idle for at least 12 hours.
Just to review- the very first time I did the "Maintenance Mode" test was the day after I had driven at least 200 miles.
And that's when I got the 10V reading.
I still am confused about the scenario of the last 4-5 days, but for now I'm going to pretend that my battery is still good.
Which is quite a change from a few days ago when i was quite certain it was not good and I would have to replace it.

 

any load, a cell phone charger, parking lights, visor light, radio, radar detector, satellite radio, anything you can think of that uses electricity will change the reading if it is on while you test.

You may have just turned off enough loads (SKS and headlights) to affect the voltage that much. Personally I leave the SKS on and the headlights off when I get out of my car so for comparison sake that is how I would test it.

Oh and I always make sure my radio is off, AC off, fan speed at off. I literally want to know the voltage with the least load I can put on it (just the MFD plus the hidden electronics required to start the car).

If you can get 12.x volts with SKS on but AC/fan/radio etc off then no need to replace the battery for now.

 

Sorry to be driving this into the ground but I just checked the battery voltage again in Maintenance Mode and it was back down to 10.2V or so.
Dropped below 10V when Power button was pressed again to load some accessories.
The car had been sitting in my garage probably for 48 hours and the SKS was on.
Just to dispel whether I'm "Maintenance Mode" happy, the reason I checked the battery was because I was trying to program a 2nd FOB and not having success so wondered whether the battery condition might have something to do with it.
Also- another question. When the battery is low like that I get a continual beeping sound when I open the door.
I suspect it is a warning that the battery is low.
Am I wrong about that?
It will stop when I close the door.
And resume again when I open the door.

I did take the car for a short 15 minute drive around my country neighborhood.
Came back- checked the battery in Maintenance Mode again and it was up to 12.5V or so.
And beeping gone.

 

Is there any odd warning lite on on the dash on your car? Door not closed? Aftermarket alarm or any other not Toyota feature that you know of? Are you the original owner? Any history of water damage?