Winter startup

And your point to all this is??

 

The Jumper Connections you need to jump start or charge the battery are up under the hood. No need to get to the 12V battery directly.

 

Through one and a half Fargo winters, with temps down to 30 below zero, I never had any problems. Lots of folks drive Priuses in similar conditions without any problems.

I conclude that whatever caused your problem, it was not the 14 degree temperature.

 

have to agree with daniel... sounds like the battery you got was a lemon...the cold temps just reveled that fact

 

Going on my 3rd winter with my 04 Prius. Never any issues starting at all. Lowest temp was -10f and it started like any other time. Amazing car. Get a new battery.

 

Was at yet another hockey tournament this weekend in Rochester MN and parked in an outside lot. Actual temp was -2 F overnight -- windchill of -24. Powered right up!

Sorry to hear of your troubles...unfortunately I think it's your car specific.

 

I'm with daniel. Mine stayed outside all last winter where it got into the -20s several times. No trouble starting. I say either there's something wrong with your 12v battery or else there is some kind of drain on it. I hear that the visor vanity lights can stay on if you're not careful, for example.

 

When things are -14F, things get wierd.. plastic will break that otherwise would bend.

I might suggest if there is a way to put insulation around the battery. The battery has enough mass to it, it should hold a temp for a while if there is some insulation.... it can't hurt!

 

Here my best explanation of windchill:
If you were in 33 degree F environment with a windchill of 10 degrees, water still would not freeze.... temp is temp and chill is chill.

Windchill means it pulls or "dissipates" heat from you as fast "as if" it was the lower temp of 10 degrees. But in the above scenario, an object would get heat pulled out of it at the rate of being in 10 degrees with no wind. But that object would still never get below 33 degrees no matter how long it stayed in that environment because its only 33 degrees.

In case there was any confusion.. I hope that helps....

The car in -14 degrees will get hit harder as far as effects on plastics etc., than the car in a higher temp of -2F with a windchill of -24F.

 

Actually it has an effect on any object that is warmer than the OAT, human or otherwise. Sorry, pet peeve.

 

question on the origional topic. Does the EuroSpec Prius not have the thermous? some where in my mind I remember seeing that they don't have the bladder or the thermous. With out the thermous the Prius is going to be a lot harder to start than the NA Prius with pre-heat. Now another question what the heck is a Webasto or what ever it's called because any pre-heater that could be hooked up to a Corolla could also be hooked up to a Prius. As for the clips on the cover you have to push in the lower part of the box where they catch the clips on the lower part of the box to get them unhooked.

 

just curious... is peeve a cat or a dog?

 

Sounds more like a bird.