'05 Prius engine suddenly kaput :-(

Hi,

We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. It's been fine. 38 - 64 mpg
depending on terrain and speed. Great car. We love it.

Before we bought it I monitored this newsgroup and read several
postings about sudden death of the engine. Owners reported that without
warning the engine would quit and refuse to be restarted. Some
contributors wrote of a procedure involving the prolonged pressing of
the Power button. I failed to keep copies of those postings.

Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it off while
I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart it. Nothing. Right
now it sits in our driveway (thank goodness!) with only the green Park
jewel and the red engine alert illuminated. I had to lock the doors
with the key.

It could be the auxiliary battery. Two days ago I left the driver's
reading lamp on overnight. Nevertheless it started right up yesterday
and let me run several local errands.Perhaps they were not enough to
recharge the 12v battery?

Should I risk trying to recgarge the 12v battery through the specified
terminal in the engine compartment's fusebox?

In Sept we had the 10,000-mile scheduled service and the
steering-recall work done. I doubt that either is related to this new
problem.

I will welcome insight before I call the dealer tomorrow.

(This note's UK email address notwithstandng, I'm stateside as I write
this.)

--
Lady Purse-Wader
YahooUK disallows hyphens

In article <051120061936532451%Masked@mm.m>
[email]Lady_Purse-Wader@yahoo.co.uk[/email] "Masked" writes:
[color=blue]
> We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. [...][/color]

Then don't mess about with it yourself. Leave it to the dealer,
as AFAIK you are safely inside the warranty period.
[color=blue]
> Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it
> off while I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart
> it. [...][/color]

Apart from caution over theft or kids/pets/idiots engaging Drive
(despite the built-in safeties), you don't need to turn off the
dashboard in such circumstances. Switching off/on is not a huge
drain on things (AFAIK, NB); and even leaving loads like the a/c
running is covered by the car minding the state of charge itself.
[color=blue]
> Should I risk trying to recgarge the 12v battery through the
> specified terminal in the engine compartment's fusebox?[/color]

If you were about to do the work yourself, you'd still need to be
sure the 12v battery was squiffed. Has the battery been examined
in the ways usual for trad lead/acid cells (without infringing on
the dealer's territory)? (Eg, electrolyte level, terminal volts,
general condition; maybe Ray O has some suggestions there.) But,
as you are leaving it to your friendly local dealer (yes?), don't
do more than look at it from a distance.

BTW, I assume (as you didn't say otherwise) that you were able to
open the boot (US:trunk)? If so the 12v battery is okay, because
it provides the power to unlock the hatch when you pull up on the
lifting point: the mildly squishy feel is your fingers pressing a
switch.
--
Andrew Stephenson

On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 19:36:53 -0500, Masked <Masked@mm.m> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Hi,
>
>We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. It's been fine. 38 - 64 mpg
>depending on terrain and speed. Great car. We love it.
>
>Before we bought it I monitored this newsgroup and read several
>postings about sudden death of the engine. Owners reported that without
>warning the engine would quit and refuse to be restarted. Some
>contributors wrote of a procedure involving the prolonged pressing of
>the Power button. I failed to keep copies of those postings.
>
>Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it off while
>I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart it. Nothing. Right
>now it sits in our driveway (thank goodness!) with only the green Park
>jewel and the red engine alert illuminated. I had to lock the doors
>with the key.
>
>It could be the auxiliary battery. Two days ago I left the driver's
>reading lamp on overnight. Nevertheless it started right up yesterday
>and let me run several local errands.Perhaps they were not enough to
>recharge the 12v battery?
>
>Should I risk trying to recgarge the 12v battery through the specified
>terminal in the engine compartment's fusebox?[/color]

I'd RTFM and see where they want you to connect the charger - but if
it was my car, I'd probably still get out the trickle charger and go
clip it straight to the battery posts. If it works, it may get enough
charge overnight to start and drive to the dealer for repairs.

Unless the battery has a shorted cell and starts overcharging the
other cells and boiling out acid all over the place (which is why you
expose the battery during charging, so you can see this) you really
can't hurt anything.

Regular car batteries have very little tolerance to deep discharges
- even two or three times can be enough to toast it, though it usually
takes 6 to 12 really deep discharges to kill it. Was your car ever a
dealer demo for any length of time at all? How many other times has
someone left the dome light on, or left it sitting all day in Acc with
the radio cranked up loud?

--<< Bruce >>--

In article <1162779368snz@deltrak.demon.co.uk>, Andrew Stephenson
<ames@deltrak.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[color=blue]
> In article <051120061936532451%Masked@mm.m>
> [email]Lady_Purse-Wader@yahoo.co.uk[/email] "Masked" writes:
>[color=green]
> > We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. [...][/color]
>
> Then don't mess about with it yourself. Leave it to the dealer,
> as AFAIK you are safely inside the warranty period.[/color]

Sound advice. Yes, the warranty applies.
[color=blue]
>...
> BTW, I assume (as you didn't say otherwise) that you were able to
> open the boot (US:trunk)? If so the 12v battery is okay, because
> it provides the power to unlock the hatch when you pull up on the
> lifting point: the mildly squishy feel is your fingers pressing a
> switch.[/color]

No, the boot switch (thank you for the reality check <g>) is dead too.

I think the dealer gets to tow the car and me to his shop.

Thanks again.

In article <jq6tk2hmru0nlofthv04tmv9gk7nklt9g8@4ax.com>, Bruce L.
Bergman <blPYTHONbergman@earthlink.invalid> wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 19:36:53 -0500, Masked <Masked@mm.m> wrote:
>[color=green]
> >Hi,[/color][/color]
....[color=blue][color=green]
> >Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it off while
> >I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart it. Nothing. Right
> >now it sits in our driveway (thank goodness!) with only the green Park
> >jewel and the red engine alert illuminated. I had to lock the doors
> >with the key.
> >
> >It could be the auxiliary battery. Two days ago I left the driver's
> >reading lamp on overnight. Nevertheless it started right up yesterday
> >and let me run several local errands.Perhaps they were not enough to
> >recharge the 12v battery?[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> Regular car batteries have very little tolerance to deep discharges
> - even two or three times can be enough to toast it, though it usually
> takes 6 to 12 really deep discharges to kill it. Was your car ever a
> dealer demo for any length of time at all? How many other times has
> someone left the dome light on, or left it sitting all day in Acc with
> the radio cranked up loud?[/color]

We bought it with 52 mies on the odometer. It was one of two on the lot
at the time. Both were being test-driven, one assumes.

However, the selling dealer is many miles form home, so the repairing
dealer will be seeing the car for the first time. Warranty is honored
by all dealers, so I should be OK.

Thanks, Bruce.

"Andrew Stephenson" <ames@deltrak.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1162779368snz@deltrak.demon.co.uk...[color=blue]
> In article <051120061936532451%Masked@mm.m>
> [email]Lady_Purse-Wader@yahoo.co.uk[/email] "Masked" writes:
>[color=green]
>> We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. [...][/color]
>
> Then don't mess about with it yourself. Leave it to the dealer,
> as AFAIK you are safely inside the warranty period.
>[color=green]
>> Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it
>> off while I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart
>> it. [...][/color]
>
> Apart from caution over theft or kids/pets/idiots engaging Drive
> (despite the built-in safeties), you don't need to turn off the
> dashboard in such circumstances. Switching off/on is not a huge
> drain on things (AFAIK, NB); and even leaving loads like the a/c
> running is covered by the car minding the state of charge itself.
>[color=green]
>> Should I risk trying to recgarge the 12v battery through the
>> specified terminal in the engine compartment's fusebox?[/color]
>
> If you were about to do the work yourself, you'd still need to be
> sure the 12v battery was squiffed. Has the battery been examined
> in the ways usual for trad lead/acid cells (without infringing on
> the dealer's territory)? (Eg, electrolyte level, terminal volts,
> general condition; maybe Ray O has some suggestions there.) But,
> as you are leaving it to your friendly local dealer (yes?), don't
> do more than look at it from a distance.
>
> BTW, I assume (as you didn't say otherwise) that you were able to
> open the boot (US:trunk)? If so the 12v battery is okay, because
> it provides the power to unlock the hatch when you pull up on the
> lifting point: the mildly squishy feel is your fingers pressing a
> switch.
> --
> Andrew Stephenson
>[/color]

It sounds like the 12 V battery is discharged. The OP can try jumping or
charging per the instructions in the owner's manual. If it is still under
warranty, I'd let the dealer handle it.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

"Masked" <Masked@mm.m> wrote in message
news:051120061936532451%Masked@mm.m...[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> We bought our Prius new in Aug 05. It's been fine. 38 - 64 mpg
> depending on terrain and speed. Great car. We love it.
>
> Before we bought it I monitored this newsgroup and read several
> postings about sudden death of the engine. Owners reported that without
> warning the engine would quit and refuse to be restarted. Some
> contributors wrote of a procedure involving the prolonged pressing of
> the Power button. I failed to keep copies of those postings.
>
> Alas, tonight I backed the Prius out of the garage, turned it off while
> I closed the garage door, and attempted to restart it. Nothing. Right
> now it sits in our driveway (thank goodness!) with only the green Park
> jewel and the red engine alert illuminated. I had to lock the doors
> with the key.
>
> It could be the auxiliary battery. Two days ago I left the driver's
> reading lamp on overnight. Nevertheless it started right up yesterday
> and let me run several local errands.Perhaps they were not enough to
> recharge the 12v battery?
>
> Should I risk trying to recgarge the 12v battery through the specified
> terminal in the engine compartment's fusebox?
>
> In Sept we had the 10,000-mile scheduled service and the
> steering-recall work done. I doubt that either is related to this new
> problem.
>
> I will welcome insight before I call the dealer tomorrow.
>
> (This note's UK email address notwithstandng, I'm stateside as I write
> this.)
>
> --
> Lady Purse-Wader
> YahooUK disallows hyphens[/color]

yes, it is a flat battery, but why would you turn it off to shut the garage
door?

the 12v battery only runs the computer boot up, so doesn't need much in it,
a short charge would get you going again.