[davaguco]

I left my Prius 2, which only has 12 months, and 4000 miles, in the parking lot for 12 hours.

When I came back, the fob wouldn't work. The remote opening wouldn't work either. I had to open the door with the emergency key.

When I pressed the power on button, nothing would happen. No lights, no sound, no response... the car was absolutely dead.

What can I do? Is it a problem of the 12v battery? or the 400v? Can a Prius 2 be started with jumper cables on the 12v battery? Or should I just call the Toyota official dealer?

Please help, I really don't know what to do. Thank you very much,

David.

 

[MikeFromEastCoast]

Could it be the fob?

 

[firepa63]

Sounds like the 12 volt battery is dead. It can be jumped and instructions are in the owner's manual. I suggest getting the car towed to a Toyota dealer. It's under warranty.

 

[DanMan32]

Did you leave a light on? Not likely a door was ajar, as you said you had to unlock the car with the mechanical key, and if a door was slightly open leaving the courtesy lights on, it wouldn't have locked.

Sounds like a dead 12V battery, and yes, you can jump it with the terminals under the hood. It doesn't need much power, just enough to activate the computers so you can get into READY, and incidentally operate the accumulator pump since you have to press the brake pedal to get to READY. Once in READY, the DC-DC converter will recharge the 12V battery.

It is possible the fob battery is dead. Did you try powering up by putting the fob in the slot in the dash?

 

[davaguco]

Yes, I already tried placing the fob inside the slot, and it didnt work.

I will try to jump the battery now, and see if that helps.

 

[firepa63]

Yes, I already tried placing the fob inside the slot, and it didnt work.

I will try to jump the battery now, and see if that helps.

Let us know if jumping the battery solved the problem...

 

[hyperion]

Question Dave. Did you not think of having it "jump started" when you found it dead?

 

[wstander]

I don't know about Dave, but with the newer cars, it is important to know if when and how to jump-start...

gotta go read 'da book' some more

 

[hyperion]

My only thought being, you would really want to know after 4,000 miles what really caused the battery to discharge. If you jump start immediately without changing anything in the car and the dome lights come on with a door warning light (like the hatchback not being "fully" latched ) you can go on your merry way just thinking that you will never do that again. Whereas if you get in car and start moving light switches and slammi8ng all doors before you have powered up, you will always be waiting for the same thing to happen again.

 

[firepa63]

If the 12 volt battery completely discharged, I would take it to a Toyota dealer regardless of what caused it. It's under warranty. Let them try to figure it out. You probably want to get the battery replaced anyway. If it was completely discharged, it is probably suspect for maintaing a full charge in the future.

 

[hyperion]

But would the battery replacement be done under warranty if you caused the discharge account of leaving dome light on ect?
Somewhere along the Prius line with the advent of heated or powered seats I'm sure Toyota will be supplying a full-sized 12 volt battery. Something which will retain a charge for several days with a "minute" drain.
I've noticed a full-sized battery under the hood of the 06 Honda Civic hybrid.

 

[firepa63]

But would the battery replacement be done under warranty if you caused the discharge account of leaving dome light on ect?

That's why you bring it to the dealer to let them find out why the battery died. Let the dealer administer the warranty. We shouldn't try to do that here on the forum. My thoughts...

 

[hyperion]

Good thoughts but if it was the dome lights and you turned them off and brought the car to a dealer he would never find the reason for the discharge.
As for all the guessing done here, it was because of the original question. I too believe the first thing anyone would do would be to jump the battery, drive the car home and wait for the problem to pop up again if it ever would. I'm sure the reason for the drain would pop up as soon as the battery was jumped.

 

[firepa63]

Good thoughts but if it was the dome lights and you turned them off and brought the car to a dealer he would never find the reason for the discharge.
As for all the guessing done here, it was because of the original question. I too believe the first thing anyone would do would be to jump the battery, drive the car home and wait for the problem to pop up again if it ever would. I'm sure the reason for the drain would pop up as soon as the battery was jumped.

The concern here is that a totally discharged battery is quite often damaged and may not hold a full charge. I would get the battery checked out regardless of what caused the original problem.

 

[ceric]

A complete discharge of 12V battery only cause problem of holding charge on older batteries, not newer ones. Once my kid left an interior light on overnight, and the battery on my Odyssey was completely drained. A simply jumpstart cured it without any side effects.

 

[ceric]

A complete discharge of 12V battery only causes problem of holding charge on older batteries, not newer ones. Once my kid left an interior light on overnight, and the battery on my Odyssey was completely drained. A simply jumpstart cured it without any side effects.

 

[hyperion]

davaguco originally posted this, the morning of Dec. 23rd. Can you tell us what you found after car was "jumpstarted?"

 

[redwein]

A complete discharge of 12V battery only causes problem of holding charge on older batteries, not newer ones. Once my kid left an interior light on overnight, and the battery on my Odyssey was completely drained. A simply jumpstart cured it without any side effects.

My wife has a 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Prosche clearly states in their manual that letting the battery remain in a discharged state will reduce the ability of the battery to hold a charge. We experienced it first hand since it isn't her daily driver and sits a lot. We had to have the battery replaced and bought a Porsche battery tender that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Would this be an older style battery or is it that even newer batteries may have the problem, perhaps to a lesser extent?

 

[ScubaX]

Without my going out in the rain to check my warranty guide, can someone tell me how long the warranty is for the accessory battery?

 

[DanMan32]

36K/3 years, since it is not part of the drivetrain, hybrid components or emissions systems.

A friend (or his girlfriend) left his battery dead for a couple months. Worked fine after a jump and a good drive.
Leaving a battery discharged for a long time, or repeatedly is not a good idea though.