Prius (2004-09) :: 2005 - Battery Not Working - Dying Repeatedly At 120,000 Miles
Jul 14, 2015
Trying to figure out whether to fix or scrap our 2005 Prius with 193,000 miles and a mysterious 12V battery problem. What would you do in my situation?
We've had a recurring problem with the 12V accessory battery: I have replaced it myself three times. The last failure was the most mysterious, because after replacing the 12V battery for the third time, I conducted nearly daily voltage tests using the Prius' "secret" vehicle signal check. Voltage coming off of the 12V was normal, if not high the entire time in all of the Prius's various starting and ready modes. I wired up a solar panel to trickle-charge the 12V battery when we weren't around, and we plugged the 12V in at night to a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up.
Nonetheless the day came a few months after the latest replacement when we had our usual 12V failure symptoms: the time on the clock started resetting, the car didn't turn on on the first press, the Prius computer rebooted, and eventually the car wouldn't start without a jump start. This has been super-frustrating, and googling around, I haven't been impressed by people's reported experiences trying to have the dealer try to resolve such problems. My worry is that a dealer repair person will change the accessory 12V battery without fixing the underlying problem. I would suspect a parasitic draw somewhere, but voltage tests when the car was overnighted without any kind of charging did not suggest a serious voltage draw on the 12V battery.
Other details about the car: our keyless entry hasn't worked for several years (dead batteries in the key fob?) and we open the car manually using the key each time. We stick the fob in the slot each time we want to start it. MPG is comparatively low vs. other Priuses, perhaps 44-45 MPG, and lower when the 12V battery starts to die (37-40). I have had the car serviced (oil, etc.) like clockwork every three months; recently, I've noticed the engine is starting to burn oil a bit (level is reported low on each change).
Most of the driving has been done in the flats and the heat of California's Central Valley, and we've put something like 120,000 miles on it just in the last five years. Besides the fact that the 12V battery keeps dying, the car has been very reliable.
We just inherited a free Prius with just 60,000 miles on it, and I have a 1993 Camry with 150k miles on the chassis and maybe 60k miles on the replacement engine I had dropped into it a few years ago. The Camry just passed California's smog test and seems to be running well. We don't want or need three cars.
Our choice is to try to fix the Prius with 193k miles on it and donate the Camry (which gets about 20 miles to the gallon, the horror...), or keep the Camry and donate the Prius. My instinct is to not drop thousands of dollars into the high-mileage Prius, especially if these issues might be pointing to a dying main battery.
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Battery kept dying. Had the battery tested. Bench tested as OK but kept dying. Replaced the battery with a new OEM. In a week, that battery was dying too. Alternator was putting out 13V but would dip down to 11V. Also did a parasitic current draw test. Car is only drawing 20mA at rest. Replaced the alternator with brand new. New alternator putting out 14.4V. Battery keeps dying. Still no parasitic current draw.
I did two things right around the same time I started having the issue. I put in a new head unit. I already had an aftermarket head unit and I simply upgraded. I know this isn't the issue because I ripped the thing out completely, including wiring harness, and I still kept having a problem. The other change I made was going from a MFSW to a 3-spoke. I removed the MFSW relay and switched the pins in the column so that the horn and airbag work properly. I tried the cruise control and it doesn't work. When I try to turn on the cruise control, it blows the horn fuse. Replaced the horn fuse and I just don't use the cruise.
What I'm wondering is if I messed up the CCM when I did the steering wheel swap. I've read that bad CCMs can kill batteries. I'm not having the typical faulty CCM issues. The only issues, besides the battery dying, are that the unlock on the keyfob will stop working at random, and the "door ajar" light on my dash flickers at random.
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My car is an 05 and currently has 219,000 miles. Runs great. Only things I've replaced are the 12 volt battery and the rack and pinion. Replaced the rack because I was trying to drift in the snow and tried to beat the traction control. Needless to say, I lost and hit the curb. Jammed the gear in the left side of the rack. Replaced the rack with a $75 used one and no problems since.
My issue is this, even if my battery is at 6 bars when I first take off, my hybrid battery drains down to even as low as 1 bar. It only got down to 1 once but is hitting 2 regularly. After about 3-10 miles it is back to the regular charge rate. I also noticed the other day with the window down, there was a slight whirring sound, almost like a gear or wheel that is a gummed up and is being slowed down. It also felt like there was resistance, almost like the brake was dragging. After a few miles, as in less than 5, the noise was gone and the car was going along just fine. I've checked the emergency brake to see if it's dragging by applying it and releasing it several times. Does not appear to be the issue. Today I put it in neutral to see if that changed anything but it did like it always does and just coasted along fine with no resistance. My thought is the transmission. I'm wondering if the fluid it so old and broken down that maybe things are gumming up. Either way, I purchased the tranny fluid and will change that out. I know people will probably gasp but I have never changed it. Actually thought because it's a cvt and there is no dipstick to check it, that it doesn't need changed. After reading up yesterday I discovered I was mistaken.
I think that's about it. I'll edit it if I think of something more. Once the battery is back up to charge it accelerates and drives like normal. I do want the car to last so my daughter can use it when I buy the new Prius Prime.
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Well I work overnight security and I'm able to watch movies in my car or be on my laptop at work but I ruined my battery( didn't have the car engine on) and now that my battery is dying I noticed huge drop in gas mileage .
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So this morning when i started up my car the cel came on. The car seems to be running fine so i decided id try to go to work and hope for the best. Well nothing happened and i made it to work fine, but i noticed i was always regenerating power. My drive is 45 miles all freeway and little traffic most the drive.. ive never had this happen on my drive to work and ive had the car for a year now. Could the hybrid battery be dying? i have a cheap scan tool but that doesnt mean i will get the correct reading...
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My 2002 Toyota Prius keeps dying (triangle of death and OBD Code 3191) after running smoothly for a few seconds each time I start the engine. Clearing the DTC code allows restart. But the check engine light and triangle of death keep returning after a few seconds.
It has been doing all this since I recharged the 12V battery (which had been drained completely by a dome light left on for 3 days). Initial attempts to recharge the 12V battery were causing current spikes at charger, and (relay?) clicking sound under the hood. So I disconnected positive battery cable and charged the battery in isolation, then reconnected it to the vehicle after charging was complete.
When I reconnected the recharged 12V battery the vehicle (honking horn) alarm went off. But that stopped when I unlocked door with key. It may not be related, but I'm also hearing a fan-like sound (under driver seat) when ignition key is in run position. I don't recall hearing that sound in the past.
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The battery gauge on my 2007 seems to be dropping much faster than it used to. I can back out of my driveway with full green, and be down to purple in two miles of <45MPH driving. It also seems to recharge faster, as if the 'window' of usable charge has become much narrower.
I took it in for the 45K service, and asked the dealer to investigate. The tech wrote that everything is fine, and that this behavior is normal because "this is deep cycle battery".
Two questions: If the main battery fails completely, will the car still be driveable or will I be stranded at that point?
The little 12V battery is still the original that came with the car. Could it cause the above symptoms?
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I'm new to this technology. I bought 2008 t spirit prius . The battery drains in couple of miles. I don't know what to check .
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First time I've ever noticed it at least. And she's been on 2 huge x-country road trips with much hotter temps than the other day.
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I bought a 2005 Prius with 128k miles on it a month back. I have driven around 900 miles on it and the average shows as 49 mpg. Is it okay or am i getting less? I normally drive 40 miles a day(20 miles either way) to office and back home, total of 50 minutes with 25 minutes either way, including both Uphill and Downhill both ways. Driving includes 10 minutes on city with frequent stops and 15 minutes on highway either way.
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So i am writing for my Aunt and her 2005 prius. She had it in for a tune up drove it home and it died. Started up again and was fine after about ten minutes. Now the wierd part. She brought it in to see what happened etc all is fine and she starts to drive home and the odometer is reading roughly 30,000 miles less then when she brought it in...
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I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am with about 130k miles on it. For some reason my car has been dying lately. It did this a few times so the obvious thing was to buy a new battery- oct 2011. Everything was good for a couple months but I recently went on a trip for the weekend and when I came home the car was dead. I jumped it and everything was good until this week. I had a work conference and left wednesday at 8am. When I got home Friday at 5pm the car was dead again. I had an alternator test done before but could it be the alternator? I love my little car and would like to get a couple more years out of her!!!
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So here's the deal my '02 prius' traction battery is dying really fast. But here's the thing, it will charge fully and be fine for a few months and then one day Its like the battery says, "now I don't want to play anymore." and dies really fast and is a pain to charge even a little bit. I can even drive to work (at least half an hour away) and I can get to freeway speeds and charging 95% of the way and it will still be at a very low charge. Then after a while it will charge all the time while staying fully charged. I'm eventually going to replace the battery anyway but wanted to know if it sounded like something else, too.
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Bought a 2010 Prius V new and have put 100K on it since Sept. 2009. About 9 months ago, the 12v battery died. I ordered a Yellow Top replacement from Amazon, charged and installed it. Six weeks later, the new battery's died. I charged it again and suspected the engine's wasn't charging the battery. I took it to Toyota for an electrical checkup and they say all is fine. Six weeks later, the battery's dead again.
This time, the charger says it has a dead cell and won't take a charge. Amazon replaces the battery for free. The cycle repeats three more times and again, dead cell. This time I go to Toyota and buy their expensive battery. The cycle continued four more times (although I haven't had a dead cell indication). I've been back to Toyota for follow-up twice and each time they say there's nothing wrong with the car. The last time they told me we weren't driving it enough to charge the battery but I know that's because we take several 150 miles trips every other week or so (plus daily commuting time).
I'm thinking there's something that's causing a slow drain and wondering if it could be the digital system that keeps your inside lights on after you exit the vehicle and then slowly dims them, only it's not going completely off due to age.
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Once a Gen I battery starts showing signs of dying (overcharging when should be in "sleep' mode, MPH loss, loss of power, etc.), what is the range for how long the battery might go before all the lights go on indicating "now it's really dying"?
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I have a 2004 Ford F150 and the battery keeps dying. We do not use the truck a lot and it sometimes sits outside for 2-4 weeks without being used. If it sits that long, it might be completely dead, but starts up easily with a jump and then works fine for a while. The battery is a 650 amp Motocraft w prorated replacement from 37-100 mo. The local Ford dealer has checked it several times in the past 2 yr and said it is fine, and that if the truck sits for a couple of weeks the battery will die. Is that right? I am not a car moron, nor am I an expert, but I am concerned that they are missing a small draw somewhere in the system. Should I be concerned about a draw or is this just something that happens to batteries as they get older?
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I recently had my alternator and battery replaced due to my truck dying out randomly on me, tested the alternator and failed, replaced battery, and still got the same results, battery gauge seems to drop quickly, what could be going on, I have been told to replace the fusible link that goes from the battery to the alternator....
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My sons 05 F150 is randomly dying during low idle. We removed and cleaned the TB and cleaned the MF sensor. For example, if he is coming up to a stop or slowing down, the truck will die, but starts right back up. So far no CEL and truck seems to idle and run fine, just ever so often will die.
Anything to check on the 5.4s
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I've had this happen twice: I'm stopped at a light (on relatively level ground--only slight incline). My gas engine kicks off. OK, fine. As it should. But then it comes on again, maybe a second or two or maybe three or four later, while I'm still stopped. First time, it did this a few times back and forth, all while stopped, waiting for the light.
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I have a 2005 Prius that I purchased in 2010 as the second owner. When I first got it, I would average 50-65 MPG depending on city vs. interstate (per trip computer). After about a year, I was usually in the 40's. However, in the past 6 months or so, the MPG has dipped drastically. Based on the trip computer, I average about 30 MPG on the interstate and 15-20 MPG in the city. I have read that often times, a dip in MPG signals a need to change the 12V. I tested the 12V, and it's usually around 12.4V after sitting unused for 12+ hours.
More info: -The poor MPG is consistent whether it's 95, 65, or 35 degrees outside.
-Flat terrain (Washington, DC)
-Usually shorter trips of about 20-25 minutes.
-75% city, 25% highway. Highway driving is pretty smooth, little traffic, average of 55 MPH. City driving is incredibly stop and go due to traffic, constant stop signs and red lights, etc., with probably an average of 15 MPH when I'm actually driving.
-No overfilled oil.
-Had an alignment maybe 8 months ago - nothing unusual about the drive or tire wear.
-Goodyear Viva 2 Tire P185/65R15, maybe 15k miles put on them. Tire pressure unknown at the moment.
-I drive like a grandma in D mode.
-I don't warm up the ICE.
-HVAC is off.
-In terms of whether any significant changes occurred around time I noticed the drop: none. I was living in Florida at the time, doing a highway commute of about 2 hours roundtrip every day with a small bit of city driving when the mileage drop occurred. I have since relocated to DC, and the problem is the same.
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I posted earlier getting failure codes that might indicate something wrong with the battery pack. The codes were P3000, subcode 123, v0100 subcode 211/330. My independent mechanic said that I needed both the battery pack and the battery ECU replaced, based on these codes and the fact that they tested the hybrid pack under load.
At the same time, my auxiliary battery was low. You folks suggested replacing that first.
So I did. I have so far driven over 140 miles without the engine check light and triangle of death coming on again. But I do notice that the SOC screen shows my battery going into the green far more often and far more readily than I remember it doing so in the past. All it takes is a little downhill (say quarter to half a mile) and it will go into green--sometimes 100%.
I'm guess what I'm looking for is some sort of objective data that says my mechanics are right and not shining me on.
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