Just changed out my 12v battery in my 2008 Prius, I found water in the battery compartment. There have been heavy rains this past weekend but it should not have entered the car.
View 11 RepliesOK, I've been reading a lot about this problem occurring in the pre 2010 prius where there is a crack around the hatch that fills the 12V battery well with water. About a month ago, I started getting a whiff of something rotting. A mix of the dead smell and rotting fruit. I was certain one of my kids left some food in the car or something got in the HVAC vent. As time has gone by, the odor has changed to more of a rotting leaves kind of smell.
I got out my shopvac and a snake camera. I went through the HVAC system and found that the filter was pulled back a bit. I replaced it on the spot. I found a few leaves and dust and that was it. The air coming from the vents from the outside smells clean. There were lots of wet leaves in the engine bay, but it wasn't the problem.
I started tearing apart the trunk because sometimes stuff spills into the tire well. I found the spare tire had turned brown on the tread.
I opened the battery compartment and found about an inch of standing milky white water. The kicker here is that the water didn't seem to smell that bad! I dried it all up and bleached the metal to kill any mold that might be in the residue...but the odor remains. The car smells awful!
I have torn apart the back of the car but I cannot find the source of the leak. I actually think it was from the car wash or going through a puddle and water got in the rear vent. The battery fender vent vanes were flapping with gusts of wind today, but even after a heavy rainstorm no new water has gotten in.
The car was hit in the parking lot and the rear fender moved about an 1/8th of an inch from the bumper, but there are no obvious signs of water entry anywhere... in fact, I was even suspicious that it might have come from the battery itself, but I didn't touch it (used paper towels on a snake to dry it up under there). I didn't think to try baking soda to see if it was an acid, which makes bleach pretty stupid to use...but I didn't see any foaming.
TL;DR Found water in my 12V battery compartment. My car smells bad. Cleaning out water did not improve smell. Nothing in HVAC system, it is only clean air source in car. No signs of water ingress above 12v battery well. After rainstorm, no additional water found in battery well. Fender vent flaps in gusty wind, but still no new water.
I am considering purchasing a 2010 as an upgrade from my current 2008, I have been reading recently as these last 3 days of constant rain made me check my current one for leaks and like normally the battery tray was filled with water.
View 3 RepliesI currently own a 2002 Hyundai sonata that was purchased brand new I have mostly kept up with the general maintenance spark plugs, air filters, oil changes, etc. but have been lenient on some of the less noticeable things such as belts background history: my car's alternator has tested fine at multiple places (Walmart and advance auto parts) but when I had tested it, it had only produced around 30 amps when it was built to producing about 90, i assume this is because of a bad diode.
I thought i could just use it until it completely died (despite the fact that it could harm my battery) because I'm still in school and cant afford a lot at the moment, but last night when I was driving home (it was wet out with deep puddles) and I drove through a rather deep puddle with a lot of water getting into the engine compartment. (i have driven this car through many puddles some making a much larger splash, with no problems what so ever.) shortly after I left for work and my batter light was on, I tried different things like turning the AC on high to see if they worked better at high revaluations to find out whether it was the battery or the alternator, as it turns out the fan maintained a constant speed and after work my car started.
I got about 20 feet and it died, my Friend came to charge my car but when he jumped me, the alternator started working again even though not 30 minutes ago it was not, the same thing happened to me today (same puddle same rout) the alternator didn't work going to work and it miraculously did when i went home my alternator is obviously bad and needs to be changed, but is it the alternator causing this problem, or something else?
Seems like since I did the first oil filter change it seemed very hard to get off oil filter. Today I did about the 5th filter change and it was harder than the last time. Thought i was going to break something. I do snug it up so there is no gap between the engine block and top of filter canister. Should I back it off a turn or 2 and check for leaks, maybe that is what that retainer clip is for near the top of the filter canister to stop it from coming undone so you don't have to snug it up?
View 3 Repliesi have a 2011 prius II, and i noticed that rain water is leaking into the engine compartment. after i look at the hood design and how it closes, it was very obvious to me that water will leak into the engine compartment by design. i found this prius V picture online (i think it is very similar if not identical to my prius II). the blue pointers indicate holes and gaps where water can leak in, and the read circle indicates where water end up.
i have owned 2 other cars before this one, and i have never had rain water leak into engine compartment. do i have to worry about this?
I've got the hybrid battery out of the car and there is a decent amount of corrosion/acid on the copper contacts. I read that after cleaning them off with white vinegar and soaking in a baking soda/warm water mix... They spray some type of anti-corrosion spray on them.
View 7 RepliesI have a problem with my central locking, I changed the battery in the fob but it won't lock the car, if I lock with the key the fob will unlock the car. When I press the lock button there is a clunk-clunk as if the central locking is working and I can hear the noise in the doors and the boot but nothing happens. The battery was totally flat and I haven't been using the fob for a long time but I seem to recall it used to lock.
View 6 RepliesDoes the 12v battery need to be changed on a regular schedule? There are many articles on "how to" but could find no info when it is needed.
View 19 RepliesI tried a few used batteries I had laying around, so then I ordered the exact battery that was in the fob, Panasonic 2032 and it still doesn't work. The car has always sensed my hand at door and I still don't need to put the key in the slot. I can just push start, but the lock and unlock buttons don't respond.
I've read that the red light should come on when the buttons are pressed, and they don't with the new battery so the new battery is probably too weak.
I changed a bad cell in my hybrid battery (only one cell was bad) and put everything back together and it wont start. I've double checked all connections, fuses, everything I took off. I put the orange plug back in, fiddled with it, pushed it in more. It's got a brand new 12V battery and I dropped it off at autozone to get it charged up as well. Here are some pics and what it's showing .....
View 5 RepliesRecently, we had to change the 12V auxiliary battery on our 2010 Prius IV. Everything went smoothly and the entire procedure took less than 20 minutes. We thought everything was good, until we turned on the radio.
Since we changed the 12V battery, the FM radio (which is part of the NAV console) has great difficulty keeping any station tuned. Before changing the 12V battery, we could drive around and listen to our favorite FM radio stations; now, the radio frequently loses reception, and our music frequently gets interrupted with static.
It's been a couple months, and the situation has not improved. We took a look at the antenna, and nothing looks out of the ordinary. It seem odd that changing a 12V aux battery would cause this problem, but we have not made any other changes (not even an oil change) for several months.
We have water leak issues for close to a year now, very frustrating. Not heard much of B7s leaking so I thought I'd stop in here and check it out. Great car to drive, only other issue we've had was the cold weather inactive drivers door lock as seen by many others.
View 3 RepliesYesterday ,when I got in the car an indicator lit up in the MFI saying Key battery not found. and a key symbol came on on top of the MFI screeen,and stayed on . Car started and ran fine.When I stopped and restarted the car all disappeared and normal. I could not find this key symbol at all in our manuals.
View 2 RepliesWe have had significant flooding in Oregon and my truck started to smell inside, like rotten milk. Now, I don't drink glorified coffee's or drink milk or milk chocolate . So while investigating this odor I pulled up the side floorboards with the little gripy circles, exists between the side of the seat and the door. On the passenger side and the carpet was pretty wet and the trough area was full of water. It looks like it dissipates towards the passenger back door. Where this water could come from? There are no visible signs from the door seal (it looks good). This is a F350 2000 Lariat Crew Cab.
View 13 RepliesMy girlfriend has a Tiguan, and I noticed there are no key holes anywhere in the car. I noticed this after leaving the lights on in my GTI and having to manually key in to gain access to the car.
What happens if she were to leave her lights on? Is there a separate battery source for the keyless entry? I have to think there's something smarter (than me) to keep you from getting totally locked out of your car if your battery should die...
Maybe I've been having too much fun in the rain... I've recently noticed an odd smell in the car and found a small wet spot underneath the passenger front floor mat, only to be followed by same in the rear passenger floor mat. I was hoping it won't happen again, but I found myself with the wet floor few weeks later after the rain.
I first thought it may be the bike rack (which I have posted in the earlier month) but seeing the location and occurence, it couldn't be from the rack. It was always the underneath the center of the freaking floor mat.
My R is at the dealer since yesterday, getting a full physical.. They're even talking about removing the headliner to make sure there is no internal leak from the roof.
2004 Prius
Replaced my spark plugs today, and when I disconnected the 12V battery, found a surprise
So when I got home this evening I decided to tackle something that I was concerned about- the state of the HV battery fan. As I took apart the back right of the interior to get to it, I noticed that there was moisture on the inside of some of the trim pieces where I wouldn't have expected it- but I discounted it because of how much moisture had been in the car after having it detailed.
As I got further in though, to my annoyance it started to rain, and I had to stop (since I was working in the driveway). When it let up a bit and I went back out, I was dumbfounded to find a lot of water splashed over the 12V battery. At first I thought it was from the lift gate being open when I had been working on things, but it was no longer raining and there was still water dripping down. After getting a towel to put over things to catch the water, I tried to track back where the water was coming from, and found that it was dripping from a formed hole on the underside of the upper 'sill' (along the side of the glass in the lift gate) from inside the body from sources unknown (well, I know the water was coming from the rain, but not how it was getting into the car...)
I recently discovered that the compartment where the 12 volt battery is located had water inside. I checked for leaks none found. I also found a drain plug underneath, to drain the water out. Where might the water be coming from.
View 1 Replies2004 V8 Touareg. Was getting all the "low voltage" error messages. "workshop fault" "headlight adjust" "brake system". Then one day I used my second key and get a "Key Battery not Found" message.
Dealer says the "low voltage" error messages have to be reprogrammed out of the computer and cannot be simply cleared. FYI I have a vagcom. They say there is no fix and I can either pay for a new battery or come back in to have them reprogram when they come up again. Is this true? New battery makes no sense to me as the battery is only two yrs old. Seems like quite the hassle as any cold weather and not starting up the car for a couple of days and I got to make a trip to the dealer. Is there a fix for this?
"Key Battery not Found"- Never saw this message until I used my second key. It obviously has a key battery since it opens the doors. Dealer is stumped and they wanted me to pick up the vehicle telling me that it was fine and the message didn't mean anything.