Prius (Gen 3) :: Battery Power Dropping In Standstill Traffic
Jun 1, 2016
So, I got stuck in standstill traffic for about an hour due to bad weather and wreck up ahead, and barely inching along the highway, I was surprised how fast the battery was dropping and having to turn on the engine to recharge it, killing the MPG; normal drive home I get around 50 MPG, it dropped to 38 due to all the idling. In such situations, just place the Prius in "Park" in order to shut down the electric motor (I'm assuming that's what park does) so it doesn't idle to conserve power? Would probably be an annoying way to drive regularly, but if you know you're gonna get stuck for awhile, I may try it next time...
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2007 model Prius with 74k miles.
I was getting 45.6 mpg on the trip computer. MPG dropped a couple of tenths pretty quickly. Got fuel and put in some Techron fuel treatment. Checked 12v battery, was a bit on the weak side, so I replaced it . Checked voltage and everything was good.
While I had the battery out I let the car sit for 10 minutes to reset the ecu. Now after 40 miles I'm getting 35 mpg on the trip computer, and the ICE kicks on any time I press the accelerator pedal, even if I'm going down hill from a stop.
There is no difference in driving style, tire pressures (40 front, 39 rear), I bought the fuel at a place I normally get fuel.
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I am having an issue with my 2006 Toyota Prius. The battery seems to be fine, but when I turn on the headlights the battery suddenly starts dropping sharply and the lights quickly dim. I turn them back off and it starts charging properly again. It only does it when I turn on the headlights. Weird part is if I hit a bump just right sometimes it goes back to normal for a while, but then starts discharging again.
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I do run a small battery maintainer during the winter months plugged into a three way with the block heater. Alright after sitting out side for approx 9-10 hrs in 22 degree weather I did these checks. Battery voltages at 12.55V and 12.6V on batteries.
Voltage coming into for was also 12.5V. When glow plugs activated I am getting 11V on the other side of the gpr. After cycling glow plugs battery voltages drop to 9.6V during cranking and as soon as she starts back to 12.5V.
Do these numbers sounds right? In my opinion isn't the drop to 9.6V during cranking a little low or is that the normal?
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I have been driving my new 2011 prius for a week now and have noticed that in stop and go traffic I occasionally get down to three bars before the engine kicks in. Is this normal?
Also today I was in a traffic jam for a half hour and got to 2 bars a few times(lots of stop and go). Is this normal also? When driving on the freeway the bars are always 6-8. There are no colors on the bars, just white.
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Grill blocked today for the first time and have a couple questions.
Temps have been dropping more these last 3-4 days and have noticed my MPG dropping as well so I thought I'd try grill blocking.
Tempts have been and will be high 30s-low 40s in the morning and upper 50s to mid 60s for the high.
At first I just wedged the pipe insulation and drove one trip. I didn't feel comfortable that it would hold for the long haul so I added zip ties.
I used two pieces of pipe insulation 1/2 inch copper / 3/8 inch iron. Up close it looks like 2/3 or 3/4 of the grill is covered.
My two questions:
For fWT, at what temperature should it not exceed?
At what outside temperature should I remove the pipe insulation? In the Phoenix area, temperatures rise in March and sometimes we will have a short period of warmer than normal temps in February. I just want to make sure I do not cause overheating.
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I have a 2000 chevy s10, it has a brand new battery and alternator. When the battery is charged the battery meter will keep dropping until the dash is completely off when I am driving, then i wont be able to start it unless i get a jump or charge the battery. why is the battery draining so quickly?
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My 2012 Prius V Wagon has developed a "cracking" sound when turning the steer at standstill or low speeds.
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So this past weekend, I disconnected my battery to just tighten one of the wires on my Nigel LED fogs. it was a little loose, upon reconnecting the battery and using the car this past week, the weather and traffic have not been updating at all. only when my phone is connected and the enform app is synced. therefore using mobile data, not HD radio signal. I am getting HD radio and I am in the same areas I usually am so I am sure the HD signal isn't the issue. Should I just disconnect the battery again?
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I was installing an aftermarket nav system on prius 08, because 2 hours working with dome lights on I have to jump start, now battery doesn't show bars is blank no mpg status, a message appeared check a/c connections.
I check connections and NOTHING avg mpg got stuck... enter to service menu shows 13.6 volts while running and the car is running fine! just the bars doesn't appear not even mpg avg
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Why my Camry is stalling. Here is the situation: yesterday I had my battery disconnected for several hours while removing the seats from my vehicle so I could clean the carpet. When I put everything back together and reconnected the battery the car started up and ran without any problem. I then went out to run some errands and the car stalled while stopped at a stop sign. I put the car in park and it started right back up. Any time I come to a stop the engine idles to slowly.
I had this same issue a couple of years ago and a technician at my Toyota dealership said there was a sensor that needed to "learn" my driving habits (like how fast or slow to idle). The guy was correct and after a few days of dealing with stalling at red lights I have had no issues.
So I would like to know what this sensor is called and if this whole thing sounds right. To me it seems like a problem that the vehicle would want to stall. I could see myself getting rear ended by someone assuming I am going to make a turn when I am stalled.
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So my 2004 honda civic LX with 165k miles has had some battery issues, or so it seems. While driving the car has been "shutting down", headlights fail, dash lights fail, radio sound goes off, and sometimes the car stalls. Typically this is happening when in stop and go traffic. The battery light on the dash comes on and off during these moments of failure. These issues started a few months ago when the dash maintenance light came on. I brought the car to a mechanic to see if he knew the issue. We decided to test the alternator and it was fine but we replaced it anyway. The issue went away until recently when the maintenance light came on again and seems the problem is worsening this time around.
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So the truck has been stalling out and dropping power randomly, symptoms pointed to needing the 50 cent mod, changed the cps for cheap insurance and peace of mind just in case it wasn't the uvch, no dice. So last night I yanked valve covers for the first time here's what I did while I was under there, check my work.
1st I ohmed out injectors thru the 42pin harness according to tuglys sig link. My meter would only go down to a 0.4 when testing the test leads just to each other
DS injector ohms
#2 3.5
#4 3.4
#6 3.6
#8 3.6
PS injector ohms
#1 3.6
#3 3.6
#5 3.5
#7 3.6
DS glow plug ohms
#2 prong to ground 2" away 0.9 ; white connecting wire back to gp relay 0.3
#4 0.9 wire to relay 0.5
#6 infinity ohms up thru highest meter setting, checked multiple times and different ground spots,(replacing tonight) wire to relay 0.5
#8 0.5 wire to relay 0.5
PS glow plug ohms
#1 1.0 ; white wire back to relay 0.6
#3 infinity multiple tests as well (replacing tonight) wire to relay 0.5
#5 0.9 wire to relay 0.6
#7 1.0 wire to relay 0.7
Next up, ebp sensor was reading 1.9 higher than map/baro koeo, gently cleaning sensor earlier didn't work. Installed new motorcraft, will check it with Torque pro koeo once the batteries are reconnected
Next I checked the uvch connections which felt good, darn it, maybe a smidge of movement from the DS, but nothing halfway disconnected or anything. Hmm. I ground down the quarters to the top of his head and installed.
Next I torqued down the 4 bolts per cylinder of the rocker arms at 20 ft/lbs, all were perfect and snug
Next up, injector torque. I've read on here below 50, or 80 in/lbs depending on different threads and opinions that I would need to replace o-rings.
So I set the in/lb click torque wrench at 50 in/# and tested the wrench's click on the higher torqued rocker bolts, then checked all the injectors, all were good
Reset for 80in/lbs, tested, then hit all injectors, #6 almost budged but clicked immediately before the handle moved
Reset for 100 in/lb, tested on larger bolt, 2 injectors took a 1/8 turn;
Reset for official spec of 120 in/lb , tested wrench, all injectors took 1/3 to 1 full turn
Reset for 130 in/lb (above official spec, but highly recommended on here by those way more knowledgeable than me on our engines) tested on a larger bolt, slowly and carefully gave all injectors almost an extra 1/2 turn to click; whew, finally a relaxed sphincter.
At this point I knew I needed to buy 2 glow plugs today, replace, then I'll check all glow plug torque at 14 ft/lb in one go, so I got everything ready for a hot torque after I do glow plugs tonight ("unloaded" the torque wrenches) and finally installed the RiffRaff AIH delete plug. My cell phone's alarm went off to get the kids ready for school, so hit the snooze and got everything put up. Now for a nap, then buy 2 Motorcraft GP and check back on here before going back at it tonight.
I also checked the turbo for play in all directions, was nicely solid and spun smooth, no wheel damage. Up pipes and well basically everything exhaust under hood had zero signs of soot/leaks with inspection mirror.
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My 2007 Prius (72k miles) has been dropping in MPG steadily for the last 6-8 months. Where we would get a strong 42 mpg, we are now experiencing 34-36 mpg. After a 400 mile trip to the coast, we just experienced a 34 mpg average. 1 year ago, we would have seen 42-45 mpg on the same trip.
I had the dealership check it out, only to tell me the computer says nothing was wrong. This is the 2nd time I've voiced this concern about the car in 12 months. They told me to replace the tires. We did. No change.
I checked the 12v battery through system check on the display screen (method I found on this website). It was showing 12.4v for an unloaded battery. When i put a load on it, it dropped to 11.7v. Once I had it charging, it raised to 14.0v.
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=this is my first summer to own a prius, and I noticed this last week that my fuel economy seems to be slipping. I am averaging around 42 MPG instead of my usual 49. Only reason this worries me is I've noticed the car is charging the battery a LOT, and it's not uncommon to have my MPG drop down to the low 20's on a flat road if I am lightly accelerating.
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I just bought a 2010 salvage Prius. I have another 2010 I have been driving for 3 years so I am pretty used to the mileage I can expect under different conditions.
When the car is totally warm and I measure the mileage for 15 miles or so I get normal readings of mpg. But with a lot of 2-3 mile trips during the week I am getting about 10mpg less than usual compared to my other 2010.
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I am very disappointed with my Toyota Plug-in because I have only had it 2 months and have 1400 miles on car. When I first charged it up with the 110 volt charger supplied with the car, I got 13.5 miles to use up before the car went off battery. Then on recharges, every two or three times when the battery recharged the usable mileage dropped by a 1/10 a point. I now have only 9.5 miles to use before I go off battery. When I first got the car I could go to work and have 3 miles extra to go home on. Now I cannot get all the way to work. I wonder how low it is going to go? I took it into Gladstone Toyota and had the service department look at it. They said after they recharged it and found it to be only 9.5 and that there is nothing they can do unless the red warning light comes on saying that the battery is defective. I asked them how low the battery would go and still considered normal, and they said they did not know. So I guess I will keep loosing free electric miles.
My getting progressive lower usable mileage has nothing to do with my driving habits as they have been the same since I started driving the car.
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I am the owner of a new 2014 Prius Two as of three months ago. I have really been enjoying the car, and it is certainly more friendly at the pump than my old Chevy Tahoe. I have a question as to why my mpg has been getting worse of late.
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So I bought a used 2010 Gen 3 with ~26,000 miles on it in July 2013. I started out getting 48-52mpg depending on where I was driving. I live in Raleigh, NC and I did notice a drop in drop in MPG over the winter ranging between 44-48mpg but the mpg never rose again as the months warmed and I averaged 44-46mpg for most of the summer. After changing my tires a few weeks ago I've dropped to about 40mpg regardless of where or how I drive. I bought Pirelli P4 Four Seasons 195 65R15 91T and have them inflated to the levels recommended by Toyota. 35/32 or something like that. Is it the tires or is there some other possible issue?
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My ficm has been dropping to 44v occasionally so I have ordered a 270a alternator from Ed at ficm repair along with the complete battery cable kit. I also took ends advice and bought two new odyssey 65 series batteries. I went with bpd 6phase ficm though because I like the idea of the extra phases to share the load and back up the 4 primaries. I am also doing the blue spring upgrade while under the hood as well.
So my question is this.... My truck is bone stock no mod 53k mi. The bpd ficm can be set to 48,53 or 58 v. I do not see the need to do 58v but have seen a lot of guys doing the 53v option. What is the advantage of 53v? I know if you run 220 thru a 120v light bulb it will burn bright as hell for a little bit till it blows, is this the case with running a higher voltage ficm? Will it eventually wipe out injectors? Or even the ficm processor board? Should I just stay at 48v setting?
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I'm afraid my FICM is on its way out. I'm getting voltages dropping to 46.5V about once a minute. Never goes below that. Then it'll bounce up to around 48.5. It gets low when I have to rev up and always coincides with the main voltage dropping to around 12.9V.
Now for my battery condition. They are about a year old. I think I have one with a bad cell. They'll drop into the low 11V range while cranking after glow plug light goes off. While driving, the main voltage never gets below 13.1 except for very short periods ... which coincide with the 46.5V output on the FICM. Gonna have them tested separately at advanced auto and see on has a bad cell.
So, is my FICM starting to go? Second question. What do I tell the folks at Advanced Auto about replacing both an not just one? I suspect they'll want to argue about it with me.
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