10-25-2019, 08:25 AM
Yesterday I wandered out in the driveway because LCF was fussing out there with the Prius after coming home. Both front doors were open, and she was obviously annoyed.
"It won't shut off!" she said.
So I gave it a try, pushing on the brake, pressing the power button. Nope. Still on. We tried putting the fob in the ignition and doing the same. Still no dice. Finally I just held the power button in for maybe ten seconds, and it shut down.
Still, something's starting to go wrong. If it's the 12-volt auxiliary battery in the trunk, that's a nightmare to replace. I did it once, and it took a couple hours. Still, that would be cheaper than other possibilities. I found a way to check the 12 volt by pressing/holding a button on the display while toggling the lights on and off three times. That brings up a hidden menu, and I was able to navigate down to a readout of the 12 volt. It seems okay, 11.9, though I might not have tested it properly under a load.
If the 12 volt is okay, it could be the combination meter (according to many Prius owners who've encountered this), which is several hundred bucks for the part, and that's not including installation.
Anyway, it hasn't happened again, though we haven't driven it much. It certainly doesn't give us a warm and fuzzy feeling.
BTW, the Prius (and likely lot of other modern cars) has all of these secret control combos to get at info or reset things. For instant, you can program a new fob for your car through a combo of inserting it into you ignition multiple times and opening and closing the door again and again, all in the correct order. So far we haven't had to do that.
"It won't shut off!" she said.
So I gave it a try, pushing on the brake, pressing the power button. Nope. Still on. We tried putting the fob in the ignition and doing the same. Still no dice. Finally I just held the power button in for maybe ten seconds, and it shut down.
Still, something's starting to go wrong. If it's the 12-volt auxiliary battery in the trunk, that's a nightmare to replace. I did it once, and it took a couple hours. Still, that would be cheaper than other possibilities. I found a way to check the 12 volt by pressing/holding a button on the display while toggling the lights on and off three times. That brings up a hidden menu, and I was able to navigate down to a readout of the 12 volt. It seems okay, 11.9, though I might not have tested it properly under a load.
If the 12 volt is okay, it could be the combination meter (according to many Prius owners who've encountered this), which is several hundred bucks for the part, and that's not including installation.
Anyway, it hasn't happened again, though we haven't driven it much. It certainly doesn't give us a warm and fuzzy feeling.
BTW, the Prius (and likely lot of other modern cars) has all of these secret control combos to get at info or reset things. For instant, you can program a new fob for your car through a combo of inserting it into you ignition multiple times and opening and closing the door again and again, all in the correct order. So far we haven't had to do that.