Won't start, weird noise and light show. is it possessed?

Probably a bad battery

 

The 12v one.

 

can't hear anything, but agree. have you ever run down the 12v?

 

Welcome to the forum! I couldn't hear anything either. But I also suspect the 12v battery. I would test it before spending that much, though.

 

^ This. At the least get a cheap digital multimeter, check the voltage. You can also use it to check your drawer full of random batteries.

 

No household should be without a multimeter.

 

So, what's the best way to check the battery? I watched a youtube video and he left his headlights on for 2 minutes before checking his. Then the instructions on my multi-meter say to let the battery 'rest' for 24 hours after charging it. I'd like to test it sooner than that. It's been charging for 7 hours and is only a quarter charged, so if it's a day to charge it and a day to wait to test it that's a long time!
Also, I read something about checking it right after you start it then again some other time, but can't remember what it was.
And... my meter doesn't have clamps, it just has pointed ends. So do I need another person to do this? Does it have to be connected when the car is actually started?
And while I'm asking a bunch of questions... this battery caused me to get the P Lock Malfunction message and after charging it I was able to start the car again. So do you think after getting it fully charged I can wait to get a battery on Monday? Or should I pay $40 more and get one tomorrow from Autozone? I hadn't driven the car for about 4 days when this problem happened, and lately I've only been driving a couple miles every 2-3 days since I'm working on a project at home.
Thanks for any help!

 

What's your charger? You want to be using a 4 amp range smart charger, that'll run through a charging regimen and give indication when the battery is fully charged.

At that point a bolt meter will read high, the battery will maybe be around 13 volt. Just go for a good drive, check it after, at the jumpstart point.

Then the next morning, go in through passenger door, pop the hood, check one more time. That last reading will be most indicative.

 

It's a BatteryMINDer 2 amp. It was recommended on here somewhere. It desulfates the battery too. It takes a long time to charge!

Unfortunately, this is happening on street sweeping days so I have to move my car across the street for a couple hours too.

So I check the meter while the car is off? Why do I go through the passenger door?

 

Probably doesn't make a lot of difference, but going in through passenger door avoids activating the brake pressurizing systems, "waking" the car more. It's no big deal though: I'd suspect if you try all the various methods of "sneaking up" on the car you'll see precious little variation in the voltage readings.

Still: volts is just the tip of the iceberg. A reading of the battery's health, by load testing, either DIY with something like the Solar BA5, or a pro level equivalent, will give a better idea. Battery retailers should have pro level testers, freely available. Toyota dealerships too, though the latter may cost a bit.

Bottom line too: the older the battery, the more it makes sense to just replace, say every 4~5 years.

 

It seemed like a dead 12V battery. I hooked up battery charger, pushed start button. The sound was very loud like a foghorn, Dash display and headlights were flashing on and off. After a few similar events I got out watched the battery charger needle cycle from fully charged to totally dead. Loudest noise was drivers side rear (I think). I pushed car off. The sound was the same but much quieter, and stopped after about 10 sec. Then I could start the car, put it in gear and drive back and forth which I was unable to do earlier. I removed the hybrid battery, did a no-load module test (perfect 16.0 or 16.0 for test along one side). I removed the safety plug to put the cover back on. About 1 minute later standing by the battery, with the hybrid removed and 12V unhooked, it made the same lower volume sound for about 5 seconds. A technician told me that the problem is not the hybrid battery if no warning light, dash notice, or code on code reader appeared. Maybe he didn't hear me say that the hybrid battery made the quieter foghorn sound when out of the car.

 

how many miles on her?