Hey all, I accidentally ran my 2008 prius out of gas, I thought it was an engine problem so I tried to restart it, now the electric engine won't start at all it seems. I read that I have to reset the car and clear faults. I tried but the smartkey reset option isn't working. There still seems to be charge on the battery and the tank has been filled, any recommendations?
If your traction battery ran down to the point where it won’t start the ICE you will need to get that recharged somehow. You may also have destroyed the traction battery
If what Bisco suggests doesn't work... Make sure you have a least 3 gallons of gas in the tank If that doesn't work it's possible you drained hybrid battery a little bit lower than what is able to start the engine, so you're gonna need to charge the battery up with a grid charger like the one hybrid automotive sells, or you can pull pack and recharge each of the individual 28 modules with a smart charger capable of charging NimH batteries in the 8volt range.
I hope thats not the case, after the gas tank ran completely dry I tried starting it 3 more times, I could feel the electric engine running but then would shut off. After the 3rd time i got nothing. I was read on one of the forums that the car gets faulted out if you try to start it with no gas as a way to protect itself from running the traction battery down.
I put 7 gallons in, I'm going to try what bisco said and if that doesnt work I guess ill have to try recharging the cells. Thanks for the info!
Hybrid Automotive used to have a map of all the mechanics that use their professional battery maintenance equipment but it seems to have vanished during their website migration. So you might want to call them and find out who has a charger near you. Or if you're more DIY you can buy a charging harness&fan controller from them for $149 and borrow a charger from Eric Becky, aka Hybrid Battery Hero in Wisconsin.
