2010 Ran out of gas, now it won't go into drive (pops into neutral)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Rrrolfff, Jun 12, 2018.

  1. Rrrolfff

    Rrrolfff Junior Member

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    Looking for possible ideas. 12V battery is ok, it has gas, I can turn it on, but when I put it in drive or reverse, it just goes into neutral (parking break releases). Traction battery is at one bar. Engine won't even try to start. Also, I don't hear the contacts closing on the traction battery (rear seat click). Have no idea how to troubleshoot this one... Any help is greatly appreciated!
     
    #1 Rrrolfff, Jun 12, 2018
  2. Rrrolfff

    Rrrolfff Junior Member

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    Hoping for some ideas. This forum uad to be rich with em....
     
    #2 Rrrolfff, Jun 12, 2018
  3. Siward

    Siward Active Member

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    #3 Siward, Jun 13, 2018
  4. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    See #3. And how far did you drive after the car ran out of gas?
     
    #4 fotomoto, Jun 13, 2018
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    one bar is bad. you may have to recharge the hybrid battery. i hope you didn't stress any cells. check for trouble codes.

    try disconnecting the 12v negative for a minute, then push the start button 3 times.
     
    #5 bisco, Jun 13, 2018
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah, two bars minimum is the typical "event horizon". If it's showing one bar, that's an abnormal discharge requiring the aforementioned special charger the dealerships can get.

    Nobody's clucked about running the gas dangerously low, but it should be said: striving for high miles per tank does not have any upsides; just tank up when there's still a reasonable reserve.
     
    #6 Mendel Leisk, Jun 13, 2018
  7. Rrrolfff

    Rrrolfff Junior Member

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    HUGE shout out to my primus chat mates. Disconnecting the battery solved the problem! Of course I forgot the fact that the back doesn't open without a battery, so reconnecting was a pain - thanks to all!
     
    #7 Rrrolfff, Jun 13, 2018
    RMB, Raytheeagle, fotomoto and 3 others like this.
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats!(y)
     
    #8 bisco, Jun 14, 2018
  9. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Reportedly Gen3 is better than Gen2 as far as maintaining minimal HV batt charge upon empty tank.
    Upon loss of fuel, Gen2 would allow HV batt to go totally discharged which is a killer on an older HV batt. This may be a big reason Gen3 has less batt fails than Gen2, but of course we have no data on HV batt failure rates, so it's just a theory.
     
    #9 wjtracy, Jun 14, 2018
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