Cold weather: Car won't go into drive or reverse

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by trillium, Dec 1, 2006.

  1. trillium

    trillium New Member

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    We had some sub-freezing weather last night and this morning my '06 Prius, purchased in July, was not functioning properly.

    If I press the Start button, nothing happens.

    If I press it again, the car starts normally, except that I can't put it into drive or reverse (goes into Neutral instead).

    Also the check engine light, brake light, and skid light are on.

    This happened the first time I tried to start it. The second time, it worked normally, with no warning lights on. Then it malfunctioned again on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth tries. That was several hours ago and I called for it to be towed.

    Now I've just checked it again (weather has warmed up significantly) and suddenly everything is ok again (started properly four times in a row).

    Any ideas what is going on?
     
    #1 trillium, Dec 1, 2006
  2. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    did you have your foot on the brake when trying to start it? it sounds to me like the first two times you hit the button you were cycling through the ACC modes, and then the second time you tried to start it your foot was on the brake, then everything after that your foot was off the brake.

    It's rather easy, if you think something is wrong with the car, to forget to put the brake on (equally as easy to forget about the brake all together when it's cold and you just want to get the air on).

    Go out to the car, intentionally leave your foot off the brake and press the button, see if thats the same result you were getting earlier. Then press the brake, and it should start up like normal.
     
    #2 eagle33199, Dec 1, 2006
  3. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    did the ready light come on at all? did the relays in the back click?
     
    #3 galaxee, Dec 1, 2006
  4. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    If you *are* pressing the brake good n' hard, then perhaps the brake position sensor is faulty.
     
    #4 richard schumacher, Dec 2, 2006
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