Starting Issue/Headlights on/Transmission Alert on Screen

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Nice_Rumble, Nov 5, 2009.

  1. Nice_Rumble

    Nice_Rumble Junior Member

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    My wife has been having a problem with her car not starting. She presses the start button and gets a large exclamation symbol and something about the transmission not being in park (I think) on the menu screen. Headlights are on and she sometimes runs the battery dead before I can resolve it for her. I tell her to turn off the headlights manually so as not to kill the battery. I have been able to get it back to normal by playing with the park button, starter on/off button and keeping my foot on the brake. But it takes awhile as I'm not sure what sequence is actually effective. My seat of the pants diagnosis of the why this is happening is pilot error. I think she is forgetting to put the transmission into park before tuning the car off. Given that this car does not have a traditional gear selector it's not intuitive when placing the car into park. If it's dark or your in a rush I can see how one might skip pushing the park button and go directly to pushing the start/stop button and think all is good when it's not. Anyone else experience this?
     
    #1 Nice_Rumble, Nov 5, 2009
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    First, kindly update your profile so we have some idea which Prius she drives.

    The Prius has no shiftable transmission. Powering down the car in D does exactly the same thing as pressing Park and then powering down.

    With the Gen II Prius, you can get some funny error messages if you leave the door open or have a loose gas cap. Likewise a bad 12V battery can cause all sorts of mysteries. I suspect the 12V battery given your description. It might be time for a replacement.

    Tom
     
    #2 qbee42, Nov 5, 2009
  3. mtyler

    mtyler Junior Member

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    That is exactly why I visited the forum today to find out what I could about this problem. Yes, we started having this problem with our 2005 Prius as well, about two months ago - my wife called me at home one day to be "rescued" from the drive-thru at our local bank. She turned off the car while in the drive-thru and it would not re-start (had the same display as you did...transmission/park/brake/etc).

    Anyway, I drove to the bank, got in the Prius - played with the Park button, put on the Parking Brake and released it a few times, goofed around with the shift knob and it finally started up. I have no idea what caused it or how I "fixed" it!

    We were nervous for awhile after that, not knowing if/when it would happen again.

    Everything was fine until a few days ago. I got in the car in our driveway to run an errand and the exact same thing happened. It would not start (again, same display on the LCD). Fiddled with all the stuff I mentioned above and it finally started up. Very strange and I cannot locate any specific info on the problem. At least I know we are not alone!

    Interesting thing what qbee42 said about the 12V battery - could that really be the root cause of the problem?
     
    #3 mtyler, Nov 30, 2009
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Both mtyler and Nice R should obtain and install new 12V auxiliary batteries. Your cars are probably ~5 years old, the useful life of the battery is at an end.
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Nov 30, 2009
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  5. DonDNH

    DonDNH Senior Member

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    I had the same problem twice with my 2004 with a 2 week period. Replaced the 12v battery as suggested above and the problem hasn't occurred since. (several months now).
     
    #5 DonDNH, Nov 30, 2009
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  6. Nice_Rumble

    Nice_Rumble Junior Member

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    Thanks guys. Glad to know I'm not alone with this problem. I'll head down to my local Toyota dealer tomorrow and pick up a new auxiliary battery.
     
    #6 Nice_Rumble, Dec 27, 2009
  7. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    That will most likely fix the immediate problem, but you can check it yourself first and possibly save some money. See the procedure here:

    http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/73400-weird-stuff-happening-mpgs-dropping-test-battery.html

    The pilot error theory is probably correct. There is little reason to turn the car off when waiting in a drive-through; I'd bet that the battery was drained becasue the car was in ACC instead of OFF. And, always lock the car when you park it. If it is not OFF or if a door is ajar it will give a long warnng beep.
     
    #7 richard schumacher, Dec 27, 2009
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