Sometimes life is kind and problems go away easily.

I wrote here that my '05 Prius wouldn't start because the 12v battery
was exhausted, probably by my having left the driver's maplamp glowing
overnight.

I spoke about it with a Toyota service advisor. He suggested a
do-it-yourself remedy. I took his suggestion. It worked. Here it is.

* If necessary, use your physical key to unlock the driver's door. Set
the Prius's handbrake. Turn off any after-market accessories. Leave the
driver's door open.

* Assure that your charger is not plugged in.

* Expose the tinted terminal under the red plastic cover inside the
engine compartment's fusebox. Connect your charger's positive grip to
that terminal. Take care that the grip is not touchiing any other metal
in the fusebox.

* Connect the charger's negative grip to any nearby grounded bolt.
(There are several.)

* Set the charger to Boost mode.

* Apply power to the charger.

* From the driver's seat depress the brake pedal and press the dash's
Power button. Release the Power button and with the brake pedal still
down press the Power button again. The engine will start. It really
will. (OK, mine did. That's all I can say.)

* Leave the engine running. After a few minutes the gas engine will
turn itself off. That's OK. DON'T DO ANYTHING! After a while the gas
engine will turn on again by itself. Thereafter it will continue to
cycle on and off during the recharging process.

* You can unplug the charger at any time. It's done its job. Remove the
positive grip from the tinted terminal. Remove the negative grip from
the grounded bolt. You won't need further access to the engine
compartment. You're free to close the driver's door and secure the car
as best you can. The doors won't lock because the Prius is set up to
reject the locking request when the engine is running.

* Let the recharging process continue for about four hours. If you need
the car sooner, you likely can get away with using it. I did. I ran one
brief errand after two hours. The car restarted normally for the drive
home. Back home I then left the engine running for the balance of the
four-hour period.


As far as I can tell tonight, the Prius has been rescued with the
expenditure of time but not money.

One little nagging doubt: the service manager closed his comments with
the observation he'd send a towtruck if his plan didn't work for me. He
did say, though, that what I've reported above is all he'd do if the
Prius were brought in to his shop.

Your owner's manual details processes for resetting parameters whose
values were lost when the 12v source went dead. These include the
tailgate latch and the power windows safety circuitry.

One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
usual fatal gasses.


So there you have it. I've been a taker here for quite a while. It's
pleasant to give something back. :-)

--
Lady Purse-Wader
YahooUK disallows hyphens

In article <071120062341075908%Masked@mm.m>, Masked <Masked@mm.m>
wrote:

> One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
> Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
> charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
> usual fatal gasses.

Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
have our combustibles away from the house, and have detached
garages--where it doesn't matter if you run the car inside.

In article <elmop-505001.00345508112006@nntp4.usenetserver.com>, Elmo
P. Shagnasty <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:

> In article <071120062341075908%Masked@mm.m>, Masked <Masked@mm.m>
> wrote:
>
> > One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
> > Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
> > charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
> > usual fatal gasses.
>
> Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
> have our combustibles away from the house, and have detached
> garages--where it doesn't matter if you run the car inside.
>
I'm comfortable with my warning.

--
Lady Purse-Wader
YahooUK disallows hyphens

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-505001.00345508112006@nntp4.usenetserver.com...
> In article <071120062341075908%Masked@mm.m>, Masked <Masked@mm.m>
> wrote:
>
>> One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
>> Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
>> charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
>> usual fatal gasses.
>
> Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
> have our combustibles away from the house, and have detached
> garages--where it doesn't matter if you run the car inside.
>

And some of us poor folk live in apartments that have to park outside.

Charles of Schaumburg.

In article <081120060322524201%Masked@mm.m>, Masked <Masked@mm.m>
wrote:

> > Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
> > have our combustibles away from the house, and have detached
> > garages--where it doesn't matter if you run the car inside.
> >
> I'm comfortable with my warning.

You made a blanket statement, which was incorrect.

You're comfortable with being incorrect?

n5hsr wrote:

> > Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
>
> And some of us poor folk live in apartments that have to park outside.

What are poor folk doing reading about the Prius?

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:41:07 -0500, Masked <Masked@mm.m> wrote:

>Sometimes life is kind and problems go away easily.
>
>I wrote here that my '05 Prius wouldn't start because the 12v battery
>was exhausted, probably by my having left the driver's maplamp glowing
>overnight.
>
>I spoke about it with a Toyota service advisor. He suggested a
>do-it-yourself remedy. I took his suggestion. It worked. Here it is.
>
>* If necessary, use your physical key to unlock the driver's door. Set
>the Prius's handbrake. Turn off any after-market accessories. Leave the
>driver's door open.
>
>* Assure that your charger is not plugged in.
>
>* Expose the tinted terminal under the red plastic cover inside the
>engine compartment's fusebox. Connect your charger's positive grip to
>that terminal. Take care that the grip is not touchiing any other metal
>in the fusebox.
>
> * Connect the charger's negative grip to any nearby grounded bolt.
>(There are several.)
>
>* Set the charger to Boost mode.
>
>* Apply power to the charger.
>
>* From the driver's seat depress the brake pedal and press the dash's
>Power button. Release the Power button and with the brake pedal still
>down press the Power button again. The engine will start. It really
>will. (OK, mine did. That's all I can say.)
>
>* Leave the engine running. After a few minutes the gas engine will
>turn itself off. That's OK. DON'T DO ANYTHING! After a while the gas
>engine will turn on again by itself. Thereafter it will continue to
>cycle on and off during the recharging process.
>
>* You can unplug the charger at any time. It's done its job. Remove the
>positive grip from the tinted terminal. Remove the negative grip from
>the grounded bolt. You won't need further access to the engine
>compartment. You're free to close the driver's door and secure the car
>as best you can. The doors won't lock because the Prius is set up to
>reject the locking request when the engine is running.
>
>* Let the recharging process continue for about four hours. If you need
>the car sooner, you likely can get away with using it. I did. I ran one
>brief errand after two hours. The car restarted normally for the drive
>home. Back home I then left the engine running for the balance of the
>four-hour period.
>
>
>As far as I can tell tonight, the Prius has been rescued with the
>expenditure of time but not money.
>
>One little nagging doubt: the service manager closed his comments with
>the observation he'd send a towtruck if his plan didn't work for me. He
>did say, though, that what I've reported above is all he'd do if the
>Prius were brought in to his shop.
>
>Your owner's manual details processes for resetting parameters whose
>values were lost when the 12v source went dead. These include the
>tailgate latch and the power windows safety circuitry.
>
>One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
>Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
>charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
>usual fatal gasses.
>
>
>So there you have it. I've been a taker here for quite a while. It's
>pleasant to give something back. :-)

Boy does that sound like an long and involved process.

Why not just charge the 12 volt battery with an external charger?

--

Scott in Florida

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:41:07 -0500, Masked <Masked@mm.m> wrote:

>Sometimes life is kind and problems go away easily.
>
>I wrote here that my '05 Prius wouldn't start because the 12v battery
>was exhausted, probably by my having left the driver's maplamp glowing
>overnight.
>
>I spoke about it with a Toyota service advisor. He suggested a
>do-it-yourself remedy. I took his suggestion. It worked. Here it is.
>
>* If necessary, use your physical key to unlock the driver's door. Set
>the Prius's handbrake. Turn off any after-market accessories. Leave the
>driver's door open.
>
>* Assure that your charger is not plugged in.
>
>* Expose the tinted terminal under the red plastic cover inside the
>engine compartment's fusebox. Connect your charger's positive grip to
>that terminal. Take care that the grip is not touchiing any other metal
>in the fusebox.
>
> * Connect the charger's negative grip to any nearby grounded bolt.
>(There are several.)
>
>* Set the charger to Boost mode.
>
>* Apply power to the charger.
>
>* From the driver's seat depress the brake pedal and press the dash's
>Power button. Release the Power button and with the brake pedal still
>down press the Power button again. The engine will start. It really
>will. (OK, mine did. That's all I can say.)
>
>* Leave the engine running. After a few minutes the gas engine will
>turn itself off. That's OK. DON'T DO ANYTHING! After a while the gas
>engine will turn on again by itself. Thereafter it will continue to
>cycle on and off during the recharging process.
>
>* You can unplug the charger at any time. It's done its job. Remove the
>positive grip from the tinted terminal. Remove the negative grip from
>the grounded bolt. You won't need further access to the engine
>compartment. You're free to close the driver's door and secure the car
>as best you can. The doors won't lock because the Prius is set up to
>reject the locking request when the engine is running.
>
>* Let the recharging process continue for about four hours. If you need
>the car sooner, you likely can get away with using it. I did. I ran one
>brief errand after two hours. The car restarted normally for the drive
>home. Back home I then left the engine running for the balance of the
>four-hour period.
>
>
>As far as I can tell tonight, the Prius has been rescued with the
>expenditure of time but not money.
>
>One little nagging doubt: the service manager closed his comments with
>the observation he'd send a towtruck if his plan didn't work for me. He
>did say, though, that what I've reported above is all he'd do if the
>Prius were brought in to his shop.
>
>Your owner's manual details processes for resetting parameters whose
>values were lost when the 12v source went dead. These include the
>tailgate latch and the power windows safety circuitry.
>
>One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
>Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
>charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
>usual fatal gasses.
>
>
>So there you have it. I've been a taker here for quite a while. It's
>pleasant to give something back. :-)

It appears you deep discharged your 12 volt battery.

If it were mine, I would replace the battery....and I would make a
mental note not to do that again...


--

Scott in Florida

In article <071120062341075908%Masked@mm.m>
Lady_Purse-Wader@yahoo.co.uk "Masked" writes:

> Sometimes life is kind and problems go away easily.
>
> I wrote here that my '05 Prius wouldn't start because the 12v battery
> was exhausted, probably by my having left the driver's maplamp glowing
> overnight.
>
> I spoke about it with a Toyota service advisor. He suggested a
> do-it-yourself remedy. I took his suggestion. It worked. Here it is.
>
> [procedure]

Thank you. It looks as if the car detects the power feed at the
engine compartment's terminal and modifies the engine switch-on
rules. Neat (but typical of the overall design). The only bit
that I don't recall from the manual is the _two_ presses on the
button and the subsequent business about leaving things running.
--
Andrew Stephenson

In article <081120060322524201%Masked@mm.m>
Lady_Purse-Wader@yahoo.co.uk "Masked" writes:

> In article <elmop-505001.00345508112006@nntp4.usenetserver.com>, Elmo
> P. Shagnasty <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <071120062341075908%Masked@mm.m>, Masked <Masked@mm.m>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > One final warning: don't undertake this process in an enclosed space.
> > > Push the car into the driveway from the garage, if necessary. The
> > > charging process produces hydrogen, and the cycling engine produces the
> > > usual fatal gasses.
> >
> > Warning: the world is not all attached garages. Some of us prefer to
> > have our combustibles away from the house, and have detached
> > garages--where it doesn't matter if you run the car inside.
> >
> I'm comfortable with my warning.

I'd be comfortable with it, too. People with detached garages
ought to be every bit as careful -- being detached wouldn't stop
the garage from blowing up and/or poisoning anyone who stayed in
there. C'mon, people, let's not be petty/foolish about this.
--
Andrew Stephenson