Prius (Gen 3) :: 12v Battery Discharged Very Often When Parked Outside In Cold Weather

I got a new Prius Plug-in 2012 and when the cold weather came this winter, which isn't that cold at 40F, the 12v battery seems to get discharged very often. This week, I must have jumpstarted the car twice already. The 12v battery seems to get drained when I park outside in the (not so) cold, or when I park underground for hours. I also notice that the traction battery gets filled up; it's as if the 12v battery drains into the traction battery.

(I leased a Prius 2010, not plug-in, for 3 years and this never happened even if I parked it for days in even colder weather.)

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Prius (Gen 1) :: 2001 With Lots Of Codes - Battery Discharged

P0420 CATALYST EFF BELOW THRESHOLD

P0440 EVAP EMISSION SYSTEM

P0441 EVAP EMM SYSTEM INCORRECT PURGE FLOW

P0446 EVAP VENT CONTROL CIRCUIT

P3190

P3191

P0300 RANDOM MISFIRE

P0301 CYL 1 MISFIRE

P0304 CYL 4 MISFIRE

Was driving on highway in mild rain and car started to shudder and stalled. I ran it on the electric motor for a while to get out of traffic so it's fairly drained. Has a year old main battery and a year old 12V Optima battery. Car has 202,000 miles.

The cat code and possibly evap were on all year as check engine light has been on. I get the triangle of death with exclamation point on the right car icon on the screen as well as the check engine light. After resetting the codes the triangle hasn't come back. Haven't rechecked the other codes as it was a borrowed generic scanner.

Just checked the 12V battery at Autozone and they say it's good but discharged. Car won't start and it seems to kill the 12V battery if left to sit. I did the throttle body and MAF clean even though they both looked ok. A little oil in the intake so I mopped it up. Didn't work. I hooked up another 12V battery with jumper cables and it doesn't work. Checked the fuel pump relay and it's ok. I pulled spark plug 1 and it was fine. Check main battery and 12V connections -all fine - tight and no corrosion.

I'll try to check fuel pressure and spark.

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Prius (2010-12) :: Discharged 12 Volt Battery Now Won't Have Enough Power?

We accidentally discharged the 12 volt battery in our 2010 Prius with an interior light. By the time we noticed the car didn't have enough power to turn on. I removed the battery last night and charged it with an intelligent charger and have since reinstalled.

Will this have any long term effect on the battery? It seems these 12 volts are sensitive compared to a standard car battery. I have discharged numerous 12 volt car batteries with no major long term consquences after a recharge.

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Prius Plug-in 2012-15 :: Battery Apparently Discharged / No EV Range

I picked up our Prius plug in on Thursday evening, fully charged from the dealership in Oakland. We drove it home, about 4 miles, in EV mode and then plugged it in for the night. In the morning the car was fully charged. At 8:00 a.m. I drove the Prius up hill about 1.5 miles in EV mode to our car pool pick up point and left it parked on the street for the day. Car was parked on up hill slope. I believe all lights were off. When I got back at 5:30 p.m. to drive it home the battery was apparently discharged and there was no charge or EV range when I selected EV mode. I drove home on ICE in hybrid mode.

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Prius (2004-09) :: 2008 - Battery Discharged / Clicking Under The Hood

I am currently driving my dad's 2008 Prius because of other vehicle problems. When my daughter got out of the car last night, she did not get the door closed all the way. It sat that way all night in a VERY cold garage. Now it will not start and the malfunction indicator lamp, which looks like a check engine light to me, is very faintly flashing. I figured the battery was discharged and attempted to jump it per the manual's instructions. It still will not start and the lamp is still flashing. I can hear clicking under the hood, as well.

Do I just need to leave it hooked up to the jump vehicle longer? OR, is this a "dealership necessary" issue? I would have to tow it to a dealership, since it cannot be started, which creates a whole new set of problems. ( The car is parked in my garage and would be very difficult to get it towed.) What I may be doing incorrectly?

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Prius (2010-12) :: Battery Icon Never Show Totally Full

I just got my dream car, love it, but have two questions:

1. My battery icon is never totally full. Does that last bar ever show up? I doubt it's an issue, but figure if the charge is low now....

2. I've filled four times, and each time the computer shows mileage about 5% better than the actual purchase of gas calculates out. So I'm wondering if the calculation is a little high, of if my gas station is "a little off." I plan to use a few gas stations and compare the results.

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Suspension :: Does Jumping A Totally Dead Battery Kill Alternator?

Battery is dead.You jump start the car.You let it run for an hour.

Does this kill the alternator?How exactly does the alternator work harder?It's spinning at the same rate.

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Ford A/C :: System Completely Discharged / Does Not Hold Vacuum

I have a leak in my A/C system. It is completely discharged. I bought some o-rings from my Ford dealer, but the system does not hold a vacuum. Is there an o-ring kit available somewhere so I can replace all of the o-rings in my a/c lines?

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Ford 6.0L Power Stroke Diesel :: Batteries Get Discharged To A Certain Point / Alternator Not Charging

I ve been noticing that the alternator isn't charging correctly, or at least it seems like it. We drive short trips sometimes two times a day, a mile or less. One day, night actually, I noticed it started to not turn over with it's usual enthusiastic sound. When the batteries get discharged to a certain point, the voltage at idle will be less than 12 volts. If I rev the engine for a bit, the volts jump up, but at idle it drops back to 12 or below. Seems to me that it should be at least 12v or above if the batteries are discharged, and more towards 12.5ishV if the batteries are fully charged.

After I put it on a 6A charger overnight, the voltage upon starting is above 12, sometimes over 13. But if the batteries start to dwindle down from short trips, the voltage drops to 12 or below at idle.

I did install the smaller pulley a few years back, and that worked massively. I couldn't get 12V at idle before installing the smaller pulley. But now it seems like I'm back to that same situation before installing the smaller pulley.

So, I m guessing that a alternator bench test is in my future? The batteries are fairly new, tho they have been down to nothing at least twice from boneheaded moves by yours truely!

And, I'm speculating that this charging situation contributed to the recent FICM replacement that I went thru.

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Camry 2012+ :: Sun Totally Washes Out LCD Screen On Car

Basically unless its at night the sun totally washes out the lcd screen on my car. Even with tinted windows its pretty bad. I've seen some hoods like they use to cameras and stuff. Any way that don't look hideous to block some sun from hitting the screen?

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Passat (B5) :: Car Is Totally Immobilized, Engine Won't Start

I'm in some sort of crises (passat 2002 GLS); I was trying to inspect the fuel tank release switch on the driver door panel, Now the the car is totally immobilized, can't bring the window up, the remote doesn't open or close the window and most important, the engine is not starting.

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Lexus LS 2007+ :: Oil Light Came On / Dipstick Totally Dry

I purchased a 2008 LS460 off a lease last summer at 28,000 miles. I had an oil change at 36,000 miles this summer (with one oil change in between). At approx 40,000 miles my oil light came on and after checking the dipstick it was totally dry. It took 2.5 quarts to fill it up. I immediately brought it to my local Lexus dealer. After topping it off they stated they wanted to do a "consumption test" where I drive 1,000 to 1,500 miles and then check the oil level. After 1,400 miles the dipstick looked way down to me (under the lower indicator on the dipstick), but Lexus said it was .4 quarts down and "totally normal consumption." I complained, and we re-performed the test. I had it in there today after 800 miles and the dipstick was less halfway between the full and low on the dipstick. The "master" mechanic again says it is .4 quarts down and "normal oil consumption." If it's .4 down at 800 miles, isn't it gonna be 2 quarts down at 5,000 miles?

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Touareg :: Battery Dead After Two Weeks

Well my two weeks of Touareg bliss just ended with a dead battery. I guess two weeks out of car is all you can expect. I know I'm not the first... but seems pretty unbelievable in that I have never had such a problem with any other car in 35 years.

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Touareg :: Key Battery Is Empty Alarm

On my display, I get a "Key Battery is Empty" alarm with a little key symbol that stays there as long as I am driving. I have replaced the battery...still the alarm. I have tried the other FOB...still the alarm. The thing is, the FOB works (I have the keyless start) so it seems to be a software issue but how do I reset it without venturing down to the dealer?

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Touareg :: Dead Battery - Won't Start

I got my V8 back from a dead battery for the 2nd time. As usual, they have not found the problem. They said that there isn't any battery drain and the battery holds a charge. This time I took it back to my dealer I purchased from, not that it means anything.

I know there have been a lot of talk about different things that are causing the problem/ fixing the problem, but I have noticed that it may not be some of the ECU's, Navi/radio, etc. but could it be that when the vehicle is actually running the Alternator may not be charging the system significantly while driving when things are turned on, as in multiple things like AC/Heater, Fogs, heated seats, etc at the same time? Reason is that I have noticed with my V8, if you turn off all of these things the voltage gauge reads very close to 14 Volts and when you turn them on, it drops/cycles to about 13.75-13.5 volts. The dealer loaned me a V6 Touareg and with all these things on, the Voltage Gauge read 14 Volts solid most of the time or pretty close to. Meaning that the Alternator may be keeping up with all the things turned on (Current Draw).

With my V8, if you have these things on and you are running around town starting/ stopping without driving it for a period of time the Alternator may not be sufficiently charging the battery and then when you park it like overnight with the normal drain on the system in off state you may not be able to start it. Could there be something there or am I way off? Since they are always looking at the battery and if there is any drain on the system when it's off, is the alternator keeping up with the Touareg's requirements when it is running?

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Touareg :: Key Battery Empty Warning

Yes, I STFA but didn't come up with a solution. This is displayed on driver info display, so i replaced the battery in the keyfob. The the keyless entry works a few times then all of a sudden keyless entry doesn't work and the display "key battery empty" comes on again. When i take the battery out and put it in again, same thing happens, works then doesn't work. The battery is good but this keeps happening over and over again.

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Touareg :: Conserving Battery Power?

Is there a way to turn off having the lights come on inside the car when you open a door? I have been camping several times this summer and have periods of time that I don't start my Treg for a day or more, but I am getting into the vehicle often to get stuff. I can tell when my battery starts to get lower because the lights turn off quickly just after I open a door, then when I start the car, I get the "workshop fault" error message that I used to get often when I had battery issues last year before VW replaced my wiring harness. The good news is it appears the car is managing the power by turning off the lights when the battery power is low, but I'd rather just turn off the lights entirely with some feature until I decide to drive it home, then turn them back on. I have not scoured the manual looking for this....

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Touareg :: How To Disconnect Battery Power

How I'd disconnect the battery power? I don't have the owner's manual handy. I'm attempting to reset all systems to clear a 'steering defect workshop' warning. I've removed the cover and think I see the battery (there's a black bar over it that I can't remove by hand).

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Touareg :: Battery Died At 7,800 Miles

Drove from KC to Wichita (189 miles) on Friday. Drove around in the city (probably less than 22 miles) that evening. Touareg has been in the driveway of my father-in-law's house since. Got in the car this monring (Monday) to go pick up my 2 nieces and the thing was dead. It didn't want to give my key back but I insisted so it did.

I have it on a charger right now and it is drawing 12 AMPS. I just hope the thing starts later today when i have to get back on the road to go back to KC.

Big bummer. Nothing unusual that should have caused the problem, but I do have yet another theory to add to the pile. This theory is a running one from my previous Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. It developed an electronic eye issue. When parked the eye sensor would malfunction and tell the headlights to come on. So, the battery would drain in my garage overnight. They replaced the sensor and the problem went away (which I thought was strange since the Jeep was off in the garage disabling the sensor from being able to tell the lights to turn on).

When I went out to the Touareg this morning I noticed that the parking lights were on (but very dim). When I switched the light switch to the "O" position they went off.

Do you think there is possibly a light sensor issue here as well? Who frinkin' knows?

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