11-16-2022, 11:28 AM
Well, that sure went south fast.
I finally got into the dead car. I put the back seat down and climbed through to the trunk and tried to get at the hidden physical latch for the hatch (I'd done it before), but it proved too painful for my shoulder. So I bailed and LCF kindly did it. This gives access to the 12V in the trunk, by the way.
Then AAA comes to check the battery. He says it tests fine and has me get in to start the engine. Now comes the mystery. I think he's giving a jump, but LCF later says it was just test wires hooked up at the time. We're now not certain what he did. The car starts, and AAA says I can take the foot off the gas now and it should be fine--because the battery tests fine. Then he packs up and leaves.
So. What the hell happened? Why was the car dead? Even the eternal blinking fob light on the dash was out. Did he jump the battery to goose it somehow? Or not? Just what we need. Another mysterious problem.
So I helped load LCF's bike in the back and she drove it to Prius Battery of San Jose and, well, dammit if the power battery pack doesn't test mostly okay. It 17 years old! I planned to have the whole battery replaced. From my reading, refurbishing a battery is just asking for trouble. But the mechanic (owner, very knowledgeable, very nice, even offered to have his mom give LCF a ride home) says he can't fully evaluate the battery until we resolve the other problems. The other problems involve the instrument cluster going haywire. I had planned to replace that myself, because there's a very good youtube video on it. But now he needs to fix it first before fully evaluating the state of the battery pack. Okay, fine. That's the new plan.
When LCF told him about the 12V battery problem, he said that with a bad instrument cluster sometimes the car won't fully shut off, and it drains the battery overnight. That sounds like a good explanation...until you realize that the 12V wasn't drained.
Anyway, I think fairly early in 2023 we should be looking at another car. This sounds like a temporary fix.
I finally got into the dead car. I put the back seat down and climbed through to the trunk and tried to get at the hidden physical latch for the hatch (I'd done it before), but it proved too painful for my shoulder. So I bailed and LCF kindly did it. This gives access to the 12V in the trunk, by the way.
Then AAA comes to check the battery. He says it tests fine and has me get in to start the engine. Now comes the mystery. I think he's giving a jump, but LCF later says it was just test wires hooked up at the time. We're now not certain what he did. The car starts, and AAA says I can take the foot off the gas now and it should be fine--because the battery tests fine. Then he packs up and leaves.
So. What the hell happened? Why was the car dead? Even the eternal blinking fob light on the dash was out. Did he jump the battery to goose it somehow? Or not? Just what we need. Another mysterious problem.
So I helped load LCF's bike in the back and she drove it to Prius Battery of San Jose and, well, dammit if the power battery pack doesn't test mostly okay. It 17 years old! I planned to have the whole battery replaced. From my reading, refurbishing a battery is just asking for trouble. But the mechanic (owner, very knowledgeable, very nice, even offered to have his mom give LCF a ride home) says he can't fully evaluate the battery until we resolve the other problems. The other problems involve the instrument cluster going haywire. I had planned to replace that myself, because there's a very good youtube video on it. But now he needs to fix it first before fully evaluating the state of the battery pack. Okay, fine. That's the new plan.
When LCF told him about the 12V battery problem, he said that with a bad instrument cluster sometimes the car won't fully shut off, and it drains the battery overnight. That sounds like a good explanation...until you realize that the 12V wasn't drained.
Anyway, I think fairly early in 2023 we should be looking at another car. This sounds like a temporary fix.
I'm nobody's pony.