Toyota Iq And Solar Car Charger Via Lighter Socket

[MarkyPancake]

My iQ3 decided it will not start since yesterday and it sounds like a flat Battery, which I'm not happy about for a seven month old car that gets used most days. I'm waiting to get it jumped so I can take it on a run, but I'm not going to be happy if I have to buy a new Battery already, especially since my last two cars were much hungrier on Battery usage and their batteries lasted years under the same driving conditions. Looks like another phone call to my dealer.

In the long-term I wondered if a solar car charger would work with the iQ's lighter socket, like one of these from Maplins:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-2.4w-battery-trickle-charger-223251

I thought about getting one before, but my previous cars' lighter sockets only seemed to be active when the accessories or engine were on, whereas on some older cars it used to always be active.

[s44gtw]

Did you check that the Battery terminals were not just loose?

The Battery should have been disconected when the recall work was done,

a slack Battery terminal from work by a slack technician is 'not unusual'.(Tom Jones.)

If the battery is faulty,

or its been caused to go flat due to an electrical fault causing a drain it will be replaced under warranty.

You should not be needing to buy one.

I would rather of put it on a trickle charge first rather than jump it,

then get a 'drop test' carried out on the battery.

Its worth having it tested rather than just getting a jump start

& getting stuck in a more awkward situation some other time

if it charges up with a run.

(do you not have free 'Toyota Care' to call out & have the battery tested & the vehicle started?)

I take it the car hasnt been laid up for a few weeks or anything,

or the interior light left on.

(no laughter please re interior lights,you would hardly spot it being left on,

at least you know with an iQ that its not the glove compartment light left on.))

george

[MarkyPancake]

Thanks for the advice.

The car is used most days, but had been sat still for four days maximum. Nothing was left on and I checked the terminals today and they are fitted securely. I also checked the water, as it's not a sealed Battery, and there is ample water covering the cells.

I've got a Battery optimiser for my bike that uses a light system to display the charge (red, orange, yellow, and green), so I connected that to the car before I plugged it into the mains to see what that Battery registered at and it was yellow. For comparison, when the bike has been yellow it usually starts. I would happily use an optimiser on the car all the time if it had easy access to the mains and charger without having to run cables outside.

Back to the solar charger, does anybody know if this would work on an iQ? It would be useful just to have it sat on the dash and plugged into the lighter socket to provide a charge to the battery during daytime when the car isn't in use.

[johnan]

Thanks for the advice.

The car is used most days, but had been sat still for four days maximum. Nothing was left on and I checked the terminals today and they are fitted securely. I also checked the water, as it's not a sealed battery, and there is ample water covering the cells.

I've got a battery optimiser for my bike that uses a light system to display the charge (red, orange, yellow, and green), so I connected that to the car before I plugged it into the mains to see what that battery registered at and it was yellow. For comparison, when the bike has been yellow it usually starts. I would happily use an optimiser on the car all the time if it had easy access to the mains and charger without having to run cables outside.

Back to the solar charger, does anybody know if this would work on an iQ? It would be useful just to have it sat on the dash and plugged into the lighter socket to provide a charge to the battery during daytime when the car isn't in use.

I have a solar charger that I have permanently connected to my old Mg's Battery when not being driven, and consequently it is always fully charged. I connect it with croc clips.

However the IQ's accessory socket is "off" unless the start button is pressed once, for accessories on or twice for ignition on, so the solar charger would not be able to feed juice backwards into the Battery through it without switching on, so that wouldn't do.There could well be a diode or two somewhere in the system to prevent a backward flow through the socket, anyway.

So I don't think you could use the accessory socket for charging, but there are cables you can get that can be bolted to the Battery terminals with a plug at the other end which fits the plug from the charger, so you just have to plug the two together to start the charge rather than mess about with clips etc.

The bottom line though is, as George suggests, no modern car should have a battery going flat as yours is unless there is something amiss.

If the battery is kaput then Mr T will have to change it and if there is an unexpected current drain, when the car is not running ,they will have to sort it.

I thought all batteries were sealed these days..when you were getting the recall work done has someone swapped your good battery for a dodgy one...it has happened before now...!?

[MarkyPancake]

I suspected the iQ would be a one way lighter socket based on my previous two Lexus, so thanks for confirming that for me.

It's a Panasonic Battery and is the one that came with the car.

I'm going to call Toyota about it this week anyway, because it's not really acceptable for a new car to have the Battery run out from a four day stand still when it was used everyday for at least a week up to that point.

Not the worst luck, but not a trouble free experience either with my first new car.

[SallyIQ]

I hadnt used my car since Thursday night, started it today and it sounded terrible and cut out, waited a few minutes and tried again, let it run for a bit and it was fine after that, at no point were any warning lights on the dash or anything. I usually use my car everyday as well but I had used my partners car for a couple of days.

It has happened to me once before in the 2 and a half years Ive owned the car but Im not too worried about it.

[MarkyPancake]

I've noticed mine has started and then cut out a couple of times lately and I thought perhaps I had released the brake pedal too early, but since this second occurrence it will not start and just continues to try without turning the engine over. I assume it's a low Battery and not a bigger problem, but two Battery chargers do not show the Battery as being really low on power.

[MarkyPancake]

I went out tonight and when I got back I checked the charger, being as it has been connected for several hours now, and out of the four lights only one was lit, indicating a very low Battery. Three were lit when I connected it earlier. Judging by this and lack of starting power I think I really do have a dead Battery. I hope Toyota will sort it out for me quickly.

How do I get the car to my Toyota dealer? Should I jump it so I can drive it there, should I let them arrange getting the car there, or should I use the AA cover they provided to get the car there?

[Jan&tone]

I went out tonight and when I got back I checked the charger, being as it has been connected for several hours now, and out of the four lights only one was lit, indicating a very low battery. Three were lit when I connected it earlier. Judging by this and lack of starting power I think I really do have a dead battery. I hope Toyota will sort it out for me quickly.

How do I get the car to my Toyota dealer? Should I jump it so I can drive it there, should I let them arrange getting the car there, or should I use the AA cover they provided to get the car there?

Call club toyota. They will either start the car for you or tow it to your local Mt T.

Simples

[MarkyPancake]

I will phone the dealer tomorrow and speak to the really helpful man who sorted out the issues I had with the steering column recall work.

I also realised last night that the car was actually stood still for just three days and not four.

[MarkyPancake]

The Battery was charged from yesterday afternoon until lunchtime today and it still registers in the yellow state on my optimiser, which the manual says is the 6-12 V bracket. The starter motor is turning over like normal, not struggling like they do with a flat Battery, so I've had a look at the manual today, page 410, and the symptoms match the first bullet: "The engine will not start even when the starter motor operates normally." The emergency start function on page 411 doesn't work either.

Here's what I'm thinking: the car is parked at a slight angle where the fuel would run to the front right-hand corner of the tank and it's one block down from full on the dashboard gauge, so I'm wondering if this slight angle and being stood for three days has caused the fuel to runaway from where it needs to be. I usually park the car facing the opposite way round to how it is at the moment, but the problem with this theory is I'm sure it has been parked the way it is now with less fuel in the tank before and not had this problem. It has certainly been parked the other way around with the fuel light on.

If this is the case, then it's poor design, because the angle isn't even very extreme and the fuel is far from empty.

[johnan]

I believe the electric fuel pump is inside the tank ( I don't know where I got that from, must have read it somewhere)and if that is the case the tank would have to be extremely low in fuel for the pick up pipe from the pump not to be immersed in fuel and able to pump something even if the car is at an angle.

If you push the car down to a level bit of road and it then starts would prove your theory.

Did you have the recall done on the faulty fuel sender issue? Maybe it wasn't re-assembled correctly.

I thought your problem was a flat Battery rather than the car not starting.If the starter is energetic then it is not a Battery problem.

By the way my panasonic Battery looks like it is sealed but has things that look like removeable caps on the top. Are these just vents or can they be taken off?

Not that I want to, I'm just curious!

[MarkyPancake]

I thought my fuel theory was wrong, but am running out of ideas.

I thought it was the Battery, but having explored this possibility, I think I was on the wrong track.

The only recall work I've been personally notified about by Toyota is the power steering issue.

You can remove those caps on the top of the Battery to check and top up the water level.

[johnan]

I thought my fuel theory was wrong, but am running out of ideas.

I thought it was the battery, but having explored this possibility, I think I was on the wrong track.

The only recall work I've been personally notified about by Toyota is the power steering issue.

You can remove those caps on the top of the battery to check and top up the water level.

If the engine is turning over quickly but not firing it is not the Battery at fault, you earlier said the engine would not turn over but now that does not seem to be the problem.

If it does turn over but will not fire up then there is a problem with one of the systems, fuel or ignition, which only MrT can fix.

The other recall thing I mentioned was not really a "recall", but all of a sudden my fuel gauge started reading very erratically and they brought out a new sender unit/fuel filler to cure it.

It is only fitted to cars whose owners have actually reported the fault, I believe, though they must all be susceptible to it unless recently built.

I think you must get MrT involved.

[MarkyPancake]

That was my fault, I described the engine starting attempts the wrong way.

I checked the fuses tonight, just to make sure it wasn't something simple, and they're all okay.

Something I had noticed twice in as many weeks is the car started and then cut out straight away. I thought it was because I had released the brake pedal a second or two too early after the engine had started, so wasn't worried about it. The first time it did it was when I was leaving and then it started fine on the next attempt, but the second time it did this was Saturday and the engine has fired since, just the starter motor operating.

[s44gtw]

Just a wee safety point,

when a Lead-Acid batteries level is low you fill to the correct level with distilled water,

But when fully charged,

thats 35% sulphuric acid & 65% water thats in there.

george

[MarkyPancake]

Other than the fuses in the engine bay next to the Battery, are there any other fuses or relays in the car that could relate to the engine starting that I should check?

[s44gtw]

Sorry i cant really think of anything useful to suggest,

once its plugged into the reader at the Toyota Garage & the checks are done, hopefully you will know where the problem was.

My experience with modern vehicles fitted with immobilisers, is that there can be fuel & Battery power

& no actual mechanical fault

& a vehicle will still not start.

(not just modern vehicles, a long time ago i had a Mestro that couldnt be started after parking near the taxi office,

i found out later the guy was using an illegal transmitter for private use and this effected over vehicles sometimes.)

Different vehicles are more prone to 'stray radio signals' from various local sources,

sometimes its just someones 'Garage Door remote' or some type of 2 way radio or taxi frequency.

(my mates Range Rover alarm was being set & then the vehicles immobiliser would not allow it to start

& that was one of his neighbours home alarm controllers that was effecting it.)

Sometimes with some vehicles its just a case of using the spare key, or such.

Others require the black box resetting.

I know nothing about the keyless entry system & the immobilser on iQ's, iQ3's (4 cylinder engine) could even be different again.

No idea how soon a 'keyless entry battery' could be flat & disable the vehicle etc.

Probably not your current problem, (no pun intended)

Maybe a problem to find out about for the future tho.

george

[MarkyPancake]

I tried jumping into today off of another car, just to make sure and it's still doing the same thing: the starter motor operates, but the engine will not fire. The AA are on their way.

[johnan]

Please keep us informed about what is discovered to be the cause of this strange behaviour.

[MarkyPancake]

We're back in business!

The AA man came and I explained what I've tried and what I was thinking, then he wanted me to show him what was happening, so I tried to start it and it did the same thing, then he asked me try again and said it sounded like the engine was flooded. He asked me to try pressing the accelerator, which I had done on other attempts already with no success, and it still didn't work, so he asked me to try it again and still nothing, he then had a go and it eventually fired up with the throttle being depressed.

I let the engine run for a while and then took it to Toyota and they ran the diagnostic on it and checked the engine over, but didn't find anything odd. I then drove to the motorway and along one junction and back again. The car has fired up first time, each time since it has been running again. What they couldn't tell me was what caused it to flood in the first place. Hopefully it was a one-off.

[johnan]

Good news, lets hope that is the end of the problem.

However, you said it wouldn't start one day and you left it and tried another day and it still wouldn't start?

Any flooding that happened the first day would have evaporated by the time you tried again the next day.

Therefore something had to cause the engine to flood the second day too.

So it seems there is something telling the ecu that the engine needs more fuel than it needs for a cold start, and is over fuelling it.

The most likely suspect is the engine temperature sensor which apparently (I have only read about it) can give problems like thinking the ambient temperature is colder than it is and hence cause the engine to be flooded at start up.

They only cost the odd pound and are easy to change (again apparently).

It probably wouldn't show up on the diagnostic equipment as being faulty, but if you think the engine is being flooded again next time you try a cold start, maybe it could be considered as a culprit?

[MarkyPancake]

Thanks for the suggestion and I'll keep an eye on it. I've parked the car facing the other way on the drive, which is how I normally park, so the fuel will be biased to run to the back of the tank instead of the front.

[uski]

Other than the fuses in the engine bay next to the battery, are there any other fuses or relays in the car that could relate to the engine starting that I should check?

For the record, I would like to add that there is also a fuse box behind the OBD II connector, with approx 20 fuses.

It is a white box, you must remove its lid to access the fuses. This box is very hard to reach and to work with.

Most of the fuses are related to the lighting and the interior stuff, but maybe there are motor control related fuses.