Yaris Hybrid - ICE running most of the time

[Yaris2022]

Hi again all,

 

My Yaris is currently in the Toyota dealer... will be hopefully picking it up again tomorrow, so we shall see what they say about the issue and whether it is fixed.

I feel like I might need to charge the 12v Battery every so often, but surely if I do around 14 miles every day, it should be alright, no?

I can only remember one occasion of it nearly going flat, I was sat inside and left it "ON" instead of in "Ready" mode... oops. But it was already running the ICE etc before that anyway, so I guess it was already low prior to this incident.

[Graham47]

40 minutes ago, Yaris2022 said:

Hi again all,

 

…..surely if I do around 14 miles every day, it should be alright, no?

 

My feeling is “yes” .  (Although it’s more about ‘time’ than ‘miles’).

[Cyker]

Yeah, time is the thing - Even 1 mile would be enough if it was in London  

(I thought my journeys would be smoother during the half-term holiday, but it's been the total opposite!   Random roadworks have exploded  all over the place around here - A journey that should take me 30-40 minutes took 2 hours yesterday because of roadwork traffic lights and closed roads!!    My 12v was definitely well charged after that run!!  )

 

[Mojo1010]

14 miles - how long does that take u? My guess it would easily be enough to charge the Battery, so I suspect something is not right. 

[Yaris2022]

On 10/28/2022 at 7:52 AM, Mojo1010 said:

14 miles - how long does that take u? My guess it would easily be enough to charge the battery, so I suspect something is not right. 

It normally takes around a total of half hour max, quite a lot is done at 30MPH, some is done at around 60MPH, but not for long, maybe 6 minutes max every day.

 

The Toyota dealership topped up the 12v Battery and tested the car, and it now seems fine. They said the voltages that I provided were alright, and they were consistent with a car that is not driven that many miles.

It has been behaving since then. I have now got a 12v Battery charger, so that I can just give it a top up once a month, or whenever it is needed. I have a few longer trips planned soon, so hopefully this will not be needed and the car will get a nice charge on those trips... fingers crossed.

[mjjferreira]

The other day i went to the dealship to show some engine noises in my Yaris and when talking with the toyota engineer he told me that he was investigating a problem in a yaris cross similiar to yours.

You are not alone on this one.

[anchorman]

17 hours ago, mjjferreira said:

The other day i went to the dealship to show some engine noises in my Yaris and when talking with the toyota engineer he told me that he was investigating a problem in a yaris cross similiar to yours.

You are not alone on this one.

Ah, a bit of drama.  
He’s not alone because every car out there will do the same in the right conditions.  It’s just a matter of getting used to it and the Battery charger for longer periods of non use is a good idea.   

[Yaris2022]

Well, so much for that... Picked it up on Friday, and drove nearly 70 miles on Saturday, back to 14 miles a day from Monday, and it was behaving... until this afternoon, bang, engine kicked in again and would not go into EV. Checked the Battery voltage around 5 minutes after stopping... 11.8v. Clearly the 12v Battery is not the best.

Will ring the garage again tomorrow and see what they say.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Yaris2022 said:

Well, so much for that... Picked it up on Friday, and drove nearly 70 miles on Saturday, back to 14 miles a day from Monday, and it was behaving... until this afternoon, bang, engine kicked in again and would not go into EV. Checked the battery voltage around 5 minutes after stopping... 11.8v. Clearly the 12v battery is not the best.

Will ring the garage again tomorrow and see what they say.

Perhaps you can push them for a new 12v Battery replacement under warranty. If the Battery is dead and can’t hold the charge the inverter will drain the hybrid Battery faster and the engine will run more often and for longer respectively. This also happens when you drive with AC ON in hot days. 

[RickyC]

Mmm.  The Battery recharge should consume few energy.  Maybe a 12V battey that requires charge will drain more energy from main Battery but I don't think can explain a continuous use of ICE.

[Yaris2022]

Hi all, just an update;

After it started again, I had a long chat with the dealer over the phone, they said that the 12v Battery was perfectly healthy, they ran the drain test, no drains, they did a deep scan, and everything came back OK. They would not replace the Battery etc, fine.

One Sunday 13th, I drove the car 129 miles, which took around 3.5 hours, in a few trips. The car was acting up at the start, but around 60 miles in, was back to normal, and this continued for a while, until Thursday, when it started not switching off the engine when I got above 40MPH again.

I chose to ignore it and carry on as usual, but then recently it has gone back to running the engine nearly all the time... any time the engine starts, it will continue to run until a full stop. But since that Sunday, I have driven over 300 miles.

I did drive around 70 miles (2.5 hours) the following weekend, but it did not change the behaviour of the car at all, which I was expecting it to at least 'mellow' it a bit. - SUrely I don't need to drive over 100 miles frequently to sort it out?

I also tried charging the Battery with my car charger a week or so ago, which it did accept, but it was still not acting normally, unlike when they charged it.

Checked the voltages, 14.2V when in Ready mode, and around 11.7 /11.8 V when in IG ON mode at the minute.

 

What else can I try? I'm all out of ideas on this one now, dealership don't want to know, and it's rather frustrating to have this issue.

 

Thanks all for your advice etc so far.🙂

[Mojo1010]

If it's not the Battery problem it must be something else. This is affecting the fuel consumption as well as noise from engine running. You may need to ask Toyota uk or another dealer to look into it. 

My MK3, no driving for 2 days just gone on the weekend. Drove it today, less than a mile from start EV kicked in. Hope you can get it sorted out. 

[Cyker]

Maybe e-mail cr@toyota.co.uk and explain what's happened and that you're not happy with the current resolution from your dealer - Ask if they can put you in contact with an alternate and see what they say.

 

[anchorman]

It’ll run all day tomorrow if you have the heater on because its forecast cold.  Where do you think the heat is coming from?  

Turn the heater off (if you’re nuts) or expect it to be like that until about May.

Stop worrying.

[MikeSh]

3 hours ago, anchorman said:

It’ll run all day tomorrow if you have the heater on because its forecast cold.  Where do you think the heat is coming from?  

Turn the heater off (if you’re nuts) or expect it to be like that until about May.

Stop worrying.

Oh come on. I was out in my MK3 this evening, 7°C outside, and once the engine was warm it was in EV mode whenever it could be, even when stopped for several minutes. I then parked up for 30 minutes and on restarting the water temp was sufficient to run the heater for a couple of minutes until I asked for more traction power.

Unless it's sub-zero where the OP lives his experience is not normal.

[anchorman]

6 hours ago, MikeSh said:

Oh come on. I was out in my MK3 this evening, 7°C outside, and once the engine was warm it was in EV mode whenever it could be, even when stopped for several minutes. I then parked up for 30 minutes and on restarting the water temp was sufficient to run the heater for a couple of minutes until I asked for more traction power.

Unless it's sub-zero where the OP lives his experience is not normal.

Well then we can lump mine in with his and the one that makes the dangerous clattering noise at start up and the one that has the nuclear leaking Battery that must be changed because Toyota who are the masters of mass production don’t know what they’re doing as well.  Mine does all three - oh no mines a demic too!   Either that or it’s normal and people love a lot of drama.   Let him keep running back to the dealer then because it’s not able to generate heat from nothing.   Not my time and money he’s wasting.  

[Yaris2022]

Hi again all,

Just to clarify, for my tests, I have not run the heater... the max was A/C on LO to clear the windscreen - cold I know!

If you lift the bonnet in Ready mode, you can hear a sort of coil whiny noise, I guess this is normal? Not sure.

It was a bit better this morning... but I did sit in it at lunch for 30 mins in Ready mode yesterday, and the same again today, just to charge the 12v. Surely I should not have to do this?

 

Thanks.

[anchorman]

I’ll have to film my car prior to dusting as it shows up on camera.  

[TonyHSD]

11.7v are not a healthy numbers for auxiliary Battery. When car is off should be 12.25+ and when in acc mode or while starting the car should not drop below 12 imo. 

22 hours ago, Yaris2022 said:

Hi all, just an update;

After it started again, I had a long chat with the dealer over the phone, they said that the 12v battery was perfectly healthy, they ran the drain test, no drains, they did a deep scan, and everything came back OK. They would not replace the battery etc, fine.

One Sunday 13th, I drove the car 129 miles, which took around 3.5 hours, in a few trips. The car was acting up at the start, but around 60 miles in, was back to normal, and this continued for a while, until Thursday, when it started not switching off the engine when I got above 40MPH again.

I chose to ignore it and carry on as usual, but then recently it has gone back to running the engine nearly all the time... any time the engine starts, it will continue to run until a full stop. But since that Sunday, I have driven over 300 miles.

I did drive around 70 miles (2.5 hours) the following weekend, but it did not change the behaviour of the car at all, which I was expecting it to at least 'mellow' it a bit. - SUrely I don't need to drive over 100 miles frequently to sort it out?

I also tried charging the battery with my car charger a week or so ago, which it did accept, but it was still not acting normally, unlike when they charged it.

Checked the voltages, 14.2V when in Ready mode, and around 11.7 /11.8 V when in IG ON mode at the minute.

 

What else can I try? I'm all out of ideas on this one now, dealership don't want to know, and it's rather frustrating to have this issue.

 

Thanks all for your advice etc so far.🙂

I believe that anything below 12v when the car is in acc mode is a sign for not healthy Battery and when starting the car If voltage drops even further it’s a second sign for bad Battery. If the 12v battery been going flat once or more times even charged afterwards with external charger will not hold charge well and may cause problems that you have experience or unable to start the car. You should push Toyota for replacement battery under warranty or at least to swap the battery with another car to prove that the issue it’s not from the battery or perhaps it’s from the battery and replace yours under warranty. 
All that above with one note, we are talking the car behaves like that with ice constantly ON without hvac bern the reason. 
 

[flash22]

i would get the Battery tested elsewhere, dealers have a habit of nuking the Battery before testing, 11.7 IGN on, watch the voltage as you put into ready mode

on the positive Battery terminal, pop the cover off and check the links and the 2-3 fuses

 

if in doubt, find another dealer

edit. 11.7 with very little load, could well pull down to under 9v with a large load

edit. IIRC factory batteries are only covered for 1 year

[Trewithy]

2 hours ago, Yaris2022 said:

Hi again all,

Just to clarify, for my tests, I have not run the heater... the max was A/C on LO to clear the windscreen - cold I know.

If I read this correctly you have your A/C on and set to low.  If your climate Control is set to either high or low these temperatures are not realistically achievable and you are likely to be putting a large drain on your hybrid and 12v batteries as the car tries to get to these unobtainable temperatures.  Try a normal temp of 20 or 21, select Climate Control Auto. If you prefer switch off the A/C, don't switch off the Climate Control by mistake, maybe select a low fan speed.  I would suggest just leaving everything on Auto and see how that goes  

[Ralph H]

There’s definitely something wrong somewhere, it was 1 degree outside this morning 20 miles in my mk4 inside temp set to 23 degrees with aircon on just left in auto to do it’s own thing. All worked as normal went into ev mode on motorway after engine had warmed up. Just checked the myT app which reports a total of 40% of drive time in ev mode. Not as good as in the summer but still managed 67mpg

[Derek.w]

Ralph 

I only managing 59.7 for the week and for the Month its 65.4 this infomation from myT app.

[Ralph H]

4 minutes ago, Derek.w said:

Ralph 

I only managing 59.7 for the week and for the Month its 65.4 this infomation from myT app.

Yeah you’re right but as I don’t keep track of my mpg separately I only have what the “fibometer” tells me to go on!

[RickyC]

On 11/28/2022 at 9:14 PM, Mojo1010 said:

If it's not the battery problem it must be something else. This is affecting the fuel consumption as well as noise from engine running. You may need to ask Toyota uk or another dealer to look into it. 

As I've already written some post ago, the issue is probably caused by GPF cleanup.  When external air is cold ( and usually humid ) the GPF takes a lot to reach the correct temperature so ICE is running continuously to try to warm it. 

Toyota is aware of the issue but probably has archived it as "normal". 

@flash22  can you check if Toyota has published some TSB relating this behaviour ?