Car will not start

[JayCee88]

Tried starting the car as usual this morning and noticed a few errors popped up on the dash. Something about parking brake  and ignition failure, and to contact dealer. The brake pedal did feel a bit hard. 
 

I switched the car off and tried starting again but it will not start. The dash kept blinking. In the end there is no response. I cannot lock the car. The tail lights are always on. 
 

I have driven the car 2 days ago and it was fine. Feels like a dead Battery. Just waiting for the dealership to open before giving them a call. Is this a dead Battery? I’ve been through colder days and left the car undriven for longer time but no issues. 

[Sergus]

Sorry to hear. I had similar symptoms with a dead Battery.

[Roy124]

Sounds like a classic dead Battery.  Your 2022 Corolla will be MY19 series and I had a dead Battery much as you describe. 

It can probably be jump started with a small Battery pack and recovered to some extent with a smart battery charger.  You might be OK for a time.

If you were to buy a smart charger you might be spending the same as a new battery. 

[JayCee88]

Thanks all for the reply. Relieved to hear that it’s dead Battery. To be fair I have not been driving it much lately. I was under the wrong impression that the hybrid Battery would also be used in this case. 
 

Is it safe to jump start? Car does not start on ignition. Wonder if I should just hook it up to the Battery conditioner. 

[Roy124]

Yes, you can try a jump start, should work fine.

If you have a Battery conditioner (smart charger) you can do that too.  

Your choice, jump now if you need to use the car; use the charger if you are not in a hurry. 

A good spell on the charger should buy you some more Battery life and delay the inevitable need for a new Battery.

"Is this a dead battery? I’ve been through colder days and left the car undriven for longer time but no issues. "

Trouble is the degradation can be gradual.

[Roy124]

PS, how long have you had the car?

[JayCee88]

Found out the Battery is in the boot, and you can’t open the boot if the Battery is dead…

 

[JayCee88]

3 hours ago, Roy124 said:

PS, how long have you had the car?

Just over a year, it’s a 22 reg. To be fair I have not been driving it much lately. Only very short trips. 
I was under the wrong impression that the hybrid Battery will take some load when engine is not running. I will keep in mind too hook car up to Battery conditioner in the future. 

[JayCee88]

24 minutes ago, JayCee88 said:

Found out the battery is in the boot, and you can’t open the boot if the battery is dead…

 

Luckily my mate popped over to help. He had a Battery pack jump starter and found a place in the fuse box where he could connect to. This gave enough electrical power to open the boot. Battery is to the left side of the boot. 

[Roy124]

You obviously have a 2.0.

The 1.8 Battery is in the front.

I asked about ownership, as a 2nd owner you have no idea how the original owner drove the car and the Battery might have suffered.

[Roy124]

Regarding charging, the quick and dirty method is to use the positive blade under the bonnet, the same as when you jump started. 

For some here that is not an issue.

For others, fitting a charger lead to the Battery accessible from the boot or inside is more convenient.   I am of that school.

[JayCee88]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

You obviously have a 2.0.

The 1.8 battery is in the front.

I asked about ownership, as a 2nd owner you have no idea how the original owner drove the car and the battery might have suffered.

Original owner was Toyota …

[JayCee88]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Regarding charging, the quick and dirty method is to use the positive blade under the bonnet, the same as when you jump started. 

For some here that is not an issue.

For others, fitting a charger lead to the battery accessible from the boot or inside is more convenient.   I am of that school.

Yes charging the 12V Battery is not an issue, and I will definitely do this if I don’t drive the car much. 
 

Not a good design though as the Battery is in the boot, and no way to open it (AFAIK) if the Battery is dead. No warnings of low battery either. My other car a Skoda will warn if battery level is low. Could at do with a positive point in the engine bay. My last car Audi Q7 has the battery under passenger seat but there is a positive and earth point in the engine bay. 

Ok if you constantly drive the car, but something to note if you don’t, especially over winter time. Poor design. 

[Cyker]

Yeah, this is the downside of everyone going electronic lock only; This is the first car I've owned where I couldn't open the boot with a key!

At least they were smart enough to put a positive terminal in the engine bay so you can power everything from there in a pinch.

 

[JayCee88]

2 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, this is the downside of everyone going electronic lock only; This is the first car I've owned where I couldn't open the boot with a key!

At least they were smart enough to put a positive terminal in the engine bay so you can power everything from there in a pinch.

 

Yeah very poor form of Toyota. Luckily my mate knew how to power the car through the fuse box in the engine bay. Otherwise you were stuffed if you have a dead Battery.

[Cyker]

To be fair it's not solely a Toyota thing - The whole industry is going that way, probably more silly cost savings disguised as 'premium', like the godawful touch display interfaces infesting all new cars. I'm just thankful Toyota put in at least one physical lock that lets you get into the car with no 12v - Some other manufacturers don't even give you that!  

If a Tesla's 12v Battery dies, there is no way to get back into the car, full stop!! You actually have to dismantle the front of the car, to get at some emergency Battery terminals, and charge it for 10-30 minutes to get enough juice in for the computers to power up and enable the electronic locks to work again!  

 

[JayCee88]

3 minutes ago, Cyker said:

To be fair it's not solely a Toyota thing - The whole industry is going that way, probably more silly cost savings disguised as 'premium', like the godawful touch display interfaces infesting all new cars. I'm just thankful Toyota put in at least one physical lock that lets you get into the car with no 12v - Some other manufacturers don't even give you that!  

If a Tesla's 12v battery dies, there is no way to get back into the car, full stop!! You actually have to dismantle the front of the car, to get at some emergency battery terminals, and charge it for 10-30 minutes to get enough juice in for the computers to power up and enable the electronic locks to work again!  

 

Fair enough 🙂 However not everyone knows how to get power to the car using fuse box. If the battery’s in the boot surely it would be logical to have a positive terminal in the engine bay? Oh well… I probably need to find a way to get into the boot if power fails. 

[Cyker]

To my knowledge, all Toyotas that don't have the 12v Battery in the engine bay, instead have a positive terminal in the engine bay fuse box - There's usually a red cover with a [+] symbol on it inside the engine bay fusebox which shields a big copper strip designed for a jump starter clamp.

 

[Gray86]

25 minutes ago, JayCee88 said:

Yes charging the 12V battery is not an issue, and I will definitely do this if I don’t drive the car much. 
 

Not a good design though as the battery is in the boot, and no way to open it (AFAIK) if the battery is dead. No warnings of low battery either. My other car a Skoda will warn if battery level is low. Could at do with a positive point in the engine bay. My last car Audi Q7 has the battery under passenger seat but there is a positive and earth point in the engine bay. 

Ok if you constantly drive the car, but something to note if you don’t, especially over winter time. Poor design. 

You can charge the Battery from the live port in the fuse box under the bonnet. As I write this my 2.0’s Battery is on charge with the CTEK. If you needed to access the Battery in the boot it’s a case of open the car with the key in the lock, fold rear seat down & climb into the boot. Not ideal, but works. 
 

After going completely flat your battery will have lost some capacity, a charger that can recondition will recover some of that. 

[JayCee88]

1 hour ago, Gray86 said:

You can charge the battery from the live port in the fuse box under the bonnet. As I write this my 2.0’s battery is on charge with the CTEK. If you needed to access the battery in the boot it’s a case of open the car with the key in the lock, fold rear seat down & climb into the boot. Not ideal, but works. 
 

After going completely flat your battery will have lost some capacity, a charger that can recondition will recover some of that. 

Cheers for this. I will definitely keep an eye out in the charge, I also have a CTEK.

My mate used his commercial charger to recharge my Battery. It does have a recondition function. Look about 6 hours for a near full charge. I will look into plugging the Battery (via the boot as I am not sure how to do this from the fuse box) this weekend. 
 

Do you think I need to replace the 12V Battery for good measure? I don’t want to run with a battery that has lost capacity n

[JayCee88]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

To my knowledge, all Toyotas that don't have the 12v battery in the engine bay, instead have a positive terminal in the engine bay fuse box - There's usually a red cover with a [+] symbol on it inside the engine bay fusebox which shields a big copper strip designed for a jump starter clamp.

 

Got it. Might pop the fuse box open to have a good look. What about the earth terminal? Just clip to the body ?

[Gray86]

9 minutes ago, JayCee88 said:

Cheers for this. I will definitely keep an eye out in the charge, I also have a CTEK.

My mate used his commercial charger to recharge my battery. It does have a recondition function. Look about 6 hours for a near full charge. I will look into plugging the battery (via the boot as I am not sure how to do this from the fuse box) this weekend. 
 

Do you think I need to replace the 12V battery for good measure? I don’t want to run with a battery that has lost capacity n

If you have a CTEK with recondition, give that a go. Through the fuse box is REALLY easy, and saves a lot of messing with removing the Battery. Instructions: 

 

open fuse box on right hand side of engine bay (using 3 push tabs)

locate bright red flap & open it - that’s your live terminal

connect black lead to bare metal on suspension strut tower behind fuse box

connect red lead to live terminal 

switch on charger & watch those numbers light up! 

[JayCee88]

9 minutes ago, Gray86 said:

If you have a CTEK with recondition, give that a go. Through the fuse box is REALLY easy, and saves a lot of messing with removing the battery. Instructions: 

 

open fuse box on right hand side of engine bay (using 3 push tabs)

locate bright red flap & open it - that’s your live terminal

connect black lead to bare metal on suspension strut tower behind fuse box

connect red lead to live terminal 

switch on charger & watch those numbers light up! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to run through the instructions. Appreciate this. 

[Roy124]

Must say my Mercedes had a dedicated positive terminal under the bonnet.  It was a separate plastic box labelled +ve, easy to take a Croc clip so no messing with fuse box lids and so on; much easier.

[Mjolinor]

8 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Must say my Mercedes had a dedicated positive terminal under the bonnet.  It was a separate plastic box labelled +ve, easy to take a Croc clip so no messing with fuse box lids and so on; much easier.

That is the good thing about Mercs, they consider repair before anything else when designing cars. If you are struggling to get at a nut then you are not doing it right. All Mercs that do not have the Battery under the bonnet have a terminal there for you to power the car and jump start from if needed.

These methods have been corroded somewhat since they got so close to Renault who are completely at the other end of the scale when it comes to mending them. I will never own a Renault for that reason though they are the only car maker in the world that can do every single part of the manufacturing process, from rock to car, in house. They even have their own vineyards and wine to console you when you work on their cars.