Prius Failing To Start Properly - Anyone Had This Problem ?

May 26, 2009

I am starting to get a recurring problem with my 2006 Prius T3. The problem is that the engine fails to start up properly. The dashboard lights up as normal but the series of clicks I normally hear do not occur. The car stays in neutral and will not go into Drive or Reverse gears. I have to keep turning the engine off, removing the key and repeating the start up procedure until the engine eventually starts up correctly. In the worse case it took over ten minutes before the engine started correctly and I was able to drive off.

Car has been for a service, the dealer was told of the problem but just reported back that it had started OK for them. Problem is intermittent but seems to occur more often if the car has not been driven for a few days.

Has anyone experienced this before ? Is it a known problem ?

any help gratefully appreciated.

May 26, 2009

I am starting to get a recurring problem with my 2006 Prius T3. The problem is that the engine fails to start up properly. The dashboard lights up as normal but the series of clicks I normally hear do not occur. The car stays in neutral and will not go into Drive or Reverse gears. I have to keep turning the engine off, removing the key and repeating the start up procedure until the engine eventually starts up correctly. In the worse case it took over ten minutes before the engine started correctly and I was able to drive off.
Car has been for a service, the dealer was told of the problem but just reported back that it had started OK for them. Problem is intermittent but seems to occur more often if the car has not been driven for a few days.
Has anyone experienced this before ? Is it a known problem ?
any help gratefully appreciated.

Your description is somewhat confusing, because you seem to use the word "engine" to refer to the whole Prius HybridSynergyDrive (HSD) sometimes and in other instances you appear to be referring to just the "petrol engine".

Known faults are:

Given the age of your car, the primary suspect would be a weak Aux 12v Battery. Unlike conventional cars, the Prius has a smaller Battery, and the DC-DC charging system was designed to only just charge the Battery up if the car was driven regularly enough (I don't know what that usage would be - everyone is rather vague including Toyota).

Other possible faults could be a loose 12v terminal lead(s), corrosion on the 12v battery terminal(s) or corrosion of a 12v earthing point (the screw/thread for the one serving the 12v battery -ve lead has been identified by some American Prius owners).

If you are Powering on into IGN-ON or ACC-ON mode instead of READY then the other known fault would be the Brake Pedal (or you are not pushing the brake pedal down properly - unlikely if you've owned the car for a long time as you'll know how to Power On your Prius).

May 27, 2009

timberwolf has given you some sesible solutions to your problem. I also think it is either the 12 volt Battery problem or a loose electrical connection. Your quickest way of way of fixing the fault is take your car to your Toyota dealer. Intermittant faults can take ages to find, your Toyota dealer should be able to diagnose the fault quickly.

I would suggest you only use a Toyata dealer. A guy I know took his Prius to a reputable non Toyota dealer and as it turned out the dealer did not have a clue about the Prius and caused more problems than the car went in for.