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Toyota Camry Hybrid Electrical & Lighting Questions
I have owned my TCH for approximately 3 months. Every single time the vehicle has sat unused for more than 3 days, I end up with a dead starting battery. It starts immediately when jumped, but this is becoming more than a bit annoying. The dealer at first insisted that the $350 starting battery was defective and has replaced it 3 times. They are now convinced that something is intermittently draining the battery, but after having the car for a week on one occasion and almost a week currently, they have no clue what is going on. I had thought it was probably the smart keys “communicating” but on the most recent dead battery occasion both keys were 1300 miles from the car. I am beyond careful to be certain that everything is off and lock the car every time it is left. Any ideas or similar experiences??
obrienklm
obrienklm
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Hummm. Three cars out of about 40,000 with this problem so far. I'll take my chances.
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/showthread.php?t=12585
Re my situation: Update on the dead battery saga I was away last week and my TCH starting battery was stone cold dead again this morning. I think that is the 6th time it has been dead when left more than a couple days. As always it started immediately with a jump and my dealer again promised to figure out what’s causing the drain. And they think they have it!!!
It seems that Toyota has notice several similar problems with the THC, all in the northern states, and they have tracked it down to a problem with the computer that controls the remote start. Apparently there is a malfunction between the smart key and the remote start program that is draining the battery over time. They plan to install a new computer tomorrow and hopefully the problem will be solved.
I'm letting it sit over the weekend... we'll see.
Regards, Keith
It's been about a month. Has your battery stopped draining? If it has, what was the fix?
I should mention that I do not believe that my problems had anything to do with cold weather, simply the amount of time the car sat discharging. Cold weather should actually help the starting battery maintain its charge, as batteries discharge at a much slower rate at lower ambient temps. It was never an issue of the typical cold weather, slow turning engine. The battery was so dead I had to unlock the doors with the emergency key and usually lost my radio presets.
If your dealer wants to know more, I believe the Chicago district of Toyota is one that finally made the connection to the remote start computer. They may even had a Tech Bulletin our by now.
Keith
That's good news and I will pass it along to my dealer. If they furnish a new remote starter chip and it solves the problem I will let you know.
Recently I found my 2009 TCH to be completely dead.
No light or unlocking or anything. Suspecting that the battrey was dead - I called AAA who helped with jumpstarting the vehicle.
Good news- is that the car is now working. Bad news is that there is no radio or information panel on the system. The system asks for Navi disk (which is not available since my used car did not include the disk.
Upon calling the local Toyota dealer, the service manager indicated that I should bring car in for diagnostics - a charge of $99.
Anyone have any suggestions? I do not want to pay the dealer for something very simple.
Thanks!
A
You can read the codes yourself with a reader or ScanGuage, and take it to the dealer if there is a code that is an issue. The Nav disk you are going to have to aquire either used or a new one from a dealer.
A bigger issue you have is that your 12V went dead. 2 things here. 1) why did it go dead? Was the car not used for several weeks? or is your battery bad? Your TCH is under warranty so a bad battery will be replaced. 2) you had the 12V jumped. The AGM batteries do not like sudden spikes in voltage. You MAY have damaged the 12V battery by jumping it.
Does anyone know if you can jump another car with the TCH? There is no procedure listed anywhere in the manual for jumping another car.
Actually, the manual is quite explicit about not jumping another car. The quick drain of a boosting another car damages the AGM battery that the TCH uses.
Thank you for your prompt response & feedback.
I do not know if the AAA folks used the right procedure. I know I do not have the manual, and the AAA driver did not even know where the TCH battrey was (he asked me to open the hood, while the battrey was in the trunk). The AAA driver did mention that he has jumped a lot of prius, and he had a portable charger he used for my car.
I think the battrey was dead due to the door being open for a few days - but I am not sure. By the way - what is an AGM battrey?
Since the radio etc is all dead (no response when I try to switch on the button) - but the Navi is working - I thought that may be the system needs to be reset by pressing a few buttons, and punching a code. I do not know how to do either - and do not know where to get the code from!.
Again - thank you for your prompt, and insightful response.
A few weeks ago it was fine.
Could it be due to the cold? The manual says the car needs to be taken to the dealer, but can't this be done a simpler way???
A few weeks ago it was fine.
Could it be due to the cold? The manual says the car needs to be taken to the dealer, but can't this be done a simpler way???
Question, did the car start? Did you get the "READY" light on? If you are not sure, go out again and step on the brake and while the brake pedal is depressed push the start button. Depending on various things it may take up to 7-10 seconds before the engine actually fires up.
In response to the cold question; it could be only if the cold also brought with it enough condensation somewhere where some electronics got wet. Likelihood of that is low. My TCH is now going through its second winter and we average in the -20s and we have -40s during some part of winter as well with no problems at all here.
I have heard terror stories of trying to jump start the battery. Any suggestions?
Thank you
Just a clarification, you are pressing the regular brake pedal (not the parking brake) when pressing the START button, right? Any messages in the display that is in the speedometer?
Thanks for tips.
"AGM batteries typically do last longer than regular lead-acid batteries. The usual failure mode of a lead-acid battery happens when a plate warps enough to touch an adjacent plate, creating a short. The plates of an AGM battery are separated by fiberglass mat, which prevents them from shorting. Because shorting is prevented, the typical failure mode of an AGM battery is chemical, and failure is gradual instead of sudden.
AGM batteries typically retain the hydrogen and oxygen inside the case, and recombine it to water, so they don't lose water. However, they also have overpressure valves to release the gas, when there is too much gas to hold. The gas venting occurs during periods of heavy gas-generation, which occurs during rapid or over charging. Gas production is increased by high ambient temperature.
If you keep the batteries in temperature-controlled space, and never rapid-charge or over-charge, AGM batteries can last many years. In some communications systems "float" applications, for example, AGM batteries are scheduled to be replaced at 20 years, though premature failures do occur. But, if you over-heat and over-charge the battery, it can still "boil" the water, and failure can occur in a very short time.
So, the life expectancy of an AGM battery depends on the usage, not the calendar. In automotive usage, in a particular model of vehicle, I expect the battery life depends on how smart the engineers were in designing the charging system. For TCH, we probably don't have enough history to know that, yet."
Since I am still coming to terms with the key-less starter, it could be that I left the car on. However, I read in the manual that the car is supposed to shut down after an hour of staying 'on' with no driving.
Everything worked fine after I jump started it - (Of course, I lost my mileage history and bluetooth presets).
Is the battery a 'lemon', or should I give it some more time to charge up?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
The 12v is used primarily to keep the ECUs powered.
Can you please tell me how AAA jump started your vehicle? My Camry Hybrid is totally dead. You push the power and it is green but nothing goes on. No dash lights, window don't work, no radio.
I called service (I'm in Europe) and they were going to start from the front under the hood. But the manual says to jump start it with the 12V in the trunk. So, I decided to wait.
Can you please tell me how they jump started the car??????
Help!!
Thanks.
Barbara
The dealer here told me to call road service and have them jump start it from under the hood and bring the car in. But the manual says to jump start from the 12V in the trunk.
Please help. I don't want them to cause more damage.
Barbara
The 12v was jump started per the manual and everything was working fine, I just went to get the battery re-charged.
We are in Europe and they said to import a 12V for the TCH from the states is 700E. They said maybe the battery will die again, and we should get a new one.
Is this really necessary?????
Advice????
hope this helps.
If you do not have any clue about what to do, call AAA.