kithmo

English Pr- eye-uss for me. 😉

Had a bit of a surprise parking sensor malfunction warning today. I drove the missus to a hospital appointment and parked up, no problem. When I came out to go home I put the car in Ready mode and when I selected "D" the brakes slammed on and I got a picture of the car on the MFD with a big red bar across the front and a loud continuous bleep, suggesting there was something close, in front of the car. I put it back in "P" and got out to check and make sure there wasn't anything there, there wasn't so I wiped the front sensors, got back in the car and selected "D" again, same thing. I was thinking, how do I get out of this, I had reversed in to the parking space and thought I was stuck not being able to go forward. I thought I would try to drive forward and lo and behold it let me, releasing the brakes, I'm assuming the accelerator over rides the brakes with manual input. As I started driving along the display changed to a picture of the car with the sensors greyed out and a message saying clean the parking sensors (no indication of which ones). I stopped off on the way home for some breakfast and wiped all the other side and back sensors, came back and set off, no message, I thought great, then it came on again, this time as I was driving, so I drove home and was thinking of phoning the dealer. I then went out again a little later and thought, I'll clean the front badge in case it's something to do with the radar and as I was wiping the badge I noticed the two black sensors on the front, just under the top grill, which I had forgotten about/not noticed and there was a huge blob of water on one of them which I wiped off, went out and no warnings, problem solved. There was a lot of rain last night and I can only think that the sensor was dry when I first set out and the water had run down off the front when I parked up at the hospital. 👍

I had this once with the Gen 3 I had, it was overflowing down the breather pipe on to the back wheel. After than I never did a "second click" fill just stopped at the first and it never happened again.

And make sure you can crack open the filler plug BEFORE draining. 😉

Googled: Prius (click on "Prius" for link)

It's just a card holder, When I had the gen 3, I used to put my AA card in there.

The Prius is not a stop start system, the ICE is started by the HV battery not the 12v.

Ditto, Auto or off. the only adjustments I make to temperature are set it to 21 during the Winter and 19 Summer. Can't remember if the Prius+ has controls on the MFD via the steering wheel buttons, the Gen 4 does, although it's probably quicker to use the buttons on the climate unit.

My Fuelly sig shows over 4 years I get over 55 mpg all local, 2-3 mile, short journeys and without trying, I just drive it normally. I doubt if my ICE even gets warmed up during winter. Show me any petrol or diesel 1.8 litre automatic that can do that.

Don't give up just yet, I had a similar thing with a 12v mobility scooter battery, charger cut off after a while, as if battery wasn't taking a charge, I let it rest then tried again. It took 3 attempts to get it to charge. The mobility battery works fine when in use but doesn't hold it's charge for more than a couple of weeks when stood. It's worth a try until you can get a new battery sorted, nothing to lose.

I would not go anywhere near the hybrid battery terminals and I cannot see the need to connect the negative to anything other than the body or engine. This is what my manual says for the negative terminal: Connect the clamp at the other end of the negative cable to a solid, stationary, unpainted metallic point away from the 12-volt battery and any moving parts Absolutely no mention of connecting it to the hybrid battery terminal. 😒

If you prefer not to leave it connected, the Ctek will tell you when it's charged when all the leds except the last one light up. Mine (the 3.8A version) usually takes about 5 hours on average to get to this "float" stage depending how low the 12v is.

It may jump to 14v on initial start up. if it stays at 14v and doesn't settle down to 12v after a run then I would say it indicates the charging system is working overtime to keep a failing battery charged up.

The Ctek battery charger/conditioner has an AGM setting.

No problems with my 12v after 4 years 2 months of nearly all short journeys. But I do put my Ctek conditioner on it every 6 weeks or so. I have a battery meter permanently connected via the 12v power socket and interestingly, usually when the battery is getting low, in ready mode the car charges at just over 14v whereas just after I've conditioned it it charges at just over 12v. The 14v reading gives me an indication it's time to put the charger on.