starting and electric problem?

NorthernInsight · 12-02-2012, 04:29 PM

Hi,

I have a 2010 EX. I bought it lst Spring and Friday was the coldest days since I bought it. It was about 5 deg F in the AM and warmed up to about 15 during the day. My car was garaged at night, so it stayed relatively warm, but I left it out all day while I was at work.

When I went back to it to leave work, the buttons on the key would not do anything and the car did not start or attempt to turn. It seemed completely dead. I got out of the car and the alarm system went off. I may have hit the panic button by accident. Either way, I was surprised anything happened. I started the car (the 12V was used for the first time since I had the car, not the hybrid) and was good to go. The hybrid battery read completely empty. About 5-10 minutes into the drive the battery quickly jumped to full. I understand the hybrid doesn't always work that well when it is cold out, but I am wondering if anyone has any ideas why the car didn't start at all to begin with. For what it's worth, it was like all the electricity was killed to the car for a time because the radio code had to be put back in and the clock set. The 12V was new in the Spring.

Thanks for any help!

insightfulone · 12-03-2012, 10:53 PM

All the symptoms point to trouble with the 12V battery. Perhaps the terminal connections are loose or corroded. The locks not working, the alarm system flaking out (this happen on my wife's car when the battery was near dead), the clock and radio issues are all in line with a 12V failure. If the 12V is disconnected the hybrid battery will read empty when it is reconnected, as the system does not know its charge level. It will begin charging and then jump to to full when the battery control model detects the full condition, so the hybrid battery behavior is normal.

What is strange is that your 12V could start the car (12V start is normal below 4 degrees F). This points to a connection problem to me.

I would check the terminal connection to the battery, if these are good I would then check the battery. One other remote possibility, if you bought the car from a dealer, is that they left their battery cutoff device on when they sold you the car. This device shuts off the connection to the battery when the charge gets low but not dead, and there is a reset button to reconnect it to allow you to start the car.

NorthernInsight · 12-04-2012, 07:37 PM

Yeah, it is strange that it did start after everything seemed dead. It also sounds like it was a little mild out for the 12V to even need to be used, but maybe there is some play there.

There isn't any corrosion around the battery. It was put in earlier this year and looks clean. Maybe I'll stop in a parts store and have them check, but it sounded plenty powerful enough once it did start cranking. One thing I did notice was that over the positive terminal, the connection is a big solid red rectangular connector, several inches across. I remember thinking that looks strange, but figured it's just the way the car is. That wouldn't be the cutoff that your talking about, would it be?

Thanks for your help!

insightfulone · 12-05-2012, 12:28 AM

The large red connector is the normal setup. It contains some fuses so it is larger than ordinary positive connections.

**waterdog** · 01-24-2013, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthernInsight

Hi,

I have a 2010 EX. I bought it lst Spring and Friday was the coldest days since I bought it. It was about 5 deg F in the AM and warmed up to about 15 during the day. My car was garaged at night, so it stayed relatively warm, but I left it out all day while I was at work.

When I went back to it to leave work, the buttons on the key would not do anything and the car did not start or attempt to turn. It seemed completely dead. I got out of the car and the alarm system went off. I may have hit the panic button by accident. Either way, I was surprised anything happened. I started the car (the 12V was used for the first time since I had the car, not the hybrid) and was good to go. The hybrid battery read completely empty. About 5-10 minutes into the drive the battery quickly jumped to full. I understand the hybrid doesn't always work that well when it is cold out, but I am wondering if anyone has any ideas why the car didn't start at all to begin with. For what it's worth, it was like all the electricity was killed to the car for a time because the radio code had to be put back in and the clock set. The 12V was new in the Spring.

Thanks for any help!

My symptoms exactly for the past 2 days when it has been in low single digits temperatures.

The remote will not work to unlock to the car. I unlock the car with the key, start it (it starts right up with the conventional starter), the alarm goes off, I shut down the alarm (I need to shut off the car first since I can't seem to get the alarm to stop while the car is running), and restart the car. I need to enter the radio code and the battery meter shows completely empty. I drive for a while and at about the same time as the cold engine light goes out the battery meter jumps up to show a full charge and everything is back to normal. This happened yesterday and today, exactly the same way each day.

I don't know what the problem is, but I am quite certain it is not a problem with the 12V battery or the 12V battery connections.

Cobb · 01-24-2013, 01:14 PM

Me too, Me too!!!!! My case it was a loose positive battery terminal. I used a terminal shim to fix it.

**waterdog** · 01-24-2013, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobb

Me too, Me too!!!!! My case it was a loose positive battery terminal. I used a terminal shim to fix it.

OK - I will check my terminals. Maybe the service department that did my software upgrades a few weeks ago removed the terminals and did not get them back on tight enough.

Mystery to that, though, is why the car started from the 12v starter (at least that is what it sounded like to me) - both mornings.

Cobb · 01-24-2013, 06:32 PM

Either it forgot the ima soc or it was 10 degrees below 0.

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**waterdog** · 01-25-2013, 10:02 AM

I will never know for certain - last night I tightened the positive battery terminal clamp (it was a bit loose - it would spin easily, though still seemed to have good contact) and this morning the car worked fine - but it was also warmer, about 8 degrees, rather than about 2 degrees, like the two mornings it did not work. So I don't know if the fix was the warmer temperature or the tightening. If the problem was related to the loose terminal clamp, it did not show up until the temperature dropped into the low single digits, so it still seems to have something to do with the temperature.

Cobb · 01-25-2013, 11:51 AM

If it matters it was twice as cold this morning then the day I had this problem. I started with no issues.