just had the strangest request

-
trapster

trapster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
2,775
Reaction score
398
Location
Central Florida
A women in a prius asked me if I had jumper cables and that her car wouldn't start. I tried to help her but when she opened the hood nothing in there looked like a battery or for that matter an engine. I felt sorry for her but since I didn't have cables anyway ther was not much I could do. She had 2 kids in the car and she said her husband was one his way so I left.

I am pretty sure that car was not going anywhere without a tow truck since they run on batteries for the first few miles an hour. So jumping it is not going to fix the problem.
 
She got what she paid for.
 
My friend has a Prius and we had the same problem ....

you open the hood and on the driver side is a fuse block ....you take the cover off the fuse block and there is a tab with a little red cover with a plus sign on it .....slip that cover off and that is the positive terminal .....then you hook up the negative cable to a good ground such as the engine mount bolt or somewhere metal and jump it like a regular car.

they give you the tab in the fuse block because the battery is in the trunk and that avoids taking half the car apart

I jump started her car with my dart like any other car...a lot of new cars have battery "tabs" under the hood because a lot of them have batteries in the trunks or under the back seats these days.
 
RaniDart70 said:
My friend has a Prius and we had the same problem ....

you open the hood and on the driver side is a fuse block ....you take the cover off the fuse block and there is a tab with a little red cover with a plus sign on it .....slip that cover off and that is the positive terminal .....then you hook up the negative cable to a good ground such as the engine mount bolt or somewhere metal and jump it like a regular car.

they give you the tab in the fuse block because the battery is in the trunk and that avoids taking half the car apart

I jump started her car with my dart like any other car...a lot of new cars have battery "tabs" under the hood because a lot of them have batteries in the trunks or under the back seats these days.
Click to expand...

Very interesting!! You never cease to amaze me Rani!!
 
Also they will not run without at least an 1/8th of a tank of gas
 
RaniDart70 said:
My friend has a Prius and we had the same problem ....

you open the hood and on the driver side is a fuse block ....you take the cover off the fuse block and there is a tab with a little red cover with a plus sign on it .....slip that cover off and that is the positive terminal .....then you hook up the negative cable to a good ground such as the engine mount bolt or somewhere metal and jump it like a regular car.

they give you the tab in the fuse block because the battery is in the trunk and that avoids taking half the car apart

I jump started her car with my dart like any other car...a lot of new cars have battery "tabs" under the hood because a lot of them have batteries in the trunks or under the back seats these days.
Click to expand...

So another car with batteries you can't get to without taking half the car apart. Boy what engineers we have working for car manufacturers now days.
 
RaniDart70 said:
My friend has a Prius and we had the same problem ....

you open the hood and on the driver side is a fuse block ....you take the cover off the fuse block and there is a tab with a little red cover with a plus sign on it .....slip that cover off and that is the positive terminal .....then you hook up the negative cable to a good ground such as the engine mount bolt or somewhere metal and jump it like a regular car.

they give you the tab in the fuse block because the battery is in the trunk and that avoids taking half the car apart

I jump started her car with my dart like any other car...a lot of new cars have battery "tabs" under the hood because a lot of them have batteries in the trunks or under the back seats these days.
Click to expand...


Didn't see a motor or anything under there that wasn't plastic. but if I understand what you are saying is that there is a separate battery to start the car from the battery that drives the electric motor. I guess that makes since, sort of.
 
About a month ago I gave a jump start to a young lady with two little ones in the back seat. She had an Isuzu SUV, less than two years old. It took a bit of time but I eventually found the battery under some plastic covers and got her running.

FYI - I was a lead engineer at Chrysler for advanced design. The reason batteries are located in inconvenient places is for improved energy management (that geek speak for impact). The battery is big, heavy and it dids not crush very much at all so it's a solid block during an "event". Safety always trumps serviceability.
 
I always assumed that the battery was placed away from the heat source to increase the longevity of it.
 
I think someone sits at the drawing board and says, "Humm, Let's put the battery in some weird place that no one can get to. That way they will bring it back to the dealer for a battery, and we can charge them three times as much as a battery should cost." Then all the bean counters say, "Yeah! Yeah! Good idea."
 
i have a prius and was explained that they have a standard battery that runs much of the electronics including starts, and the hybrid battery that runs the electric motor, why they are separate circuits is beyond me. give me the push start cars any day.
 
Alot of cars have the battery behind the left front inner fender..Note the hybrid batteries put out 720 volts and can kill so if you are not trained to work on these vehicles it would probably be a good idea to leave them alone..There are schools just to train fire departments and tow truck opperators how to deal with hybrids...Bill
 
My wife drives a Prius and they will discharge over the course of several days of no use. I actually left it at the airport for an extended business trip and had to get a jump when I returned. I'm glad the sales guy explained it to me when she bought it or may still be looking for the battery under the hood.

Great car for commuting in but a piece of S for a road trip.
 
We work on them all the time. You have to jump start the proper battery of course. I have replaced the starting battery on several of them. I won't touch the hybrid system, though we put a tranny in a Honda Hybrid once.
 
parishpbs said:
My wife drives a Prius and they will discharge over the course of several days of no use. I actually left it at the airport for an extended business trip and had to get a jump when I returned. I'm glad the sales guy explained it to me when she bought it or may still be looking for the battery under the hood.

Great car for commuting in but a piece of S for a road trip.
Click to expand...

I do not understand paying extra for a car I have to jump after leaving it for a few days. Give me a break!
 
RaniDart70 said:
My friend has a Prius and we had the same problem ....

you open the hood and on the driver side is a fuse block ....you take the cover off the fuse block and there is a tab with a little red cover with a plus sign on it .....slip that cover off and that is the positive terminal .....then you hook up the negative cable to a good ground such as the engine mount bolt or somewhere metal and jump it like a regular car.

they give you the tab in the fuse block because the battery is in the trunk and that avoids taking half the car apart.
Click to expand...

Lots of newer cars are like that, including many Chryslers. Think about it - how would you jump a dead car with a trunk mount battery and solenoid-operated deck lid without the positive terminal up front?

A a regular 12V lead-acid battery is completely different than the batteries hybrids have.
 
rmchrgr said:
Lots of newer cars are like that, including many Chryslers. Think about it - how would you jump a dead car with a trunk mount battery and solenoid-operated deck lid without the positive terminal up front?

A a regular 12V lead-acid battery is completely different than the batteries hybrids have.
Click to expand...

I understand that, but you would think that if the lead acid battery was dead you would think there would be a way to jump it from the hybrid battery.
 
The last time I jump started a car.. ah.. ?... I think it was a chevy chevet.. as soon as I hooked it up to my Ramcharger and hooked up my end of the cables it just disappeared :eek:ops: It was like it sucked it up right threw my jumper cables;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top