Prius Intermittent Electrical Interruption

I'm running into an electrical issue with my 2020 Toyota Prius hybrid, currently at 175635 km. I'm seeing an intermittent interruption of the Terminal 30 continuous positive feed. The main symptom is the car's starting performance is noticeably worse. I think it might be a dead auxiliary battery. I checked the fuse box and wiring for damage, and the voltage drop test seems normal. Has anyone else seen this and have any ideas?

4 comment(s)

Sounds like a headache! I had something similar happen with my old BMW 3 Series. The car would crank slowly, and sometimes not at all. I also thought it might be the battery, but it turned out to be a circuit breaker tripping intermittently. Have you checked those?

Thanks for the quick reply. Which circuit breaker are you talking about? Was it related to the charging system, or something else? Where was it located?

Yeah, it was a pain to track down. From what I remember, it was tied into the main power distribution. I’m not familiar with the Prius layout, but in the BMW it was near the main fuse box under the hood. Honestly, at that point I just took it to a workshop; tracing electrical faults can get messy real quick.

Thanks for the advice. I took the car to the workshop, and it was the 12V battery – dead as I thought. Repair cost was 290€.

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