Help!prius Won't Start After Recently Flooding

RViji · May 17, 2016

Hi, I am posting on behalf of a relative with a 2013 Prius. His car was in a parking lot where water came up about wheel-high from back, and he got water inside boot. He has managed to get his car home safely, and he had to go through a couple places with some water in the road. At night he got out most of the water , and put some clothes/papers inside to soak up some moisture.

Today, The keyless entry worked, he got inside and went to start it, and then it flashed the check engine light and some other light(VSC).. The check engine light stayed on for a minute or two, and then went out.But Now the car is completely dead.

Does anyone know if he just need a jumpstart, or if something else might be wrong? Is jumpstart safe,if there is still water inside hi voltage system? I read somewhere that HV battery is not completely water proof. Since water came from back,it is unlikely that cylinders have water....

Vengeance · May 17, 2016

I'm not a Prius expert, but you will be doing more bad than good by trying to start a vehicle which water went in to, specially a car like Prius as it has many electronics and a HV battery (even though its in a strong casing). Electronics and water don't mix that well.

Better to have the car inspected by a Prius expert before attempting to re-start it again or have the car towed to the agents.

Edited May 17, 2016 by maxxarox

Quiet · May 17, 2016

I know Honda has a sort of breaker which trips in scenarios such as an accident to the rear or flood. Vehicle need to be re set. Do not know if same applies to Toyota

RViji · May 17, 2016

Yes,i think its also the hi voltage system,since some 12v functions are still alive? asked him not to jumpstart. Problem is car is @ Weligama, Know any such experts in down south?

Edited May 17, 2016 by RViji

AbeysinghE · May 17, 2016

I know same incident happened few years back when it was raining very heavily to a Doctor I know. He had packed his Prius in Kurunegala Hospital parking and water came up to the same height as you mentioned. He started the car and drove back to home and his car got completely dead after that..Car even couldn't move as it cannot be neutral as Prius (His one was Second Gen) cannot be neutral while it's turned off. He had to tow the car to Toyota Lanka to reset.

RViji · May 17, 2016

Only at Toyota agent? Did he also need to replace electric parts?Any special weak points to consider? Damn,he should have known hybrids and flood is no good combination...

AbeysinghE · May 17, 2016

As I know, there are a lot of electronics in the Prius. If my memory is correct I think I can remember that he told me there are like 29 computers and ECU s in the car . If any one of those gets damaged due to water, troubleshooting process and replacing electronic parts can be very expensive as well. I don't remember which parts he replaced..But I'm sure he spent quite a lot on that. But this may not be the same case in your incident. better to have a check with the agents to be in safe side.

Edited May 17, 2016 by AbeysinghE

AbeysinghE · May 17, 2016

On 5/17/2016 at 11:45 AM, AbeysinghE said:
Sorry...double post

Edited May 17, 2016 by AbeysinghE

RViji · May 17, 2016

Computers mounted outside cabin are usually IPX water proof with sealing. I think this must be something else like external short circuit in the harness,HV battery damaging some computer component like FET..But first he will wait until it dries up a bit more and try again

trinity · May 17, 2016

If it's near Weligama, best place around there is Samarasinghe Motors Matara.

Muditha420 · May 17, 2016

may i know why your friend insist on waiting it to dry n trying to restart it again by himself when he could do more harm than good. I hope he has deep pockets coz towing will be cheaper to agents than replacing ECU's n electronics.

RViji · May 17, 2016

He wants to wait "until water dries up",and try to start the normal way. S*rasinghe is hugely overrated IMO.These days They are better off repairing Altos,not willing to spend time to diagnose something. I was more hoping for some independent hybrid expert.

Vengeance · May 17, 2016

The damage that has been done is already done, waiting till the water dries up and starting the car will not reduce the damage. If it was a 90s car with more mechanical parts than electrical, then allowing it to dry up probably would work, but for a Prius this is not the case.

Your friend is risking even more damage by attempting to start the car, the car has probably shut itself down to minimize the damage.

Attempting to start will allow current to flow through the circuits which will end up frying any components that been shorted out due to water. If he still wants to try, make sure he has some extra cash in hand as fixing a shorted Prius ain't gonna be cheap

Edited May 17, 2016 by maxxarox

RViji · May 17, 2016

The owner was planning to sell it anyway and go for a normal petrol car since savings were not much for his highway commute and worries about ageing battery status.So it seems he is reluctant to spend on repairing anything at this stage and first hope/see if it will heal by itself once the water is evaporated. I doubt a normal battery reset will even solve the error messages though...BTW any chance the doctor fellow got some compensation from insurance,or does it cover only external /physical damage ?

Edited May 17, 2016 by RViji

carboy2011 · May 18, 2016

On 5/17/2016 at 7:23 PM, RViji said:
The owner was planning to sell it anyway and go for a normal petrol car since savings were not much for his highway commute and worries about ageing battery status.So it seems he is reluctant to spend on repairing anything at this stage and first hope/see if it will heal by itself once the water is evaporated. I doubt a normal battery reset will even solve the error messages though...BTW any chance the doctor fellow got some compensation from insurance,or does it cover only external /physical damage

Ok folks stay away from such cars advertised in future as 'carefully maintained','sparingly used' on autolanka or the 'quick lk 'site

Kavvz · May 18, 2016

On 5/17/2016 at 8:45 AM, RViji said:
Hi, I am posting on behalf of a relative with a 2013 Prius. His car was in a parking lot where water came up about wheel-high from back, and he got water inside boot. He has managed to get his car home safely, and he had to go through a couple places with some water in the road. At night he got out most of the water , and put some clothes/papers inside to soak up some moisture.
Today, The keyless entry worked, he got inside and went to start it, and then it flashed the check engine light and some other light(VSC).. The check engine light stayed on for a minute or two, and then went out.But Now the car is completely dead.

Does anyone know if he just need a jumpstart, or if something else might be wrong? Is jumpstart safe,if there is still water inside hi voltage system? I read somewhere that HV battery is not completely water proof. Since water came from back,it is unlikely that cylinders have water....

On 5/17/2016 at 2:19 PM, RViji said:
Computers mounted outside cabin are usually IPX water proof with sealing. I think this must be something else like external short circuit in the harness,HV battery damaging some computer component like FET..But first he will wait until it dries up a bit more and try again

On 5/17/2016 at 6:15 PM, RViji said:
He wants to wait "until water dries up",and try to start the normal way. S*rasinghe is hugely overrated IMO.These days They are better off repairing Altos,not willing to spend time to diagnose something. I was more hoping for some independent hybrid expert.

Come again? Is the bugger restarting a cellphone that has water damage or a car worth 55 lakhs + ?

hrm · May 18, 2016

Wouldn't an Insurance with flood cover pay the damages? Couple of hybrids I know had the same issue during these rain soaked days and a Sportage too had to be towed.

Pericles · May 18, 2016

Ah, Toyota owners mentality

Rumesh88 · May 18, 2016

The HV system is isolated from other parts of the car for safety reasons. If the insulation breaks down due to water ingress the system will be shutdown as a safety measure and a fault code will be stored for reference. I do not think it has caused any severe damage to the electronics. Get it scanned preferably at the agents and the insulation break down rectified.

gayanath · May 18, 2016

On 5/17/2016 at 7:23 PM, RViji said:
BTW any chance the doctor fellow got some compensation from insurance,or does it cover only external /physical damage

If any car has full insurance, then the very first thing should have to do is take the car to any nearest safe place without starting and call insurance. (BTW now this step has gone but still your friend can inform it to the insurance but I don't know how he could prove the incident). As I know, they will pay for not only electronics, mechanical damages, but also for cleaning and drying cost. One of my friend got a reasonable claim even for upholstery cleaning few years back.

Edited May 18, 2016 by gayanath

osanda19 · May 18, 2016

I don't know whether this is a true or not.beacuse I haven't face a such a situation.

One of my mechanic(he repair hybrids too) told me that there is hybrid safety system which is checks shorts for hybrid system each time we start the vehicle.onece it detect a short.its completely shutdown the system for 24 hrs..

hrm · May 18, 2016

On 5/18/2016 at 5:42 AM, gayanath said:
If any car has full insurance, then the very first thing should have to do is take the car to any nearest safe place without starting and call insurance. (BTW now this step has gone but still your friend can inform it to the insurance but I don't know how he could prove the incident). As I know, they will pay for not only electronics, mechanical damages, but also for cleaning and drying cost. One of my friend got a reasonable claim even for upholstery cleaning few years back.

Now Insurance guys started asking for Police reports even in such situations as our Joes put already damaged cars on water asking for claim. Happened to one of my friends.

Jor-el · May 18, 2016

On 5/18/2016 at 7:00 AM, hrm said:
Now Insurance guys started asking for Police reports even in such situations as our Joes put already damaged cars on water asking for claim. Happened to one of my friends.

Heh, that's nothing compared to this sh*t

On 12/14/2012 at 7:10 PM, Warlord said:
Let me tell you guys a funny story.
One of me good friends had his car struck in the middle of the road one night. Being quite helpless with no one and the engine being stubborn as ever , he called the insurance guys, to check whether he can get some roadside assistance. Yes, correct insurance turned down saying that they have only the basic equip and advised him to tow the car to the agent.

Next morning the car is dismantled and the technos find that the car is attcked by a rodent. As it is a natural disaster he calls the insurance guys, whom reply to him that he needs to go to the police station and lodge an entry saying that the car was damaged by a rodent. So , the innocent person my friend is , asks the insurance guy whom to be named as the plaintiff? The mouse????? This learnered representative continously mentions that unless he receives a copy of the entry "nothing doing".

So, my friend goes to the police station and states that he needs to lodge an entry about the rodent messing with the car and the whole station erupts in to laughter. They become so polite to ask the name , address and the ID no of the mouse as well ... My friend being the butt of jokes of the hour again calls the insurance guy who as a dumb oaf refuses to honor the claim without an entry. he says "i don't care how you do it, but get it done".

Finally , one of his colleagues manages to pull some strong strings and forces the police station to write an entry on a car they never even knew existed, and the entry copy is released and thus the claim being honored.

This is a 100% true story. I don't want to name the company here, but it is one of the two biggest motor insurers in the country once owned by a tycoon, who got in to a mega mess afterwards.

This is the plight of us poor motorists.

gayanath · May 18, 2016

On 5/17/2016 at 8:45 AM, RViji said:
Hi, I am posting on behalf of a relative with a 2013 Prius. His car was in a parking lot where water came up about wheel-high from back, and he got water inside boot. He has managed to get his car home safely, and he had to go through a couple places with some water in the road. At night he got out most of the water , and put some clothes/papers inside to soak up some moisture.
Today, The keyless entry worked, he got inside and went to start it, and then it flashed the check engine light and some other light(VSC).. The check engine light stayed on for a minute or two, and then went out.But Now the car is completely dead.

Does anyone know if he just need a jumpstart, or if something else might be wrong? Is jumpstart safe,if there is still water inside hi voltage system? I read somewhere that HV battery is not completely water proof. Since water came from back,it is unlikely that cylinders have water....

Found below in priuschat.

Quote ...

I live in Northwest Florida where it had a flash flood yesterday. My car was in a parking lot where water backed up about wheel-high, and I got a bunch of water inside. I managed to get my car home safely, though I had to go through a couple places with some water buildup. I got out most of the water last night, and put rice inside to soak up some moisture.

Today, my car won't start. The keyless entry worked, I got inside and went to start it, and then it flashed the check engine light and the snowflake light. I'm not sure about others, but I know those two came on. The check engine light stayed on for a minute or two, and then went out. Now the car is completely unresponsive.

Does anyone know if I just need a jumpstart, or if something else might be wrong? I parked on a upward slope with the intention of getting the water to pool backwards, but I wonder if it did something to the battery? Any help would be hugely appreciated.

....Unquote.

The wordings are almost same with your post except few and "He" has used alternatively for "I". Are you seriously referring true case or just post this to check the knowledge of AL users.?

If your case is true, then sorry for misunderstanding.

Edited May 18, 2016 by gayanath

RViji · May 18, 2016

Yes,too lazy to type all details.during a search about this issue,I found a case which exactly described my relatives situation of flash flooding from the road when parked with back side in a slope towards road. And find and replace function in Word is really handy to save time.

About insurance: I think these guys need to be reasonable.because the damned thing did not fail right after the flooding,but next day after driving home..

Muditha420 · May 18, 2016

LOL... true post or not i love the mentality or stupidity of this Prius owner...cheapskate too... this is why u see so many cars up on sale with chassis damages n what nots... i felt sorry for the dude before but not anymore i hope the repair is expensive enough to hurt that stinking wallet of his. Even the next car he buys will be treated as that.

Certain place checked one of these chassis damaged Aquas and it was advertised here not too long ago... highway at high speeds would eventually weaken these cars n a pretty major accident imminent just coz of greed an innocent family could die. Hopefully this guy will buy a car just like this n learn a good lesson