Soldato
Fiesta, but the effect is much the same.
How to look after your car during a lockdown?
- Thread starter Psycho Sonny
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How is that even possible the roads are dead. Were they on their phone?
Soldato
Just not paying attention I think. I had to do an emergency stop because the Elliotts van you see going the other way went to overtake without looking and ended up right in my path.
So what sort of time frame is it before you need to start taking precautions for storing cars, namely increasing tyre pressures. I have two cars right now and I'm trying to alternate them for the weekly shopping trips etc, it's about a 10- 12 mile round trip, plus about 15 miles a week to drop food off at my parents, so both cars are getting use, but I'm considering if it's better to lay one up.
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it's better to use both. cars start falling apart as things start seizing if not used. not talking 1 or 2 weeks but leave a car for several months and things will be worse for it. may not show immediately but later down the line.
Soldato
Definitely best to keep using both, that sounds like ideal timing to use them and an ideal trip to keep them happy.
There are exceptions to this, my Father used this time off work as a mechanic to dig out his old Alfa 156 Selespeed that hasn't moved in about 10 years. Better known as the least reliable car on the planet, put a battery on it and it starts and drives.
Soldato
Do you have a brother called Tony?
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nm
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Soldato
Workshops are allowed to open, under government guidelines. However, some (many?) have chosen to shut. It might be to do with not being able to maintain social distancing on site, perhaps.
Soldato
The issue with sitting is the Toyota hybrids don't have a conventional lead-acid 12V battery - they use an small AGM type which powers the usual auxiliary stuff and importantly the hybrid control computers. The ICE is "cranked" using the hybrid battery to power one of the motor/generators.
If the 12V battery goes flat, it can't boot the hybrid computer so you can't drive the car. The 12V battery is located in the boot which you can't get access to if you've got keyless entry and no power. There is a jump start connector under the bonnet though.
Suggestion is that you power up the hybrid system and leave the car in park, with AC, audio, lights etc off. It'll warm the ICE up for a couple minutes as per usual then turn it off unless the hybrid battery drops below a threshold level. The hybrid battery then recharges the 12V battery. I've been making sure to run my Auris Hybrid every fortnight. Usually a trip to the supermarket and waiting around for my grocery collection at 30 minutes is plenty.
An AGM battery is just another form of a typical car battery, nothing complicated about it.
Hybrid manufacturers are probably recommending starting them to give the hybrid battery some cycling to save the warranty claims when they’ve all discharged and broken from long periods of non use.
Hybrid manufacturers are probably recommending starting them to give the hybrid battery some cycling to save the warranty claims when they’ve all discharged and broken from long periods of non use.
Soldato
Where did I say they were complicated? AGM don't deal well with a deep discharge, due to the technology.
No probably about it, Toyota issued advice via the webpage. Most of them use Ni-Mh batteries anyway so cycling isn't an issue.
Soldato
Most do. The new 2.0 Corolla engine is Li-Ion. As is the Prius PHEV.
Soldato
I covered the reason for hybrid starting in this thread earlier.
I assume they still have starter motors for instances where SoC or it’s too cold for NiMh. Battery cell unbalancing from the self discharge is probably the biggest concern from longer periods. It’s pretty much Hondas weakpoint on their battery management system as they only measure a few voltage tap points of a string of cells rather than individual.
I assume they still have starter motors for instances where SoC or it’s too cold for NiMh. Battery cell unbalancing from the self discharge is probably the biggest concern from longer periods. It’s pretty much Hondas weakpoint on their battery management system as they only measure a few voltage tap points of a string of cells rather than individual.
Soldato
No traditional starter motor on the common 1.8 Toyota. It's a bit complicated, however Motor Generator 1 functionally does the job of the alternator and starter motor on a standard ICE. Motor Generator 2 is the primary traction motor and recovers kinetic energy during braking.
When moving the car around at slow speeds, it's purely driven on the MG2.
When moving the car around at slow speeds, it's purely driven on the MG2.
Soldato
I'm going today, thanks for the reminder...
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In the wife's hybrid just now. Been 20 mins I'm waiting on her and the engine hasn't turned on once whilst parked.
So yeah lexus advice to leave it running for an hour is correct as during that time it will likely only turn on when fully drained and then for 1 charge cycle.
So yeah lexus advice to leave it running for an hour is correct as during that time it will likely only turn on when fully drained and then for 1 charge cycle.