Often when sitting at a traffic signal waiting for the light to change, the engine will stop, start up agin, stop,restart,..., every 5 - 15 seconds. Also, when first turning it on ("READY") if I don't get going right away, the engine starts up.
Is this normal behavior?
I've seen this but not very often, and not with as many cycles as you've described. For me, it's most likely to happen when the outside temperature is in the 90s, and I've assumed it's the A/C running down the battery.
Now this one's normal behavior. The engine starts up to get the catalytic converter heated.
It happens on mine with the outside temp in the 50s and the AC turned off.
That's not normal, and should be looked at. The engine should stay off if the car is stoped and the traction battery is charged (as long as the engine has been warmed up). Even with the AC (or defroster) on it should be more than 15 seconds between engine runs.
Near as we can tell, if the batteries are charged up too high, the Prius will start and stop the ICE just to bleed off some of the charge. At least, that's what seems to be happening...
What is the ICE?
Internal combustion engine.
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