Blew a fuse, twice

Owning two Prius, I bought a 12V tire air pump many years ago to keep our Prius tires properly inflated. But our new beagle dog decided everything was a chew toy. She chewed open the canvas carry case and then started on the wires by the plug. It looked OK but the third tire, it blew the cigarette lighter fuse. No problem, 2003 Prius:

• fuse easy to see and remove
• heat-shrink, snip-snip, solder solved

So two weeks ago, Firestone corrected a tire alignment problem but per usual, they less-flated the tires. No problem, hooked up the pump and it blew the fuse in our 2010 Prius:

• fuses are nearly impossible to see - had to use cell phone photos
• nearly impossible to remove by fingers

This was the new short:

• one rubber footer missing
• beagle teeth marks
• that little blue b*st*rd is the fuse (NOTE: the engine compartment has a fuse removal tool)

I'm at work and not really in a position to disassemble and heat-shrink repair. Then I remembered, I had the solution at hand:

Similar to JB Weld, I had some of these in my desk.

I prepared the wire using a small flat screw-driver:

I took care to make sure no wire whiskers shorts. Then mixing the epoxy, I fixed the power cable:

I also moved one of the three remaining rubber feet to that end to minimize future mechanical stress.

Lessons learned:

• 2010 Prius cabin fuses - WHAT A TERRIBLE DESIGN
  • impossible to see without a mirror (or small child)
  • impossible to remove without claw-like nails
  • obscure fuse removal tool located in engine compartment fuse box
  • manual does not show which side is toward driver and side toward door or center (my manual does now!)
  • expensive fuses ($1 each) at local autoshop (not a common, cheap part)
• Next to duct tape, epoxy holds the world together

Now to figure out how to replace the wheel cover that was not seated by the Firestone tech. <GERRR>

Bob Wilson

 

Probably too late for the Gen 4.

Bob Wilson