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DC/DC converter malfunction

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by IDrivePrymaat, Feb 4, 2008.

  1. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    OK, your 30 mile trip should have been long enough to cause overheating, so maybe it is just a fluke that your inverter water pump failed now.

    I live at 1,100 ft elevation and commute 25 miles one-way to sea level. I also see 8 green bars on the descent routinely. Out of three Toyota hybrids, I have had two traction battery failures so far; still waiting for the battery in my 2004 w/47K miles to fail.
     
  2. IDrivePrymaat

    IDrivePrymaat Junior Member

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    Oh, yay. :mad:

    Heh, this is exactly the argument I had with Toyota of Pasadena at the 30k service (well, one of them). I stood my ground and did not get the coolant changed. Or at least, I told them not to do it and did not pay for it. I didn't inspect it myself, but I guess it's not too likely the service guys would do it anyway.
     
  3. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    DH has done a few inverter coolant pumps- that's why there is that tsb out on them. hopefully that's the end of the problem.
     
  4. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Any idea exactly what goes wrong with them? They're rather
    sophisticated little buggers, with a whole motor-control drive
    board embedded in epoxy where the power connectors come in --
    had a brief look at some crunched units at Steve's shop, but
    didn't take one apart myself. Presumably a fairly nice, durable
    brushless unit.
    .
    _H*
     
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Hi Hobbit,

    TSB EG001-07 shows that the part number G9020–47030, of the inverter water pump did not change. My guess is that a design change was made to improve durability based on failures experienced with 2004-2005 models, but the problem was not bad enough to purge regional warehouse and dealer spares inventory of remaining stock or issue a recall.
     
  6. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    DH says he couldn't tell ya. they went bad, he replaced em.
     
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Has your car been repaired yet? You might be interested in verifying that air is out of the inverter coolant loop. There are two ways to assess this when the car is IG-ON (not READY):

    1. Listen to the sound of the inverter coolant water pump, located near the driver's side headlamp. If you hear air bubbling around, this is not good. (If the car is READY, the sound produced by the inverter will hide the sound of the water pump.)

    2. Observe the level of the fluid in the reservoir. When the pump is working properly you will see a stair step in the fluid level as it is lower in the front (Classic is the reverse where the front is higher than the rear).
     
  8. IDrivePrymaat

    IDrivePrymaat Junior Member

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    Yes, it came back at about noon the same day (that was nice). It got immediately put through its paces with a 2hr roundtrip run and did fine. It's done a couple 30-60min trips since then too.
    Sure!
    No bubbling sound!
    Stairstep is present and higher at the rear!

    Let's hope I'm not back with error code of the month for April. :)
     
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Rough cost?
    Any old parts returned?

    Bob Wilson
     
  10. IDrivePrymaat

    IDrivePrymaat Junior Member

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    Sorry, I don't have much for you. This dealer only indicated the cost of $0 to me; the paperwork doesn't show what they charged to whatever part of the mothership pays for warranty repairs. And I had not checked the "return parts" box when I put the key in the drop box. My mind was more on "why am I on a Xmas tree of the month plan???" than "I can evaluate the failed part afterward."
     
  11. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    if the warranty paid for it, you will not get the parts back. however, if it's out of pocket, you can tell them you want the old part.

    it's for quality evaluation under warranty, and a quick dealer honesty-check if you're paying the bill.