Suddenly hit with multiple warning lights!

FYI: It's unlikely the inverter will be damaged on pump failure. The inverter will scale back power on overheat, and if it gets to a critical level, it will shutdown the drive.

If anyone else reads this and experiences the same problem, it's likely driving carefully and slowly will get you to a safe place with the car still running ok. If it's in summer, turn off the A/C to help keep the engine compartment cooler.

 

My experience was that the A/C compressor shut down automatically. Lack of A/C helps reduce the inverter load and encourages the driver to make the trip as short as possible

I agree that fail safes will kick in before the inverter or transaxle MGs are damaged. The main risk is being stranded once the 12V battery is drained for lack of charging from the DC-DC converter.

 

That makes sense, did you also observe the DC/DC shutdown? I would think that would be a bad idea. The car won't run long without it!

 

I didn't think to check if it shut down, but there are so many stories here about dead batteries after a P0A93 that it makes sense. I don't think the engineer who handled the inverter fail safes talked to the engineer who spec'd a motorcycle battery for the 12V.

 

My 2008 with 32K and a good battery did the EXACT same thing yesterday as the first post on this thread describes as I arrived for work. Not having access to you guys I actually called my dealer after it happened and was told the car was okay to drive as long as none of the hazard lights were flashing? I had to drive 35mi to get home. I noticed that only the check engine light along with the triangle was on when I started compared to all three when I had parked. About 25mi into it both the VCS and brake lights came back on and the cruise wouldn't work. There must be some kind of load shedding circuit as has been said. Its a 10mi downhill drive to the dealer this morning so will take yet another chance. Not sure I would have driven it had I known it was possibly the inverter pump but dammit that's why I called for advice in the first place. Car was certified used and I got the extended warranty so we'll see what happens.

 

I'll add this to my long list of things to check sometime, but I would be surprised if the DC/DC shuts down. It's somewhere around 1kw, whereas the boost converter is ~20kw, and the drive inverters are over twice that!

As you pointed out, the tiny Prius battery would not keep the car in ready very long (with it's heavy electronics load) in the event the DC/DC was offline.

 

I hope it works out for you. The IC pump is a recall item so the repair should be free, though they may want you to replace the 12V battery. Now, if they try to tell you that you need a new ABS computer or something, be very, very suspicious. They may try to diagnose and repair what should be non-existent brake system problems. See this thread for a mis-diagnosis story.

 

Well it was the pump. Not under recall for 2008 but still under warranty. Advisor said he'd seen "several" 2008+ with this so he wonders if they (toyota) will extend the pump recall.

 

Oh, I forgot to look to see which year yours was. BUT!!! This is also a powertrain warranty item, covered by 5 year/60,000 miles, for the newer cars. Given that they started using an updated part in ...2007...? it is very interesting that this failed for you.

 

We just had the same thing happen on our 2006 Prius with 105K miles. coasted into a Sonic parking lot just 40 miles short of our destination, luckily less than a block from a dealership. The culprit was inverter pump, which we discovered was a recall so Toyota took care of the replacement of the pump. They also replaced the recalled accelerator issue, AND paid for the tow. We went from biting our nails and looking up savings accounts to pay for a hefty hybrid system overhaul bill to high fives and sighs of relief! Hope this post helps anyone looking for resolution - we discovered this site from I-30 last night when the warning lights flashed

 

The DC/DC converter does shut down when the inverter overheats. Evidence of this is the skid control ECU lighting up the ABS, VSC, and ((!)) warning lights and posting low 12V bus voltage DTC when this happens.

This is another reason why Prius owners need to keep the 12V battery in excellent condition, so that in the event of a DC/DC converter failure, the battery can power the electrical systems for a brief period until the owner can bring the car to a safe stopping place.

 

I wonder if that's what's wrong with my car