2001 Prius inverter replacement

Here is a post I found elsewhere about active ingredients in various coolant flush agents. Maybe you could spoon some of the jelly out of your reservoir into some small dishes and check some variety of flush agents to see whether there's one that dissolves it effectively, and maybe test the agent on some aluminium also to see how quickly it goes after the metal, if at all. If you find something that makes quick work of the jelly and isn't aggressive to the aluminium then you've probably got a good chance of success using it to flush the inverter/tranny loop, then flushing that out well with distilled water, then refilling with the proper 50% mix of Toyota LLC (or the newer SLLC as some prefer - I think the SLLC comes pre-diluted, so you use it straight).

While flushing, you might want to get some extra hose and try swapping connections around to force fluid backwards through the inverter passages, radiator, etc. As long as the electric pump is still working you can probably use it to circulate the stuff.

You have to be prepared to spend some time on bleeding all the air out of the system, but it isn't horrible, just a bit tedious. I did mine a year ago.

-Chap

 

Reading this thread has got me curious about my coolant. Is there a difference between Toyota long life coolant and Toyota Super long life coolant, if so can either be used? Cheers

 

Yes but one requires dilution. The cheaper one is used straight.

Bob Wilson

 

Toyota Long Life Coolant has a red color, must be mixed with distilled water, and has a 30K mile service life.

Toyota Super Long Life Coolant has a pink color, is premixed, and has a 50K mile service life. The dealer parts dept price per gallon is usually about the same as LLC; hence the actual price of SLLC is 2x LLC since LLC's volume is doubled after you add the distilled water.

Either can be used.

 

I think you got SLLC and LLC backwards. This may have been true in the past, but my understanding the price of SLLC LLC now is $31.72 and LLC SLLC $21.69.

 

Wow, given that pricing, then SLLC effectively costs ~3x LLC. You need to buy two gallons of SLLC to end up with the equivalent of one gallon of LLC plus distilled water (and a gallon of distilled water at your local supermarket might cost $1 or so.)

In rough numbers:

2 gallons of SLLC x $32 = $64
1 gallon of LLC at $22 plus 1 gallon of distilled water at $1 = $23

$64 / $23 = 2.8

 

Wait, I got those backwards, just fixed it. sorry

 

2 gallons of SLLC x $22 = $44
1 gallon of LLC at $32 plus 1 gallon of distilled water at $1 = $33

$44 / $33 = 1.33

Rated service life of SLLC: 50K miles
Rated service life of LLC: 30K miles

50K / 30K = 1.67

So, if you use SLLC you pay 33% more and in return get 67% more service life. A no-brainer to use SLLC.

 

Plus, SSLC is de-ionized. I'm not sure the store bought distilled water is. By the way, there is a TSB stating they are interchangeable.