Installing Gen 2 inverter coolant pump in 2001 Prius?

The pump is basically the same, the way it mounts is completely different. Gen2 pumps are less than $30 NIB on eBay. They come attached to the gen 2 mounting bracket. If you have some welding and fabrication skills you might be able to take the gen1 mounting bracket and weld the gen2 mounting bracket to it in a way to make it work. I’m sure you’ll have to use the gen1 pigtail as well. I haven’t tried it yet but I have a gen2 pump and had plans to test my theory but I have not as yet.

 

Correction: you will need a gen2 pigtail to splice onto the gen1 wires.

 

Here is a new one: 2001-2003 Toyota Prius Inverter Cooler Water Pump - Cooling System - Genuine 01-03 Prius Inverter Cooler Water Pump - 8124-01237968 - PartsGeek

 

And....I'm pretty sure the $30 Gen 2 pictured above is a Chinese counterfeit, so expect to replace it fairly often also..........

 

It says it ships from the US. But if your trying to be helpful, please give the man an option that you believe will last longer

 

Sounds to me like you might want to explore the possibility of some underlying issue that keeps killing the pumps. Not sure what "blowing up" means, but perhaps something about the power supply that under or overpowers it or something creating some manner of flow restrictions that overload the motors.

 

I see that the connector housing is a different shape. But are the terminals in the housing the same style?

If so, you just need the Gen 2 connector housing and you slip the terminals out of the old one and into the new one, and it plugs right in. Cuts down on cutting and splicing and possible workmanship issues compared to splicing a pigtail, and goes right back to stock if you want later.

A lot of sellers import a bunch of their offshore-built stock so they can ship from the US. It's a worthwhile thing for them to advertise, since otherwise you generally end up getting the part a couple weeks later shipped direct from China in a bag labeled rubberbands (or something with low tariffs). Or labeled as a gift.

One of these might last longer. I've seen prices at individual dealers around forty dollars less than MSRP.

If the knockoffs are just $30 it's still the same money to just buy three or four of those and keep swapping them, as long as boredom doesn't set in.

 

Chinese counterfeiting is a pretty well know issue, I think they even make counterfeits of their counterfeits...feel free to search the forum about counterfeit problems with HID lights, spark plugs, water pumps, etc. There's certain things (like $30) that should trigger common sense instincts about how long something will probably last. Does anyone buy tools at Harbor Freight thinking they'll last a lifetime? If so, I bet they get disappointed relatively quickly.

As for this....
But if your trying to be helpful, please give the man an option that you believe will last longer

A head is more than a hat rack....For a Toyota Prius, what could be an option besides a Chinese counterfeit? Oh yeah...."real" Toyota
It doesn't take much to figure that out.