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Unnessary to remove back seat for battery cooling fan cleaning

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by epoch_time, Jun 27, 2017.

  1. epoch_time

    epoch_time Active Member

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    I cleaned our gen III and genII battery cooling fans today.
    After reviewing youtube videos and priuschat posts (genIII). And having cleaned the cooling fan in our genII prius years ago.. It is not nessary to remove back seat to get to intake grill 12mm bolt.

    Simply compress passenger side rear seat cushion just under cooling air intake grill with your thumb.
    it only has to be compressed about 1.5 inch to revile 12 mm grill bolt.

    Follow youtube/priuschat instructions but lastly do not bother complicated rear seat removal. just press the rear seat cushion out of the way of the bottom of the intake grill for access to the 12mm bolt.

    My genIII at 48k miles was not very dirty (first an only cleaning). we drive in las vegas with windows closed 99% of the time. Occasionly carry grandchildren in back seat.

    My genII at 89k miles also was not very dirty (second cleaning) The first time I cleaned the genII prius cooling fan it was very clogged. 50% restricted at approximately 40k miles.

    My driving habbits haven't changed for genii between first and second cooling fan cleanings.
    So I'm at a loss for why the second cleaning didn't show cloggen fan blades?

    The GenII prius also does not require rear seat removal.

    When blowing out fan with compressed air do not allow the motor to spin.
    As it might be a brush-less motor. Spinning a brush-less motor will act like a generator putting reverse voltage on internal transistors and magnetic hall effect sensors shorting them out and ruining the motor.

    If the motor is a brush/commutator type is ok to let it spin. But I think not. Play it save dont spin blower motor with compressed air!
     
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    great tips and write up, thanks!(y)
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah, that's my experience too: pulling out the back seat is just making WAY more work for yourself.
     
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Maybe my standards are lower, but I thought the bolt was ok.

    -Chap
     
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  5. tonycd

    tonycd Member

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    Betcha epoch_time had spell check in use.
     
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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  7. milkman44

    milkman44 Active Member

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    Thanks to, I think it was a post by Mendel, I checked my fan without removing the rear seat, no problem compressing the seat to get a hand in there to guide the socket and get the bolt started when reassembly.
     
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  8. Eric Ho

    Eric Ho Junior Member

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    Hm..maybe I will try this next time...
     
  9. Dale Gamble

    Dale Gamble New Member

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    Just completed the removal, cleaning, and re-install of the battery cooling fan on my 2008 Prius, and I appear to have made one rather significant error - I didn't read all the forum posts before proceeding!

    As epoch_time advised at the beginning of this thread, it is not wise to spin a brushless motor to clean things, as it is apparently not good for the delicate internal electronics. Having not read this first, I used the handy compressed air to get all the grunge off of the squirrel cage fan blades and of course spun up the disconnected motor in the process.

    The re-install went smoothly, and when all was back in place and I attempted a vehicle start, I got a number of illuminated warnings including the red triangle with exclamation mark, the engine check, and the hybrid system warning light in the upper left corner of the MFD, and the car will not start.

    Everything was working prior to my little adventure, so my best guess based on my belated further reading is that I have a nice clean fan with a cooked blower motor. I guess its a trip to the auto wreckers to seek a replacement, but thought I'd post this as a cautionary tale and also to ask if there's any way I can override the warning systems and safely drive the car for a day or two (to go find the part). Current daytime high temperatures here are around 7 - 9 degrees C.
     
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  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Thanks for the warning. I've used air on mine and (naturally) it spun some, but it survived. I found it unecessary to completely remove the fan for cleaning. Or more honestly, was struggling as to how to remove it, so just cleaned it without complete removal. I found Q-Tip very effective, passing along one blade gap at a time. Mine's a third gen, so maybe not that relevant.

    One thought: did you remove the hybrid battery switch? If so, maybe not reinstalled completely? It would be great if it were something that simple causing the problem.
     
  11. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    When I removed the fan to clean it, I took the fan out of the car and sprayed the dirt out with a garden hose. Make sure to keep the fins from spinning.

    Pixel XL ?
     
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  12. Dale Gamble

    Dale Gamble New Member

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    I did remove the hybrid battery switch - it seemed to go back in rather easily - I'll check that.
     
  13. Dale Gamble

    Dale Gamble New Member

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    Success!
    Following Mendel's suggestion to check the orange hybrid battery switch I first did some additional searching here on the PC forum and found a short video clip showing a close-up of the orange switch and showing exactly how it is installed.

    I then retraced my steps and found that I had not properly completed the installation of the orange switch. After fixing that little problem, I disconnected the 12V negative terminal for a few minutes, then re-connected it, used the double press of the power switch, and the car started properly with no error codes and all systems working. The fuel gauge was a bit wonky at first (showing a single blinking bar), but I knew I had a nearly full tank, and within a mile or so the gauge corrected itself.

    I've also now read various threads re when the cooling fan comes on and it appears that it doesn't run until the battery reaches a certain temp. As this probably hasn't happened yet due to my short runs and cool weather, it is possible that I did damage the fan but it doesn't show up as a warning yet. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens when things warm up.

    Thanks to the various contributors who aided me with my first ever Prius monkey-wrenching!
     
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