3rd gen inverter pump replacement

Isn't there an extended warranty/recall on this?

 

If you loosen the inverter, will that allow you to get the hard to reach bolt?

I’d give that a shot before completely removing the inverter.

BTW, bought our 2010 in August of 2009 from mcgeorge off of west broad street when we were out in your neck of the woods.

 

The repair manual indicates that it is necessary to remove an inverter tray bracket to gain access to the inverter coolant pump, after removing the inverter. My guess is that it would be too difficult to remove the bracket without first removing the inverter.

 

I'm familiar with the 2nd gen but not the 3rd gen. I'm working on a 3rd gen & I need to change the inverter pump. Where is it? Is it inside the actual inverter or underneath? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Underneath. You should be able to find it easily by following the hoses from inverter or reservoir. (Extracting it may not be as easy as finding it, though.)

 

It involves loosening the inverter and wedging a block between the fender and the inverter to gain access.

Not easy, but the bracket that holds the pump in place is the fiddly bit.

@The Critic and I had my inverter water pump out and new one sorted in about an hour.

 

This is how you gain access.

 

Thank you! I ended up taking the inverter out & replacing the pump. But now the car goes into forward & reverse gears but won't move in reverse. 'Check hybrid system' is on the display & I'm getting trouble codes p0a40 & p0a41. These codes were there prior to the pump repair but the car was driving normally.

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How did you determine that?
Do they fail with or without warning symptoms?

 

After inverter removal, all connections are tight and everything assembled properly?

 

Check for a blown fuse and any connections that go to the transaxle.

 

When I checked the reservoir with the car in 'ready' mode, there was no movement of coolant.

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I believe so but I will certainly double check them! Thank you!

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I certainly will! I'm just not sure what I'm looking for. Also the entire engine/transmission shudders when I turn the car off.

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Probably didn't fully reseat the electrical connector carrying the motor resolver signals.

Less likely, but possible, some corrosion at those pins and they were damaged when unplugged and reconnected. But my first guess is still you need to make sure you plugged them in.

 

I'm just curious to see if you resolved your issue?

And also I'm having a hard time to find a service manual and info on gen 3 inverter coolant pump and now having a P0C73 code after I replaced head gasket and drain/refilled the inverter coolant.. perhaps I should not have do both at the same time but it seemed pretty sample, and I'm very familiar with Gen 2 Prius...

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Did you get yours done?

 

I didn't have to replace the inverter coolant pump for the Gen 3...
It had air in the inverter coolant system after performed drain and refill, and it works fine after I bleed the air out...

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After replacing inverter coolant and then you go to bleed and If air bubble get caught in lines it won't suck enough of the coolant in when you turn the car on.

The inverter coolant pump is now air locked and won't turn, reads RPM of 0 which throws an error code P0C73 for bad inverter pump and then the Engine Fan comes on. But the inverter coolant pump is probably actually fine.

First thing I did was check all the fuses which were fine. Then I wasted a few hours turning the car on and off but the coolant never got sucked in probably like on the YT video and only 1 quart went in. In hindsight I shouldn't have done this because it was dry was no coolant flowing through.

So I figured the inverter coolant pump was bad so I started to remove the inverter to get to the inverter pump, which is located underneath the inverter. For my safety I disconnected the 12V battery and also removed the orange fuse on the battery pack under the seat. Remember later when you put that orange fuse back in to push it in then slide it right or the car won't even get back to a Ready state.

I then removed 3 bolts which hold the inverter in place. I lifted the inverter up to try and get a wedge block under there and when i did I heard some coolant slosh around. What I did next was violently shake the inverter around sloshing the coolant inside. I managed to jar something lose, put it all back together and when I fired up it sucked in the coolant like the YT video shows.

Overall this was a pretty difficult procedure for me when normally changing engine coolant is pretty simple. This was the first time I ever changed inverter coolant. 255,000 miles on 2011 Prius.

I had just changed the transmission fluid which I had to use a pump to get the new trans fluid in there so i figured might as well do the inverter coolant while I have it up on jacks and with the plastic cover that has 20 push pins and 6 10mm bolts already removed. Half the work is getting that panel off without damaging too many of the pushpins.

Hope this info helps. I called the Toyota dealer they suggested I drive the car to them. I said well the Check Hybrid System light is on are you sure it is ok to drive 30 miles? Oh you better get it towed then. Yeah no kidding. It would have cost me a fortune if I went that route as they probably would have replaced the inverter coolant pump which was not even the problem.

To this vehicle so far I have also done head gasket, cv axles, struts, rear shocks and 1 rear bearing. I have new ball joints but after closer inspection they look ok and it's not making any noise up front after I just did the struts and also now the shudder is gone. I torqued down the ball joints none were really lose though. I have to do both rear bearings now, the one side I just did in November put maybe 15k miles since then.