Do people bother cleaning HV Battery air intake?

No you don't have to remove the rear seat You want to expose the right side rear quarter where the fan the plug and the ductwork is and from there you can clean all that out but I will tell you this in my very nasty 09 car where I thought for sure this duct work would be clogged full of dust just in general the condition that the interior of the car was in when I took out the right side rear quarter interior trim to look at this duct work and this fan the fan and the duct work were whistle clean black some kind of PVC type of material deduct work The fan was white plastic with a white impeller and didn't even have any dust on it like it would have if it was the blower motor for the heater up front Not a speck of dirt anywhere even the vent on the right side by the driver's seat The vent itself was dirty but the duct work and all of this related plumbing was whistle clean so I just cleaned off the diffuser or trim piece next to the seat bolster and then put it all back together until I had to finally change the battery so that duct or trim piece may look dirty but from where the air is being sucked and pulled through that airflow pretty much keeps that ductwork pretty clean use little buildup on the diffuser next to the seat bolster or literally in the fan as it's on his way out the back vent

SM-A715F ?

 

I had a mouse infestation, was afraid they might have tried to build a nest in there but the fan and ducting were clean after 12 years. I'd worry if you regularly carry dogs or cats, drive through very dusty areas, etc. Otherwise should be OK.

 

@NutzAboutBolts video shows the rear seat bottom being pulled out. I don't see this as being necessary: there's one bolt (12 mm socket size IIRC) that needs to be removed, in behind the seat, in order to remove the narrow seat back section with the inlet grill. With a socket on an extension (6" minimum IIRC), you can push apart the seat bottom and back, reach through and access that bolt. Do be careful not to drop it; might be hard to fish out then.

 

+1 I sit on the ground and open a little space between upper and lower seat with my hand and you can see that 12 mm bolt clearly. Just loosen with ratchet and extension, pop off the ratchet and turn extension slowly until bolt is free. Carefully pull extension out and put finger on bolt as soon as as you can. Narrow seat piece hangs on a hook, just push it up and it’s out.

 

If you just uncover the battery the right side interior trim you see all the ductwork now take your air hose if you have such a thing and blow through the vent right next to the seat bolster or seat back You should see the air that you're blowing blow through and go right through the fan and out the back vent You should literally see the air I mean feel it something you'll see the back flaps open on that vent and if you just take the upper piece of duct work off if you have to look you'll look inside that and you'll see it's a whistle clean shiny black so therefore probably no need to clean anything and then if you look over at your fan while you're there check the connector I usually relocate mine a little bit so when the water does leak if it does it doesn't drip right on the connector and you can now see your fan does it look really gray and dirty on the impeller wheel it'll be a different color than the white of the whole case it'll be great on the impeller now you can take a squirt bottle and squirt that right off and suck any remains up with your Shop-Vac with the PC adapter hoses on it fits in fan case . Let her dry and let her rip I didn't take the back seat out to remove the battery or modify the brackets for easy removal next time or if somebody wants to play with the thing when I'm done with it two bolts in the batteries ou

 

Is that fan running much if car is driven in cold climate? Around here probably sitting still October to April I’ll have a look next summer. Saving all these nice DIY jobs for my summer holiday.

 

PS my fan looked clean but I got a lot of fuzz out of it with damp Q-tips. Toyota make a filter that snaps on the trim piece by the seat, I got mine from Amayama for less than $7 with some other parts so shipping was negligible. I believe 2012 and later has a filter behind the grill?

 

Yep Toyota mechanics say the #1 killer of traction batteries is when the cooling fan and filter are neglected and get clogged or the fan gets so gunked up they no longer spin. (And I've seen seat covers that come way down which would cover them....very bad.) We have a couple of dogs so I take off my covers a few times a year to inspect and, if needed, clean out the thin filter. (They are washable.)

 

If you saw my nasty dusty service 09 vehicle you'd swear the fan I'd clogged and battery must've fried 5 years ago . And the folks that put the first 200K on er probably did not even know of a fan I took apart to play with battery the white plastic fan. And it's black ductwork look armor alled. Silky guy assured me never touched . I only bought vehicle because he stated vehicle never touched cept for tyres and 12 volts n gas Never 80 miles a day for 200K .. of course I'll take er 2k was very fair . Not a scratch outside ugly gold crappy cloth . That was a reasonable purchase.

SM-A715F ?

 

If you have dogs, you should get this also...

 

Geez that's all my 2013 was more of a rectangle than the square shape thing and even my '09 is more of a rectangle so I don't know if this is a later model filter being shown like 2012 and up I don't know all the filters in those cars I know when the two cars that I have '09 and '13 haven't seen any traces of crap in the fan or ductwork . Then again unless the rear trim is out I never hear that fan come on it was on when the battery was dying because it comes on and runs it full speed and the only time I ever felt the battery ever warm in North Carolina where I live was when the battery was failing and the fan was running all the time there were two warm spots along the bottom of the battery tray opening the battery cover didn't yield any reasons why but I also didn't play with it

SM-A715F ?

 

There's a video that I thought was BS considering how everyone else removes the part, but I tried it on my car (see sig) and it worked fine. I don't know how dude did it so suavely, I had to put some muscle into it, but nothing snapped or bent AFAIK. Reconnect was easy and the whole piece remains as firmly and tightly seated as it was before I removed it:

FYI I too purchased one of those exterior-mounted filters (see other post above) but when I removed the original filter, it was totally clean, and kinda made me feel silly for even going through it all. Better safe than sorry I guess. I don't know how much particulate matter these larger-hole filters would catch anyway...it would probably rely mostly on airflow and perhaps static charge pulling dust onto it and keeping it there. Probably better for hair and larger stuff...meaning if you're really concerned, you really want to examine the entire airflow path as best you can, up to and including the fan itself. Good luck.

 

Mine didn't have the interior filter. The previouse owner didn't have any pets.
I have 2 dogs. I installed the outer filter with the foam in the first week.
It catches the fur and the foam catched the dirt.
When I installed the Prolong harness a few months back I removed and cleaned the battery
fan, and the plastic ducts. Both just had a thin layer of dust. The top of the battery was cleaner.
Very minor dirt/dust on top of the blocks, easy blown off and brushed off. And NO fur!

 

it's completely based on battery temp. the battery heats up with charging and discharging, but is also affected by ambient temps, including temp build up when parked in the sun.
to find out when the fan is running, you can put a reader on the obd, or simply put a tissue on the intake grille