"cooling performance of the hybrid battery is low consult a dealer"

According to page 2 if the vehicle is driven more than 6 days a week it is considered a severe condition, and I do. This attachment is a set of instructions for dealerships.

 

There’s a video of how to do this maintenance on our YouTube channel. It’s pretty easy and straight forward.

To erase the error code after cleaning, just disconnect the battery and reconnect it.

 

For those with the Prius V Wagon, check out my video on the subject:

 

I just had my car serviced (Prius C 2015, 43K miles) and was told the cleaning service was worth $299. Another dealer has it for $200. A local shop offered to do it for $60, but the guy told me "honestly, you can do it yourself". So I did it myself, cleaned the lint on the filter and checked the fan blades to make sure those were clean. Next time I will check the ducts to make sure there are no obstructions there.
Additionally, I was told my 100K mile extended warranty doesn't cover that service, only if the fan is broken...

 

Just had this done today- cost $128 at dealership. They got me right in and were done in 2 hours. I am at about 33k miles but live in dusty Arizona so that fan and filter get dirty faster. I'd just have the dealer do it it is worth the $128- they also cleaned the car.

 

So, I've been having this issue for a long time. The first time it came on I brought it to a local hybrid specialist mechanic because the dealership wanted nearly $500 to provide the cleaning service and the local mech offered $150.

Anyway, about 45 days later, the problem happened again. The mechanic cleaned it again for free and told me to reach back if there were more problems.

This happened several more times. Finally, I decided to take it back to the dealership. They claimed that since there wasn't an "advanced filter" on the fan vent, that this was why the light came on every 45 days. They charged me for the diagnosis, and I went back to the local mechanic who once again cleaned the fan and the battery and installed the advanced filter.

Well 45 days later and the indicator came on again.

I called the dealership, and they're trying to tell me that it's just dirty (without even looking at it), and demanding I get a $1000 cleaning service.

I'm concerned that something much more serious is happening and the dealer simply doesn't want to honor the warranty. Any advice?

 

Start cleaning it yourself? This way you'll see how much the dust is building up. And save a lot of hassle. It takes about an hour.

Still: if there's a light coming on (btw: which light?), I'd suspect cleaning is not the issue, maybe the fan is failing??

Watch the video* @NutzAboutBolts mentioned up the page. They're all linked in a thread pinned at top of 3rd gen maintenance forum.

* Except don't pull the rear seat, just reach in between seat and back, to remove a single 12 mm (socket size) bolt. It'll take at least a 6" extension on the ratchet, maybe a 6" and 3". And don't drop it lol.

 

This thread just happened to pop up:

HV battery cooling fan fault and fix | PriusChat

Second gen, but good points about corroded electrical connectors.

 

Strangely enough, it turns out the original mechanic never cleaned out the battery. When the Toyota technicians pulled open the battery compartment, they found dust bunnies the size of cats. Despite the original mechanic assuring me he had done the same multiple times, it was clear to Toyota he had never cleaned it at all. Fortunately it appears no permanent damage was done.

 

I have a 2013 prius andthis same message popped last night. The weird thing is I cleaned the vent in the backseat on the passenger side last week because it was so dirty with a vacuum but my car has 255,260 miles with a newer engine of about 67,000. I've never seen this message before. I got an oil change yesterday and towards the end of the night after driving for Lyft it was there. I do have 3 cats, they are rarely ever in the car and if they are, they are usually in kennels but I mean I do have cat hair all over my clothes. A lot of passengers sit on this right passenger side...

 

That's the inlet grill, and really just the tip of the iceberg. You need to clean the ductwork and the fan that's at the battery itself. With those miles, and pets, it's likely in dire need of cleaning.

 

Watch @NutzAboutBolts video on this, pinned in 3rd gen maintenance forum.

One caveat: contrary to the video, it should not be necessary to remove the rear seat, if it's similar to a 3rd gen hatchback. There's a single bolt that needs to be removed, in behind the seat, but it's reachable with a 12 mm socket on a goodly ratchet extension. You just need to push apart the upholstery, at the seat and seatback junction. Just be careful not to drop the bolt though.

Also, there's a lot of tenacious fasteners holding the hatch floor to the top of the hybrid battery. They are very stubborn to remove, and I opted to leave most off when reassembling.

 

I took out the cooling fan cleaned it and put everything back together , now the car won’t start and says the same warning

 

Did you maybe remove the orange hybrid battery safety plug? I'm hoping yes, and it's just a problem putting it back as it was. I've never messed with it, but I believe you need push it in, rotate the lever through 90 degrees, then push it, to the right if I'm not mistaken.

 

I had the same “cooling performance of the hybrid battery is low consult a dealer” error message today with my 2015 Prius C (model number: 10SER, ie. not the
iTec model).

Thanks to the Toyota guide given from AgentSmith’s “HV battery cooling fan maintenance for severe use vehicles” mainly using page 3 I’ve managed to duck under the passenger side rear seat, remove the two plastic grommets, vacuum the grill covering the air filter (shown in photo) then using a small adjustable spanner removed the two bolts that hold the air filter to remove the grill cover shown. I then cleaned the cooling blades using a disposable paper towel soaked in WD-40, allowed the fans to dry.

The error message went away after 10 minutes, and after running the air-conditioning on LOW for a few minutes to cool down the battery I haven’t seen the error message come back.

I’m based south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and have been using the Prius mainly for Uber driving so I’ve clocked up quite a few kms. As well as this, there has been a lot of fine smoke particles and dust in and around my Prius due to the recent bushfires.

 

The WD-40 might leave the blades tacky, prone to attract fresh dust. Depends on how well you wiped it off. Isopropyl alchohol is good, less smelly too.