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Fire in back

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017.

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  1. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Prius damage.jpg

    2005 Gen II, 225k miles: This just happened to my girlfriend, she said smoke was coming out so she pulled over and doused it with water. She's a couple hours from home. Is the car safe to drive? What are these components? We've had a ton of rain lately and I'm guessing there was an electrical short (water leaks into the rear hatch area).
     
    #1 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
  2. scona

    scona Active Member

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    #2 scona, Dec 5, 2017
  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Hazardous guess here.....but NO, it's not safe to drive. It caught FIRE
     
    #3 JC91006, Dec 5, 2017
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  4. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    Ouch. Never worked on a 2nd Gen so not familiar with the item/system burned up. At minimum, a fuse or two should have popped to identify. IF there is no longer power to the component and this system is not mandatory for safe driving...she should be OK to drive it home. However with all the unknowns and it being a week day, I would have it towed after doing a once over myself first.
     
    #4 frodoz737, Dec 5, 2017
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  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    There's nothing under that burnt area......closest thing to it is the HV BATTERY interlock switch and SKS sensor.

    If somehow water built up under the trunk tray, it could have shorted out some things. You can see if there's a pool of water there.....and the pool would be pretty big
     
    #5 JC91006, Dec 5, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2017
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  6. scona

    scona Active Member

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    Difficult to tell from that picture but it could be in the area of the high voltage battery. If so she would be ill-advised to drive it without proper advice from a Toyota dealer. Best to be safe, the voltage of that battery is extremely high.
     
    #6 scona, Dec 5, 2017
  7. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Thanks all for answers so far. It's near the HV battery but not part of it, and not part of the battery HV switch. There was a relay of some type there -- I know because when recently replacing the rear struts I noticed it had a corroded base and so I cleaned that up. The car is still running and all signals / horn / wiper etc still work.
     
    #7 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Levity is likely the last thing on your mind right now, sorry, but this popped into my head:

    upload_2017-12-5_12-43-39.png
     
    #8 Mendel Leisk, Dec 5, 2017
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  9. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Here are the wires leading to that relay (which incinerated). The car appears to run fine without it. Sure wish I knew what the relay was. It was a silver box mounted on a small L-shaped stand.

    Screenshot_20171205-101955_1512505206640(1).jpg
     
    #9 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
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  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    It's the SKS sensor. It's either for keyless start or keyless entry. I haven't figured out that part yet.

    Good thing to bring up to Toyota, that it caught fire. We might get some type of recall out of this
     
    #10 JC91006, Dec 5, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2017
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  11. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

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    Does she have any other alternatives for getting home? If there were water leaks to start with, which caused the electrical short and fire, pouring more water in to douse the fire will only make it less safe to drive. That HV battery is still capable of causing an even larger fire.
     
    #11 davecook89t, Dec 5, 2017
  12. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Thank you! Just to confirm, this is what we're talking about:

    this guy.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

    #12 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
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  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    yes. Good thing is those things are a dime a dozen at junkyards
     
    #13 JC91006, Dec 5, 2017
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  14. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Update: I had her test drive the car a short distance, check for heat or any hot wires, and there's none. So she's on her way.
     
    #14 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
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  15. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    No other water in car / water that she poured didn't go into HV area. Thanks for your concern. At this point I'm no longer thinking it was water back there that started the fire -- the water collects in very low areas, not at all up high where this is.
     
    #15 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
  16. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    You were definitely cooking back there. You might get lucky with component/plug/wire replacement, but the harness it attaches to looks cooked too and really needs to be unwrapped and checked further. Pick your Wife up at the Dealership and have them do a thorough check out.
     
    #16 frodoz737, Dec 5, 2017
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  17. m.wynn

    m.wynn Senior Member

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    #17 m.wynn, Dec 5, 2017
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  18. tpirsig

    tpirsig Junior Member

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    Further update: She made it home fine, after 3 hours of driving. Looks like just the SKS sensor was affected (adjacent wiring did not get scorched), plus of course the melted plastic in the rear cargo tray.
     
    #18 tpirsig, Dec 5, 2017
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  19. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Still should let Toyota know there's a fire. It shouldn't catch fire.

    You probably want to get to the bottom of the cause, before repairing it
     
    #19 JC91006, Dec 5, 2017
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  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    is this the first time we've seen a fire in the back?
     
    #20 bisco, Dec 5, 2017
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