How to remove HV battery vent cover?

Remove the bolt at the bottom, then lift.

-Chap

 

The bolt is accessible between the seat bottom and back. You'll need about a 9" extension on a ratchet wrench (say 6" plus 3"). A light on a headstrap is handy too. It's 12 mm socket size, IIRC.

Once that bolt is out (don't drop it), kind of release the seat back and tilting it forward a bit seems to help, when pulling up and off the seatback portion with the grill.

You'll also need to pry off the hatch floor above the battery, and peel back the carpet off some velcro strips. There's one at least more bolt in there somewhere, and a number of XMass tree style plastic fasteners and clips.

Just keep pulling the various conduits off, it's not too hard. The fan itself can be cleaned without complete removal, with Q-Tips or a small brush, then maybe some compressed air. One of those dust wands is good for cleaning the various ducts.

(I guess that's the verbose answer, lol.)

 

One thing you will need to yank on (carefully) is the rear hatch floor over the battery. It has stubborn plastic fasteners. I used a pry tool (or three) and eventually popped them out, without any breakage. At reinstall I opted to leave them all off, there was still plenty of tabs to keep that area secure.

 

I was watching this video yesterday. It shows how to remove the entire vent column at around 7:10

 

@NutzAboutBolts has a video specifically about cleaning the fan, here:

Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

(video #21 in the list)

The only caveat: I wouldn't bother pulling the rear seat, just push open a gap between seat and back, reach in to remove the 12mm bolt.