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Inverter pump noise no circulation

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by christyrell, Mar 20, 2013.

  1. christyrell

    christyrell Junior Member

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    I have a big red triangle on the pump is making noises not loud noises sounds like it's operating correctly there is no turbulence in reservoir and when I squeeze the hose the level in the reservoir goes up-and-down which leads me to believe there is no blockage in the pipe coming out of out of the pump.

    My handheld scanner and torque on my android tablet only gave me my oxygen sensor code which I know about and I'm going to replace when the weather gets hot I am wondering if the coolant pump would throw a code that these devices would be able to pick up or do I need to go to the dealer or find a shop which is capable of reading the HYbrid codes?

    Thanks in advance

    Chris Tyrell
     
    #1 christyrell, Mar 20, 2013
  2. ccdisce

    ccdisce Active Member

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    There was a thread regarding the lack of a sensor for the Inverter coolant loop you may want to search for it.
    Failure codes could be saved in the ECU and could be Toyota specific, the mini AVCI running hacked Techstream may be able to get access them.
    Priidash2 running on a St1110/1117 will display Inv1, Inv2 and Cnvt.

    Lack of flow could be caused by ;
    1. the coolant pump impeller not turning but motor is turning,---bad pump
    2. blocked coolant radiator tubes,
    3. corroded heat sink fins in the inverter which block the flow of coolant. I saw an article on the web showing the corrosion.

    Good Luck.
     
    #2 ccdisce, Mar 20, 2013
  3. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    Also an air bubble in the pump. The pump needs to have coolant in it to "prime" it or no pumping takes place. was the coolant changed recently?

    JeffD
     
    #3 jdenenberg, Mar 20, 2013
  4. christyrell

    christyrell Junior Member

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    The car is running problem free with the red triangle. So it's parked for now. If I hook up my priidash what am I looking for?


    I changed the coolant about a year ago and have had no issues till now.

    One guy has minivci local in Toronto but wants 95 dollars. I might need to go that route as waiting for shipping from china is weeks.

    Is there anything I can check on the car? I don't mind taking it apart
     
    #4 christyrell, Mar 20, 2013
  5. christyrell

    christyrell Junior Member

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    It also has the abnorminal parking warning on the mdf too!
     
    #5 christyrell, Mar 20, 2013
  6. nh7o

    nh7o Off grid since 1980

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    The "abnormal parking warning on the MFD" is a classic 12V battery problem.

    The inverter coolant loop will only set codes when it overheats. The pump itself does not set anything, as mentioned. If you are in cold weather and make short trips, the car may run fine as it takes time to get up to high temps. There have been many reports of air in the loop causing your symptom. The corrosion issues are much more rare. Hopefully, when the coolant was changed, Toyota SLLC was used, not some generic stuff. The corrosion issues are why the SLLC is important, I believe.

    The guy wanting to charge $95 to use a $35 dollar gizmo is making a good profit. I bet you could get one sooner than "weeks". Mine came pretty fast.
     
    #6 nh7o, Mar 20, 2013
  7. christyrell

    christyrell Junior Member

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    Well problem solved, called Pickering Toyota for a new pump and they quoted me 280$. So I said thank you and called a body shop that had many crashed cars. Got one for 50$ out of a crash victim. Took 15 minutes change, pretty easy job. The old one sounded like a bucket of bolts when I shook it which came as a shock as it was not making a racket or and abnormal noises. Now let's just hope the used one holds up, it is very quite though so I think it's a keeper.

    Thanks everyone for your replies and knowledge I appreciate it a lot.
    Now I'm going to order the mini vci so I have it on hand for the next adventure.

    Cheers!

    Chris Tyrell
     
    #7 christyrell, Mar 20, 2013
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