1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Inverter Pump

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Jason z, Oct 22, 2019.

  1. Jason z

    Jason z Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 14, 2013
    5
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Two Eco
    I have a 2017 Pruis and I think the inverter pumps may have failed. I replaced one on my 2006 no problem. I have the red triangle on and it says hybrid system fail. When i have car on I don't see flow in the inverter reservoir like i did on my previous model. Does it flow all the time like before? Nor do i see the pump behind the headlight like before. I noticed it was very low on fluid so i filled it up and not sure where to check to see if pumps bad or not or it blew a fuse cause of low fluid? Not sure where fuse is. Any ideas or help would be very appreciated.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,693
    48,944
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    yes, there should be movement in the reservoir. you shouldn't be losing coolant, so that's your first job.

    isn't the fuse detailed in your o/m? on the gen3 i think it is the am2 fuse, not sure of the location.

    everything you need is at techinfo.toyota.com, but isn't it under warranty?
     
  3. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2017
    2,515
    3,253
    9
    Location:
    California
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three Touring
    If you value your time, use the Health Check feature of a Toyota Techstream diagnostic system to scan for diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs), and then use the procedures corresponding to each DTC in the Repair Manual (more info) to guide further troubleshooting.
     
  4. Stripedshrimp

    Stripedshrimp New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2022
    24
    5
    0
    Location:
    Seattle
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three Touring
    New Prius owner here, I was wondering whether it failed inverter coolant pump always triggers a Dtc. I have been checking my inverter coolant reservoir tank and I noticed some vibration in the liquid but I'm not sure whether it is the turbulence that people say you should see if the pump is running correctly. Thank you very much
     
  5. Stripedshrimp

    Stripedshrimp New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2022
    24
    5
    0
    Location:
    Seattle
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three Touring
    Has anybody replaced their inverter coolant pump on a gen 4? Do these fail as often as the older generations?


    Thanks
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,693
    48,944
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    if there's any movement with the engine off, it is working
     
  7. Stripedshrimp

    Stripedshrimp New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2022
    24
    5
    0
    Location:
    Seattle
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three Touring

    Oh alright, thanks.

    So, in ready mode with the ice off, there is no movement of the coolant.

    I ordered the pump. It was about 270 usd before tax. I just hope this solves my issue.
     
    AmazingFacts and bisco like this.
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,693
    48,944
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    me too. make sure there's voltage at the connector
     
  9. AmazingFacts

    AmazingFacts Member

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2021
    112
    59
    0
    Location:
    San Jose
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Two Eco
    StrippedShrimp, did you ever replace the inverter water pump? Did it solve the issue?
     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    23,270
    15,067
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    In gen 1 and gen 2, the inverter cooling pump was just a dumb electric pump that could be off or on, and it would be on whenever the car was in IG-ON or READY, whether the engine was on or the car was moving or not.

    Starting in gen 3, the inverter cooling pump is variable speed, and the car is more clever about when it is and isn't needed and how fast it needs to run. That makes a "turn the car on and go look for turbulence" test a little bit less definitive.

    But the gen 3 and later pump does supply more information back to the power management control ECU. It has a tachometer, just like the engine water pump, so you can see with a scan tool how fast the ECU wants it to run, and how fast it is running, and there are several different trouble codes that can be set (all parallel to the codes you can get for the engine water pump, but different codes, of course).

    You get the live data and codes for the engine water pump from the ECM, and the live data and codes for the inverter pump from the power management control ECU (or in gen 4 did they go back to just calling that one the HV control ECU?).