No start after smoke,burning smell from front.

Did you open your door while stopped? You will get many of those indications if you do.

Have you tested the 12v battery since the incident? Sounds like you checked it some time ago.

At least try a jump to see if the ICE will start, it may be that simple.

Can't explain the smoke and burning smell.

 

Front left is where the main 12V distribution and relay box is.
Since you said all the 12V stuff went dark after your restart
attempt, I'd start looking there. Another possibility is the
connection to the DC/DC converter output at the back of the
inverter that also feeds straight into the 12V bus. If you
can start disconnecting any of this stuff piece by piece, and
inspect the fusible-link block in the relay box while you're
in there [the thing with a clear plastic cover], you might find
the evidence you're looking for. If I had to guess I'd say some
fairly high-current 12V connection somehow got rubbed against
ground and shorted, and maybe got vibrated just barely clear
of the shorted condition again when the later tests were done
but could obviously recur.
.
Keep us posted! It's always nice to have ready answers to those
occasional questions like "my prius is emitting smoke from under
the hood, what might be wrong" and the community is building
a wealth of experience here.
.
_H*

 

H-
Think it could be that a wiring harness got cut by a reversed starter hole cover?

 

Is front left referencing from you in the seat? Do you mean front drivers side? If so might mean the Inverter. Buy a Scan Gauge here at Prius Shop (can use it on many cars) and see what DTC's its throwing. Thats the first thing the dealer would do.

Also whats the state of tune? Oil..ATF oil.....plugs..history.

 

I hope you find it soon and I double hope it is not expensive! That is the one thing about the Pri that worries me. It is so technologically advanced that it can scare the pants off of any regular mechanic!

 

Sorry about the problems; the part, the dealership, the hassle. You've done a great
job with the write up. Even a non-techie like me can follow the sequence of events
and the logic of your process. Thanks.

For the record, I take it that you bought the coolant pump from Toyota, and not AutoZone.

 

Welcome to our world grasshopper. <grins>

You have taken the first major steps:

• maintenance manual - the road map
• scan gauge - the first diagnostic tool
• pump change - first significant repair
• transaxle oil change - important maintenance

Which fuse blew? The purpose of a fuse is to protect the wiring and they are supposed to blow before the wires burn up. So knowing which fuse gives an idea of what system got stressed and may help explain your earlier symptoms.

Prius friend Hobbit has reported finding a 'jelled' coolant in the channels of an inverter and there have been other reports of 'stuff' in the old coolant. I suspect this is an as yet undocumented risk and leads to early coolant pump replacements; overheated inverters; and symptoms similar to yours.

On the transaxle oil change, I would recommend running about 2-3,000 miles and changing it again. The NHW11 seems to carry forward about 15-20% of the old oil. By running on the new change and then doing an early, second change you'll get the last of the 'black stuff' out.

Do you still have a sample of the old oil? You might consider sending it to PdMA and ask for the 40C and 100C viscosity test and oil index. Then do the same on the second change. We can compare your two values to the virgin oil sample and calculate the amount of oil carried over. I know what the carry over is for the NHW11 but we don't have similar data for NHW20s.

Bob Wilson

 

Similar situation happened to me and I'm just researching now before I go tear into it in the garage. I am gathering my photos and video from when it happened and will post it after I get to 5 posts later today.

Thanks to all the posters on this thread and forum it's amazing how much I have learned form reading the posts! the context and different knowledge being organized into a forum always amazes me!

 

Don't hijack a 9 year old thread. Start a new thread. Its the blue button top right says "start a thread".
That way it won't be buried somewhere at the end of someone else thread. You'll get alot more views on a fresh thread.

 

Most excellent thread.

I can validate the following:

* I have an 04, so an early model of a second gen where... they often value engineer things like a coolant pump
* 200,000 miles on this one
* Sitting in the hot sun, AC full blast, white smoke plums from driver side of hood, very strong electrical smell, slowly controls crapped out

* First, would not go into gear, but gear selection letters showing. Similar to how it appears when you run out of gas... just wont go into gear... fussy.

* After a minute, wont get to "ON" (whatever this ethos calls it). Dash screen will come up, but car will not go into next mode.

* no codes on my code scanner (nice Toyota) - Standard $100 Autozone scanner

Normally I am a huge Toyota and Honda proponent.. So I will take an opportunity to be a touch negative

No indications from the car, to me, as to what the problem is (other than electrical smoke, lol)

* I read this thread

* I check my battery voltage, 12.43V, then with car on (screen on, so no brake), 12.34 - Fluke 87V
* run thru the fuses... as described, upper right, 15A, blue, second down - Blown. Found it on second test.
* Replaced with similar. Spare rack had 2pcs fuse, one green 30A, one blue 15A

* Clicker, clacker... VROOOM

Excellent work guys... This is all I am trying to say about the forums... that they changed the world.

-methods



(First post - not a thread jack as I am validating a solution, so contributing. Will update once job complete)

 

Pumps are $200 at Autozone and McNastyiez. . $150 at the dealer.
ONLY time the dealer has ever been fresh with ME. . .

Santa Cruz Toyota dealer fronted no cred - had to pay out of pocket

-methods

 

Job done
Wrote it up elsewhere

Car runs
No codes
Everything perfect


Root Cause:
It was apparent from the blow-out in the potting mold (black pour under the pump motor) that the previous pump electronics had failed. It is not a traditional 12V DC pump, but a brushless pump with an embedded controller. Proof of this being the old (failed) pump read 20-30ohms resistive at the terminals and the new pump showed "active - circuit" - meaning when I applied the DMM (Fluke 87V) and energized the circuit with the excitation current used to read resistance... the capacitance on the rail charged up. I could then reverse the leads, read negative voltage, thereby proving it was a capacitive circuit. Simple DC pump motors are inductive and do not hold a charge. -Schindler"

...
The smell came right out of the hole under the pump. It was a slam dunk.

...
I took tons of pics with a G5. All the important bits and gotchas. Took a short video. Listed the tools. All of the usual.

...
After replacing the pump you could clearly feel the hoses vibrating. You could see the fluid returning to the reserve. You could hear the hum of the pump with the car in the ready position.

...
I changed mine by removing only the two main bolts, up front on the inverter. Bring it up and shift it over. The trick is removing the single plastic hose clamp... down on the right... right in the road. You will find it, and once you remove that the entire assembly will come up and away, there by allowing you to bring it to near level with the fluid reserve, thereby allowing you to swap pumps without flush. - yes yes - flush yours. This is a "Schindler Engineering Adventure" and we save that job for the Tesla. This is a Prius with 200K miles. . . do the minimum (if the fluid is clean) to keep the car on the road.

Yes yes... the replacement pump came with a replacement washer for the drain plug. It also came with a bracket, that clearly indicated to me that the service write-up was assuming I had the car up on a lift and that there may be "pump chunks" loose in the fluid path that need to be flushed out and removed. Not true on my repair, so I omitted that step. The pump failure was not mechanical in nature as far as I could tell.

To speculate on why another member said "pump wont turn" - that is most likely because it is a 3 phase brushless motor. It is driven by an H-Bridge rectifier. The mosfets in the rectumfryer are in failure mode, which is short circuit. This is now acting as a "crowbar brake" such that turning the impeller acts like running a generator into a load... where the load is very low impedance... and... so there ya go.

I am an Electrical Engineer from the Department of Energy
Live long and prosper

-methods