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Radiator Removal

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by M92, Jan 10, 2021.

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  1. M92

    M92 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2021
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius
    Model:
    LE
    I have a 2020 Prius LE and was looking for advice or any repair documents that might help me temporarily fix a drain plug pipe that snapped off when I hit a curb.

    I got these from a parts website and it’s a short plastic pipe that sticks out of the bottom of the radiator that receives the drain plug labeled #4 in the diagram. It snapped off so the plastic sticking out is now flush with the rest of the radiator drain pan.
    424A4C4B-A3C6-47BB-B03F-D6A4FB8BBD09.png 9B2723C5-B1C1-45BD-BB4A-7E86266545C1.jpeg


    Other than that it everything seems fine (knock On wood) other than the plastic engine undercover which I need to replace.

    I purchased JB Weld High Temp Epoxy Putty at Oreilly auto parts. It seemed like it’d be the easiest to use because I can just barely reach the broken drain plug. I was planning to just plug it up as a quick fix. The only other alternative seems to be replacing the radiator However it was a clean break and I have the broken piece which makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be a better hold to reattach the broken piece rather than just plugging the hole. I also am worried that since I can just barely reach the area that I won’t be able to effectively get the putty to stick in a way that can survive the pressure, in which case I was thinking of removing the entire radiator so I could repair the break more easily. I know either way that it will prevent the radiator from being drainable and I will need to replace the entire radiator eventually but can’t really afford to right now and really really just need it to work temporarily.

    If anyone has the instructions/manual on how to remove the radiator and put it back in that’d be great or if you have any advice on all this I’d appreciate it.
     
    #1 M92, Jan 10, 2021
  2. thomassster

    thomassster Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2015
    238
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    Location:
    Colorado, US
    Vehicle:
    2019 Prius
    Model:
    XLE AWD-e
    Is item #4 the only portion that broke? and it's only the handle that let you twist that plug off that broke? That part is the pet cock which allows you to drain coolant from either the engine or the inverter, depending if it's the top or the bottom. Once you remove that plug, majority of the coolant for that system will be draining. Assuming what I'm interpreting your issue as correct, you can essentially just put in a new pet cock, but you'll need to fill in new coolant and bleed the system. But those petcocks should be reachable from underneath if you are jacking the car up on jack stands with the undercover removed. These coolants last a while, but 50,000 miles is a decent time to do a drain and fill. If nothing is leaking, then that pet cock is holding the coolant fine.
     
    #2 thomassster, Jan 18, 2021
  3. thomassster

    thomassster Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2015
    238
    80
    0
    Location:
    Colorado, US
    Vehicle:
    2019 Prius
    Model:
    XLE AWD-e
    If it's the bottom petcock, it looks like it's the inverter coolant drain.

    Look at Mendel's post he attached on how to drain the coolant. The manual states that it should be reachable from underneath (I haven't personally tried).

    How to change inverter coolant 4th gen | PriusChat
     
    #3 thomassster, Jan 18, 2021
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