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What is an "Invertor flush", and why do I want to pay for one?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bgoodr, Nov 8, 2009.

  1. bgoodr

    bgoodr Junior Member

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    Hi folks,

    My 2005 Prius was up for the 90k mile maintenance service. Midway through it, they called me back to ask me to pay for additional things to do which were:

    • Radiator Fluid - $129.00
    • Inverter Fluid - $149.00
    I told them to hold off on both of those until the 100k mile maintenance, so as to limit my charges to the whopping $509 they charged me for all of the other things they did (which seems a bit steep to me).

    My question is this: What is an "Inverter Fluid flush" operation, and is $149 a reasonable amount to charge for this sort of thing?

    Grand total charge for what I allowed them to do was $509. This was in the Toyota in Wilsonville, Oregon on 2009-11-09.

    Thanks,
    bg
     
    #1 bgoodr, Nov 8, 2009
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  2. rrolff

    rrolff Prius Surgeon

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    This is the 2010 forum - and you likely will get a better answer in the appropriate forum for your car...
     
    #2 rrolff, Nov 8, 2009
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  3. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    thread has now been moved
     
    #3 Paradox, Nov 8, 2009
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  4. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    The inverter and transaxle are on a different coolant loop than the engine coolant.

    Radiator Flush = replacing the engine coolant

    Inverter Flush = replacing the inverter and transaxle coolant

    The coolant cost is approx $20 per gallon. Most of the charge is labor.
     
    #4 dogfriend, Nov 8, 2009
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  5. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    It's similar to the process I did here, but neither system needs
    a *flush* -- just a drain and refill if that much, and anything
    in addition is a bogus upsell. Don't worry about it till 100K or
    more, they mean it when they say "super long life".
    .
    _H*
     
    #5 hobbit, Nov 8, 2009
  6. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    What th' heck did you let them do to get to $509?
     
    #6 richard schumacher, Nov 9, 2009
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