What is this component under the dash??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by rkeith3472, Oct 22, 2020.

  1. rkeith3472

    rkeith3472 New Member

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    What is this component under the dash on the driver side in the far corner? It seems to be white and ceramic with red letters “L O” on the top.

    I thought I had an electrical short because I could smell something burning and my positive battery lead was getting very hot. I used a thermal imager and found that this component reached 170° and was still climbing. It’s obviously bad but I have no clue what it is.
     

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    #1 rkeith3472, Oct 22, 2020
  2. rkeith3472

    rkeith3472 New Member

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    It’s not ceramic!! It’s silver metal
     
    #2 rkeith3472, Oct 22, 2020
  3. oldtechaa

    oldtechaa Active Member

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    It'd be great if you could maybe post a picture that shows more clearly the surroundings, maybe from farther away. It's hard to tell exactly where it is. From what I can tell, it's somewhere right near the defrost vent and sun sensor, am I correct?
     
    #3 oldtechaa, Oct 22, 2020
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  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    #4 PriusCamper, Oct 23, 2020
  5. rkeith3472

    rkeith3472 New Member

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    Yes, driver side in the corner near the A post
     
    #5 rkeith3472, Oct 23, 2020
  6. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    Picture looks like it was taken from a junkyard Prius.
     
    #6 RRxing, Oct 23, 2020
  7. rkeith3472

    rkeith3472 New Member

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    It’s not. I got the part removed and found a part number
     
    #7 rkeith3472, Oct 23, 2020
  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Brake actuator resistor?

    [​IMG]

    Edit: by the way, a resistor getting hot usually doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the resistor. Turning electric power into heat is a resistor's job. If it is making more heat than it's designed to, typically that means the thing it's there to resist for is running longer, or drawing more power, than it's designed to.

    Until now I had never bothered looking in the wiring diagram to see what that resistor is there for. There are two power supply circuits for driving the pressure pump that's built into the actuator. One starts at the 25 amp "ABS -1" fuse and goes through the "ABS MTR" relay. The second starts at the 30 amp "ABS-2" fuse and goes through the "ABS MTR 2" relay.

    The resistor is in the first of those circuits. So it is part of the power supply to the pump motor. I suspect the system uses the ABS MTR relay and the resistor when it needs moderate pumpage, and it adds ABS MTR 2 without the resistor when it needs that extra push over the cliff.



    Do you hear your pump motor running? Does it run extra long or sound extra slow? Possibly it could be locked up; motors can draw a lot of extra current in that condition. Or maybe something is open in your ABS MTR 2 circuit, so starting current is all having to go through the first circuit with the resistor.
     
    #8 ChapmanF, Oct 23, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2020
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  9. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Lol, just because he took the dash off doesn't make it a junk yard car? Of course if he gets distracted and never puts it back together... :)
     
    #9 PriusCamper, Oct 23, 2020
  10. Diemaster

    Diemaster Active Member

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    My first thought was perhaps a Daylight Running Resistor?
     
    #10 Diemaster, Oct 24, 2020
  11. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Huh? And which one would that be?
     
    #11 dolj, Oct 24, 2020
  12. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    From the picture taken through the windshield it looks like some metal exhaust pipes laying on top. My mistake...
     
    #12 RRxing, Oct 24, 2020
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