She died on the road. (Anyone familiar with Capital Toyota in Landover, MD?)

Hi Jim,

Do you recall exactly what warning lights and icons appeared on the dashboard and the MFD?

I suppose you'll have to wait until Monday to find out what DTC had been logged. Good luck.

 

Jim,

Sorry to hear about your difficulties.
A real bummer when away from home.
Have no experience with dealers in the DC-metro area.

When you say "lost power," do you mean lost all power and the car
then drifted to a stop. Or, do you mean lost a significant amount of
power but the car still had minimal propulsion to get to the side of
the road?

Any fluids leaking?

If the symptoms are associated with the bump, I'd guess a lose
electrical connection... (like that's a lot of help!)
maybe only the gas cap came loose...
probably not.

Are you still in the vicinity of the dealer, or have you gone on and
will have to deal with this over the phone/internet?

At any rate, I hope the problem is quickly found and turns out to be
simple and inexpensive to fix. Will be watching for further reports.

 

Is that engine temp or inverter temp?

 

Jim,

Another thought... actually a huge SWAG on my part...

Considering the high Outside Air Temps, and the fact that your speed
was dropping as you came off the beltway, -- less air through the
radiator/engine bay -- it wouldn't be out of the question for an inverter
coolant pump failure that occurred while underway in relatively steady-
state conditions on the highway to finally be revealed.

In this scenario, the jostling by the bump might just be coincidental, or
it could have somehow moved overheated coolant past the system
temp sensor.

I know, not the kind of thing you wanted to hear.

I can't explain why there would not be any indications of this on your
Canbus or ScanGauge.

 

Jim, you state that you had driven 400+ miles on the current tank. Are you sure you didn't just run out of gas? (WAG)

 

I agree that an inverter coolant pump failure is the most likely. I also think that your 12V battery should be replaced now.

The warning lights that you reported are consistent with the skid control ECU having a fit because of low voltage on the 12V bus. That happened because the inverter overheated and the DC/DC converter within stopped working.

The fuel gauge bars blinking is further evidence that the 12V bus voltage was very low, probably because your 12V battery had almost no capacity to carry the load when the DC/DC converter stopped operation.

 

Hi Jim,

Since you indicated that the tech reported sluggishness when the car was moved into the back lot after being towed, that implies continued impairment even after the car had a chance to cool down. Hence the inverter might be fried.

The inverter coolant pump is covered under the 5 year / 60K mile powertrain warranty, per TSB EG001-07 which is the document that discusses the availability of an "improved" coolant pump. (The part number remains the same, so it's not obvious how one would distinguish an "original design" from an "improved" pump.)

 

Jim,

Presumably you've got some free time tonight. Hobbit gas an
interesting discussion of the weaknesses on the old OEM pump bearings here.

Patrick,

Not to take any issue here, there has been at least one post suggesting
that there is an updated pump with a new part number:

This from: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...erter-coolant-pump-takes-dive.html#post950852, post #100.

Apparently, the OEM original part number was/is G9020-47030.

Your thread on replacing the coolant pump] is clearly written and easy to follow...
though I hope I never have to on my own.

 

I happened to read this web page today which described the new inverter pump base as silver, I will soon order a backup so I have a replacement on hand.

"Toyota has updated the design of the replacement pump (part number G9020-47031) to solve the problem. You can tell the updated design from the original by the color of the mounting base (black is original, silver is updated) though late models with the updated design (silver base) have also experienced failures. Toyota has also issued a Technical Service Bulletin outlining the failure on 2004, 2005, and 2006 Prius: TSB EG001-07. "

from (halfway down the page)
Luscious Garage | Blog | Luscious Tire Service

 

Thanks, you are right and my "how to" post (cited in your post #11 above) also lists the current part number G9020-47031.

Well, I don't know if this is correct because the original pump from my 2004 had a silver base. See last photo of my "how to" post.

 

Jim,

you're most welcome for what help I may have given.

Ever since I joined PC in Jan '08, there has been a constant trickle of
postings about inverter pump failures. What has held my interest is
that it frequently happens well before the recommended replacement
at, IIRC, 100K miles; 60K, 70K, as in your case.

I suppose, as Hobbit noted in his piece, that it is more a function of total
hours in Ready, whether the car is moving or not. After all, the pump is
running whenever the car is in Ready.

Long ago I decided to replace the pump at 80K miles...
if it lasts that long.

Now, even though I don't see much stop-and-go or stopped-in-traffic
driving, I'm thinking I should bump the replacement to 70K miles...
better safe than stranded...

Sorry that you got blind-sided...

If in fact this is what your problem is.

 

Just went to
Maryland Toyota Dealers - Dealer Directory
and saw that there is no user comments on Capital and the service rating on Bowie is poor.

Good luck and be the first to rate Capital.

 

Sorry to butt in here, but is a general "sluggishness" caused by an overheating inverter, which inturn could lead back to a bad or failed inverter pump?

I have noticed on occasion (twice in 5 months) that my car will under modest to heavy acceleration studder, almost like the VSC kicked in but no lights, for about 2-3 seconds then resume as normal. I have done 15,000miles+ in this time and it has only happened twice, but assuming those two times were heating issues, then perhaps it would be wise to check and/or replace the inverter pump?

Ideas?