Inverter failure?

First thing is to check the inverter coolant reservoir, next to the inverter, and make sure there is movement in the fluid when the car is in ready mode. If the inverter coolant pump fails, then you will get the overheating symptom you experienced. This part is replaced under a safety recall, so it should have been taken care of already. The inverter very rarely fails. What are the codes the dealer read?

If the pump is working, check the radiators for cleanliness and obstruction, and that the fans are working when the A/C is running.

If you do need an inverter, however unlikely, a used part will be far cheaper.

 

Doesn't matter if it was changed yesterday. It may have an air lock or be faulty. It takes less than 5 minutes to check it, and all you have to do it look.

Follow nh7o's advice. Place the car in ready mode and take a look down onto the coolant reservoir (pink fluid right next to the inverter). Just unscrew the cap and look straight down at the fluid (helps to use a flashlight). If you can't see any pumping turbulence then it's not working.

 

Unless Toyota covers the inverter, salvage yards and even Ebay sells low mileage, good shape inverters ($150 or less), with warranties to boot.

 

Yep, this is very common and the lack of flow in the inverter coolant loop is almost always the problem. This is the first thing the dealer should have checked. It's pretty piss poor that Prius Chat had to solve this problem (I'm glad we did though). Without this forum, the inverter gets replaced and you end up with the same symptoms, only to later have the same problem with the new inverter.

In reality, solving this problem is basic troubleshooting;
Symptoms
1) Inverter gets hot and shuts down
2) After inverter cools, car starts and runs fine
Q) What caused the inverter to get hot
A) Because of 1, and 2, check the inverter coolant loop for proper operation

Its really too easy.

 

Honestly, replacing the inverter coolant pump is really pretty easy. You can do it. Buy yourself a Haynes manual and tools then go for it. Save a ton of money.

 

Just buy a set of duckbill pliers at Harbor Freight and clamp the hoses off so it won't make a mess.

 

Too funny. "Experts," at Stealer ships command an arm/leg for misdiagnosis.

File a complaint w/ your States Auto Repair Agency. Lodge a complaint w/ Toyota: incompetent tech & Dealership. Yell at the service mgr. Write on Yelp.

 

We have a 2008 and my husband was involved in a hit and run and damaged left side of his car he had no lights on going to collision shop when car was returned all lights on and collision shop made an appointment for Toyota to look at it after us complaingbto them and insurance for almost two weeks. He would drive and have to stop car and turn off and restart for battery/gas to act right. Toyota got codes for inverter and battery. Now insurance is claiming it is not accident related that it is coincidence

 

Welcome. Sorry your first post is over something so awful. Hope everyone is OK. It may or may not be accident related. Or it may be that the body shop did something to break it. Sounds fishy to me!

BTW, you might want to start your own thread with this one. It seems to me like it deserves it.

 

Hello everyone.
I had a problem similar to OPs where the coolant did not circulate through the inverter coolant line. I replaced the pump, and flushed out the coolant. There is a noticeable better flow with the coolant now (not as good as some youtube examples), however I seem to of encountered a secondary issue i believe deals with my inverter. I believe in originally diagnosing the issue the inverter may of been damaged.
I am able to drive around and power the HV battery. After the battery is in the green, about 1 minute later it'll power down to 2 purple bars. Using the Prius PIDs on Torque the battery can be charged to 100% and (when it discharges) will return to 20%. The voltage meters all show each battery cell voltage 16v-17v with no cell being more than (around) 0.6v difference. Other than that the HV battery does not quickly charge or discharge the electricity.
After a drive the inverter case is warm but not hot. The acceleration feels slightly off when coming from an idle, as if the car does not engage the electrical motor in time so the ICE has to do nearly all the work.
The red triangle of death throws up the Replace HV battery errors, but this only shows up when the HV has low charge.
What do you guys think?
Could i purchase something in the inverter to replace is it just replace the whole inverter?

 

ThatPersonThere : Depending on what you are doing, it is possible but quite difficult to go from 'green' down to two purple bars. I can manage it, but only on a cold start, climbing up a long, very steep driveway, then driving up a hill, all while the engine is in the warm-up cycle.

Unless you are putting the car in 'EV' mode up a hill, or unless this only happens when starting the car and driving right away, it could point to wear in the battery.

0.6v difference is actually quite a lot; the fact that the 'replace HV battery' error shows up when the battery is low on charge, could be because some modules have lower capacity, and they 'fall' in voltage more quickly, to the point where the car complains.

How many miles on your car? Does it have the original battery?

 

This guy thinks you have a bad hybrid battery. The fast swing of charged to discharge is classic battery failure.

 

I have about 160k miles on the car, as far as i'm aware it has the original battery