2011 Prius 2: Yet Another AC Compressor Failure

Long-time Prius owner/driver checking in here. 2011 Prius purchased new and enjoyed for the last 8 years. I've been a fan of the Prius for years, but last week, the AC compressor failed and in the span of a week, I've gone from loving the Prius to having grave doubts about the Prius and Toyota in general. (Full disclosure: I am a Tesla Model 3 owner, so my perspective has already been shifted by this remarkable car.)

I've got a LOT of data to share, I'll summarize here but go into further detail on down the thread:

- AC starts blowing hot air.
- Ordered correct refrigerant/ND11 oil off Amazon
- Tried to "top off" refrigerant, system would not accept any at all. Not good.
- Got CODE 76 from HVAC display in the car. Not good.
- Fans would start and run briefly, compressor would "tik tik tik".
- AC would try three times to run and then give up.
- Began to realize compressor had siezed.

Turned the car in to the local dealer. Diag agreed, compressor siezed. $3.1k quote.
Got quote from local trusted auto repair shop. $2.6k quote, 3yr/36k warranty!
Monday (29 Jul 19) I'll turn the car in to trusted auto repair shop to commence repair.

 

I'm a handy guy and do a lot of my own maintenance. Why didn't I do the work myself? I priced the parts + getting the system evacuated and that cost was about 60% of the cost of having the work done by a trusted local auto repair shop. Wife needs this car back "stat", so I decided to spend the bucks and not do the work myself. Most importantly, the trusted local shop give s 3 yr/36k warranty. I'm willing to pay for that.

Car goes into the shop on Monday (three days from now). I'll update this thread as we know more.

 

Hi bisco!

I pondered the idea of a salvage compressor. There's a great story on the Luscious Garage website where they use a salvage compressor and get the entire repair done for $850 with a compressor costing $400 from the local salvage yard. (see a couple posts later, the PriusChat says I don't have enough posts to be allowed to post a link. :-D )

The problem with this approach is that I believe the design of the compressor is actually defective: from the information I can gather (and the photos at Luscious confirm), the vanes in the scroll compressor are made of aluminum. That's insane to me, since the relatively thin aluminum vanes undergo millions of thermal and pressure gradients in that 8 years. I would completely expect aluminum to simply crumble from those stresses.

I plan to drive the wheels off this car, meaning at least another 8 years of ownership and the new compressor, manufactured by Nippondenso, has a lifetime part warranty. I'm hoping the vanes are steel - stainless steel would be great, but even mild steel would be a big improvement by comparison.

I've lurked PriusChat for many years - this is the first time I've felt led to start a thread. However, you (bisco) have a vast number of comments and "thumbs-up". I also see you list a 2012 Prius Plug-in as your vehicle. Please - can I get some comment from you about how you feel about your 2012 Prius and about Toyota in general? I'm feeling a serious loss of faith in Toyota and it upsets me to be driven to this.

I know Toyota has a history of loathing BEV's but they seem to be coming around. (At least in China.). So I've always hoped my next EV to be a nice, plain $30k Corolla-styled vehicle from Toyota, with all the Toyota features I've come to know and love (the keyless entry/exit/lock/unlock is a joy to use and the door handles are perfection). But this AC compressor fault (and the aluminum scroll vanes) really bothers me. I see it as a very fundamental design problem, and even though it's manufactured by a parts sub, it's still Toyota's game.

 

Got the Prius back from the shop today, the job took two days and cost approximately $2800. All exterior components of the system were replaced, including the condenser and the dryer.

I'd like to approach Toyota about this premature failure. Of course I'd like to see some money out of that, but more importantly, I'd like to have my faith restored in Toyota. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions about how to converse with Toyota about this?

 

Incorrect use of "I’ve red all manuals of my vehicle also".
You could have at least gigged me for my horrific comma splices.
Back 'o the line for you, Grit!

 

128k miles. It's a 2011, so that's about right for 8 years of commuting to work. What's your crystal ball saying about that?
And what's the "giddy" comment mean?

 

That's one heck of a screen name there, Mr. McCoalroller. I have to assume that's parody? :-D

"Another" refers to the large quantity of scroll compressors in the Gen 3 Prius that have failed and been talked about in threads here on PriusChat and on the internet. In addition to the one thread posted by Luscious Garage, with photos. You can find all that by searching here on "AC Compressor" or on the Luscious Garage website.

It has happened only once with me in particular, but I spent about a week searching, reading and researching, much on PriusChat and on the wider internet. Failure of the aluminum vanes on the scroll compressor is common and seems to get more common with time.

Those aluminum vanes just crumble over time. Aluminum cannot take the temperature extremes and pressure cycles in a scroll compressor.

I find this bizarre, given that the AC compressor on my 2000 Honda Insight hybrid has run trouble-free for 20 years. In addition, I myself have experienced NO FAILURE of an AC compressor in any other vehicle I've ever owned.

Good question, Mr. McCoalroller. You're pretty smart for a diesel driver! :-D

 

Well, Consumer Reports agrees with you Mr. bisco:
Tesla slips several spots in Consumer Reports reliability ranking
Of course, Consumer Reports is biased too. They've hated VW for decades. (Given Dieselgate, maybe they were right to?)

15,000 flawless miles on my Tesla Model 3 dual motor so far. Check back in with me in a couple years and we'll see how Tesla reliability stacks up against our Prius. I'm researching now what heat pump compressor they used in the Model 3. I'm terrified it has the same Nippondenso compressor that the Prius does.

 

Interesting update on the AC Compressor saga: I get a call from the service advisor at the car dealership 1 week after I took it in for the AC diagnosis.

He indicated that Toyota would fund the cost of the compressor, causing the repair cost to drop almost in half, to "only" $1600. Unfortunately, this was a week after the fact. I'd already paid my $2800 bucks at the independent garage.

We had an interesting conversation. I told him that, honestly, I was completely surprised and that I didn't think Toyota gave one flying flip about me as a customer. He said "That's not true at all. Toyota cares a great deal about their customers."

I wish they had cared enough to offer me the same deal on the day I had the car there being diagnosed.

Moral of the story: Anyone reading this thread with a dead AC compressor who goes to the dealership for repair, have the service advisor call to get some "financial help" on funding the compressor.

Cha-Ching! The Grocery Boy Jr. Delivers Again!