The IPM in my 2011 Prius went out and needs to be replaced. From my research I’ve found that you can’t really replace the IPM without replacing the whole inverter. So I found a place I’m going to buy a refurbished inverter from but I asked and they said they wouldn’t buy the old one from me. is there anywhere out there that will buy my faulty inverter to refurbish? Since it’s a pretty complex part and only a small piece of it isn’t working properly, I’d hate to not get some value back out of it. Any advice?
You don't need a refurbished unit, just buy a used unit from anywhere that has one (junkyard). They don't fail often. They don't want your old one because they don't really "refurbish" that type of part. They are just selling you a used unit
ZE3 warranty enhancement for the IPM covers you for 15 years unlimited mileage. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10145758-9999.pdf
the fact that there is a warranty out on the inverter makes it seem like they’ve had a lot of issues with them. If I go the junkyard route, is there any way I can test the used inverter before I buy it?
There have not been many reported failures on these, so it probably would be a safe purchase from a junkyard with a totaled/parted out vehicle. I don't think there's much demand so the prices should be fairly reasonable on this part
That's good to know. I was accelerating hard when it went out so that makes sense. Unfortunately with where I live I'm almost always jumping on to a 70mph highway and merging with traffic from a stop.
Not always. Mine went out in a parking lot when powering up the car. Stone cold dead, required a tow. The real reason is a marginal design in early gen3s somewhat mitigated by the firmware update. Somewhat because many including mine had the update within days of availability (my sop), but the failure still occurred months later. The replacement hardware has effectively prevented repeat failures. It is far easier to replace the whole inverter than it is to replace the problem board. But you don't get the better parts so its a compromise many accept. If you do go used, I would still pay the dealer to verify or install the software update.