Hybrid system Malfunction (Visit Your Dealership)

Another thing for Prime owners to note is that there is an additional A/C system service interval every 80k miles. It's for the exact reason above. The HV battery's health is dependent on the A/C system functioning properly. Just letting people know ahead of time so they don't think their dealer is trying to pull a fast one when they recommend the service. It's a real thing. Basically they just evacuate the refrigerant, measure it to be sure none has been lost, then put it back in.

 

Whats the age/KM for that because when i convert 80k miles to KM and check the Toyo Canada service schedule, they don't mention that service on their maintenance schedule at 130k, that's just "service 1" which is the most basic 6 month check in available.

Hopefully they have a more detailed maintenance schedule breakdown at the dealer because otherwise I could see this just never being done unless we ask for it and know about it in advance ourselves.

Addendum: If the A/C system is used to cool the battery, is there any point to ever leaving it off when driving in the summer then? If it's already running to cool the battery I assume that turning it on or off would make no difference then when actually driving the car in terms of preserving range or fuel efficiency then since the compressor for refrigerant circulation will be running anyway?

 

Don’t trust anything the dealer recommends.
If you want something done, ask them how much, but never ask for recommendations, unless you bring them back here first for expert advice

 

Toyota has been using variable speed / variable capacity compressors since 2004. So adding comfort cooling adds load and incremental power consumption.

 

If some regions/countries have a different corporate Toyota maintenance schedule, that covers A/C testing because its related to the hybrid battery, it would be nice to know why other regions don't have the same though.

Seems like a pretty big maintenance piece to have tested properly if its cooling the hybrid battery. And then you have to ask yourself if the A/C system is considered a hybrid system component now, or not. Because it's warranty period changes if it is or isn't.

 

And if it is important for cooling the battery, does it run automatically, or does the user have to turn it on, which might cause early battery demise?

 

edit: Double whoops. I thought I was wrong about what I said and originally posted that the RAV4 Prime had the 80k mile A/C service but the Prius Prime didn't. But after posting, I realized that Google had given me the regular Prius maintenance schedule, not the Prius Prime schedule, and I didn't notice. After tracking down the real Prius Prime schedule, the A/C service is right there. So I guess I was wrong about being wrong. lol

It's on page 52: https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-24PriusPrime/pdf/T-MMS-24PriusPrime.pdf

It's scheduled for 8 years/80k miles/128k km. (to convert mile intervals to km intervals, take the miles and divide by 5 then multiply by 8)

The footnote mentions it's connected to states that have the ZEV regulation, so maybe that's why it's not in the Canadian maintenance log.

 

It's independent of the cabin controls. Which leads to quite a lot of required operating modes. For example, it has to be able to cool the battery while heating the cabin.

The New Car Features goes through all those modes, and "The Car Care Nut" reproduces some of that info in this video:

(I didn't notice any difference between what was described there and the Prius NCF).

 

It's on Toyota's Europe technical site here:

Toyota-Tech.eu

Along with the Repair Manual, Electrical Wiring Diagram and Electronic Parts Catalogue.

But you need to pay for a subscription. The minimum subscription is something like 5 euros for one hour, letting you have a quick browse and save anything in particular you were looking for.

I don't know if that's accessible/payable from the US - I understand the US site forces you to take bigger subscriptions.

 

techinfo.toyota.com

 

All those options are kinda covered in one place, here:

Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat

 

The minimum US subscription is 2 days for $25. The Euro version is accessible from the US for 4 euros for 1 hour(~$4.25). (I'm currently using a 1 hour subscription to get the part number and wiring info for the rear fog light. )

 

Not really for two reasons.

1. The European New Car Features(NCF) will not be exactly the same as the US, though they will be very close. On the positive side, at least you have a Prime which is all Europe gets.

2. (the real reason) The NCF is not a single document that can be downloaded. It's a nested tree of hundreds of individual documents that would need to be individually saved.

 

Some documents there are single PDFs, while others involve you in clicking "print to PDF" a lot of times. That is a thing people have done.

 

The documents are often full of links to other documents, especially diagnostic and repair pdfs where the real details often reside. In addition, the docs are aimed at Toyota trained techs using lifts and sometimes special tools and Techstream.

The system is designed for use online where the links all work and schematics highlight paths, etc. Having organized pdfs is the next best thing which many of us accumulate.

With that said, a two day subscription can get a lot of information but trying to get the equivalent of a comprehensive repair or electrical manual requires careful organization and renaming of pdfs on your part.

Often the best general information is from videos like the Car Care Nut, a Toyota Master tech who now has his own shop. He has a recent video on heat pump systems in Toyota Primes. He describes the concepts and expresses concern on their complexity.

Perhaps the best technical content comes from WeberAuto on YouTube. He has a video on Tesla’s heat pump system which is probably the best in an automobile.