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High Voltage Fuse Keeps Blowing, No A/C

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Tusker, May 23, 2024.

  1. Tusker

    Tusker New Member

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    So I'm in the process of resurrecting a 2011 Prius that was sitting behind a repair shop for 5 years with a hole in the block. I replaced the engine, "reconditioned" the battery and have the car running and driving. Everything seems to be fine with the exception of the air conditioning.

    After attempting to charge the AC with no positive results, I found that the high voltage fuse under the "L" cover on the inverter was blown. I changed the fuse with one I had from a parts car, but it blew immediately after reconnecting my HV and 12v batteries and turning the car on.

    Is there anything else controlled by this fuse (Toyota PN 90982-11050) besides the AC compressor that I might want to look at? I assume that in sitting for 5 yrs, the AC compressor may have frozen, which may be over amping the motor and blowing the fuse. I have another AC compressor that I can swap on, but want to be aware of other things that could blow this fuse before I start wasting freon and fuses trying to diagnose the issue.

    Thanks in advance for your help
     
    #1 Tusker, May 23, 2024
    Tombukt2 likes this.
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    That's very interesting and our persona generation 3 2013 same engine and all is yours our engine swap was kind of the opposite when we hooked everything up and got the car or were attempting to get the car running The air conditioner circuit kept popping up in a scan and something was sucking the HV battery down a lot during my travels of messing with this I disconnected the orange plug from the air conditioner because I guess it has high voltage running to it even when it's off and it's turned on by the other plug on top of the compressor that I guess does the switching and controlling of said voltage unplugging the air conditioner stopped the drain on my HV battery and allowed me to get the engine and everything else running in the car which everything was running perfectly no problems but there was a problem with the HV battery that we didn't know yet and then after the car was running and working well about a month later I just plugged the air conditioner up had her put it on full blast drive around a few minutes and everything was good our air conditioner was not discharged during the engine change but it did sit for about a year almost two before the engine change with the air conditioning system never discharged at all I didn't even know there was a fuse in the Gen 3 inverter for the air conditioner so I'm wondering if the air conditioning was unplugged the high voltage portion of it would the fuse and circuit staty up not blow? I do know that just a little bit of overcharging of your gas or refrigerant can cause temporary lockup It can literally stop the compressor while it's running if the pressure gets too high If you catch it quick enough you can back it off and everything is good in the world If not and you just let it wind away until it craps out and essentially locks up then I imagine that'll create enough current draw that will blow that big fuse quite something.
     
    #2 Tombukt2, May 23, 2024
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    are the any trouble codes when using a prius compatible scanner?
     
    #3 bisco, May 24, 2024
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Just in case:

    You're aware the Prius AC system requires refrigerant HFC-134a (R134a), and a special oil?

    What's the miles on it?
     

    Attached Files:

    #4 Mendel Leisk, May 24, 2024
  5. Tusker

    Tusker New Member

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    I got the codes from reading the info display after the AC/Recirc hack. I have not read codes with any other scanner besides the Dr Prius app.
     
    #5 Tusker, May 26, 2024
  6. Tusker

    Tusker New Member

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    The car has 217k miles on it.

    Yes, I was using R134a.
     
    #6 Tusker, May 26, 2024
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  7. Tusker

    Tusker New Member

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    Do any of you know what else this high voltage fuse might control? Is it just the A/C or does it control the water pump as well?
     
    #7 Tusker, May 29, 2024
  8. Tusker

    Tusker New Member

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    Wanted to follow up on this. After junk yarding 4 high voltage fuses so I could troubleshoot the system, I wasn't able to get the fuse to blow again. Not sure why it blew two of them in a row, but I couldn't replicate it. I borrowed a fancy scanner from a friend and got a B1474 code, which was listed as a fault with the A/C inverter. I swapped the compressor with one from a parts car I have and the code went away. After charging the system with 470grams of freon, everything works great and I have cold AC.

    Thanks for the help
     
    #8 Tusker, Jun 1, 2024
    kc410, ASRDogman and bisco like this.
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats, well done!
     
    #9 bisco, Jun 1, 2024
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