I blew up the inverter????

For whatever reason, Toyota chose to use a rather small capacity 12 vdc battery for the Prius. There is no cost savings doing so, quite the contrary when you price a replacement.

I had battery issues my first winter with my Prius, and was told to either drive it more - thus negating any fuel savings - or not use the headlights, electric rear defrost, and heat, not even an option at -30 C and colder

It's unreasonable to tell people "you have to drive the Prius often" to keep the 12 vdc battery at a proper charge. The only time you are warned about this is the various TSB's, and it's unreasonable to expect the layperson to subscribe to Techinfo and learn this

I finally solved my battery issues by hardwiring a VDC Electronics Battery Minder harness directly to the battery. It automatically keeps a float charge on the battery, won't overcharge, and claims to have reverse-polarity protection

As my FJ can sit for a week or more at a time, I also have a Battery Minder hooked up to it as well. Very good results with both, my Prius battery is 4 years old and still strong

I'm hoping Toyota is busy engineering in reverse-polarity protection for the dc-to-dc, as this is becoming the Prius Achilles Heel. True enough for a conventional car or truck, you can bugger things up by crossing polarity

As the Prius fleet increases in size, this could very well turn out to become the same mess as The Stall did. Mine stalled less than 4 months old, but since the dealership bent over backwards and all but kissed my butt, I quickly got over it

Let's all hope for a positive outcome from this.

 

If you have even the remotest thought that you might want to have Toyota/ the dealer held responsible for this, have an independent expert inspect the car before you try repairing things on your own. As soon as you try the self-help method, you can forget about any third party liability.

 

Excellent point. Don't even check the 12 vdc battery

 

Hi Ginny..,

Well, reverse polarity jumping will kill allot of cars. 20 or so years ago my mom sold her old Ford Granada to a friend of my brothers. The thing worked fine for the 8 or so years she had it. I replaced the battery for her once. This friend had the car for a month, and ran down the battery leaving something on. He then reverse polarity jumped it, and fried electronics (besides the usual stuff - alternator, radio) in the car which was worth more than the car, so he junked it. Sad story, but you, and anybody you let touch your car have to be really careful about polarity during jumping, a car, any car. Never be in a hurry, and never let anybody touch your car that is in a hurry. They just are not designed to take such abuse.

My opinion is the toe-truck guy screwed it up. It would not be the first time that has happened either.

And yes, the Prius hatch gas struts are very very stiff when the car is new. I left my hatch down, but not all the way down, and the light was on an hour later when I luckily had an nightime errand to perform. And found out I really really had to put some oomph into closing that hatch. Now its no problem.

If you really want to sell your car, Bob Wilson will give it a good home.

 

Lock your Prius. Always lock your Prius, not because you are worried about thieves, but because locking it will assure you that the hatch and doors are shut.

Tom

 

Perhaps there is a small market for an aftermarket kit to protect the inverter etc. How much are 150 Amp diodes these days, with a temp or current controlled fan to cool it ? Quick google search indicates perhaps $20-30 for the diode alone...

Say my wife is driving and the batt dies, which often happens here in Canada on cold-snap days where temps drop to -15 or -20. How do I know the roadside assitance guy will do it right ?

While were at it, how about a protected "REAL" 12v car battery adapter or add-on kit, so we CAN help jump start other cars (or run inverters) with no danger to our own cars ???

 

How about these Schottkys?

Digi-Key - MBRB4030T4GOSCT-ND (ON Semiconductor - MBRB4030T4G)

Ten for 24 bucks. Make a little socket compatible with the D2PAK so you can just plug in your spare (after you blow up the first one)

The beauty of diode protecting Prius (vs. a starter-motor vehicle) is that we can use a much smaller blocker.

 

Hi Doug,

I would say that the 40A current rating is insufficient, given the DC/DC fuse link is 100A and the fuse in the fuseblock over the positive battery terminal is 120A.

 

If any dealer pulled this on me, I'd hire a tow company with a flatbed and have the car towed elsewhere for a full diagnostic.

1. The car didn't start in the first place. (More than once?) That indicates a problem to begin with the had nothing to do with the jump.

2. This dealer doesn't know what's wrong with the car. First they say "fuse" or whatever? Then they change their minds and switch to a much more expensive fix? What codes did they pull? If they can't answer that, they don't know how to diagnose or fix.

3. Was it towed on a flatbed? If not, go after the tow company.

 

Hi Ginny,

The person that you will speak with at the Toyota 800 number has almost no technical competence, so s/he will rely on whatever status info is provided by the dealer.

You've mentioned that you live in a rural area. If you start asking your dealer to put things in writing you will slow down their response and further reduce their willingness to help you.

Do you have other Toyota dealers nearby? If not, may I suggest that it is in your benefit to try to maintain whatever positive working relationship you may still have with your dealer.

Yes, it is necessary to replace all burnt-out fuse links and fuses so that it is possible to test the inverter by logging DTC produced by the hybrid vehicle ECU. A dealership will not have a test bed; the inverter must be tested on the vehicle in question.

Again, this is why I suggest that you authorize replacement of all burnt out fuse links and fuses at minimum; ideally also replace the 12V battery. Then see what happens.

 

Yes. If you have the $4800 pay them. Take them to small claims court with or without a lawyer but with GOOD background evidence. More often then not you will win if you come prepared. You will need to have evidence that its probable that this problem existed and was the cause of the initial problem OR that the shop screwed it up in the repair.

 

if they told you the inverter was blown simply because that fuse was out... oh hell. i hope they didn't do that.

 

I think this was "The fusable link", which is a high current fuse used to protect the system from very high current flows. It isn't likely to blow unless a short circuit or the car is jump started wrong. In the first case there would be evidence of a short in the second case burning of the last point of connection of the jumper leads. Like dandruff, it leaves me scratching my head.

 

ok. so here's some info from the prius tech.

so the 100a fuse patrick was referring to, is a fuse. and not a fusible link.

the fusible link could be the glass tube one inside the inverter case. if it's blown, it's not a part that they can order and replace- it only comes as part of the inverter assembly.

that one is pretty much impossible to replace on its own even if it were a part that could be ordered...

 

come to think of it, we need to know exactly what part your dealer is talking about. we can speculate all day but that does nothing if we don't know exactly what it is.

 

Hi Galaxee,

What I have in mind is the 100A DC/DC fuse that resides within the ~5" long grey/clear plastic assembly. This assembly is attached to the positive jump start terminal located within the main relay/fuse box near the inverter.

Is that called a fuse or a fusible link? I thought the latter since the entire 5" assembly (that also contains a few other fuses to protect other circuits) is the field-replaceable part.

 

My prius charges at 14.9 which is normal rates for any auto.