Got my '05 super white pkg 3 prius last month, and loving it. Especially since gas prices here have gone up quite a bit since then. It's the only car that I don't mind driving rush hour traffic in. After driving through one of those automated car washes (or even washing by hand.) I noticed that there is a lot of water getting into the inverter/other engine cabin components. I don't know if this is normal, has anyone else seen this? is this something that I should be concerned with? I know that there is a sponge like material on the hood assembly, and some weatherstrip material on the body of the car. This stuff looks to be completely intact and it looks to be making a good seal. I guess I'm most worried about it getting into the orange split loom, that would probably be a very bad thing, even pure DI water at ~500v isn't something I'd feel totally comfortable around. Also, has anyone made/modified a cabin air filter frame to accept other types of filter media? Something like perhaps the activated carbon/sticky stuff you can get at home depot for central HVAC? I found some 'universal' filter material in that section today, and thought it might be a neat hack to put in the prius. Unfortunately that stuff is only rated to last for 3 months. Activated carbon is supposed to help reduce odor causing materials, so that might be useful when following 'ordinary' stinky cars..
[font=Comic Sans MS:50d2fac95d]My engine compartment is pretty dry, and this part of the country isn't. Do you have a black rubber strip along the leading edge of the hood that closes down on the black plastic over the radiator? That and the foam on the body just in front of the plastic drains for the windshield seem to keep me dry. It shouldn't hurt anything in there to get a little wet. As you know, the Prius is well designed. I added some activated carbon filter material after my stock cabin filter for odor, but following a stinky car, the best bet is recirc. I was looking at a "universal" passive electrostatic filter at my Home Depot and thinking I could cut several cabin filters from it. That media is washable. No need to modify the Prius filter carrier, just cut the media to fit and place it in the carrier tray. [/font:50d2fac95d]
Yep, After a car wash by myself, I also found some water on the Synergy drive cover. Somehow, the water got under the hood through the seals. I haven't had the time to track it down, though.
I would be a lot more worried about water standing on top of the motor itself. Frank Hudon, a forum member here, had a bad hood seal and water pooled on top of the ICE around the spark plug tubes. The water then got into the spark plug tubes and he ended up with a misfire and Check Engine warning. I think he had Toyota replace the hood seal - this is a known TSB issue for some Prius - and also the spark plugs, wires, and tube seals.
Thanks to everyone for their quick replies. I think whole thing was brought on because of the 'blow dryer' this particular car wash place uses. I don't think there would be sufficent water to cause damage to the ignition devices as that area is pretty warm and will probably drive off any moisture that could get there (???) On the other hand, electronics don't really like moisture at all. I've seen board casualties due to insufficent washing/cleaning. When they go through first powerup, lots of funny colored sludge results. This was of course due to the remaining flux residue and water. Then again, all engine wiring is pretty well protected against this, soooo.. I'm probably just being paranoid... Something I will keep an eye on though... All in all, the prius is a great car, lots of fun to drive, it makes parking lots fun too!
the spark plug tube seals under the ignition coils is the only real problem with water on the engine. Cost $104 to find out as it finally set the MIL after about a month, started missing and finally stalled, in the dealer parking lot I might add. As for the rest of the engine compartment components like the orange rinkle cover on the wiring don't worry about it. My problem started when I washed the ICE with an bio-degradeable cleaner then flushed it off with a garden hose. I now blow out the plug tubes and the coils with compressed air after washing the ICE.
I've always had bad luck washing motors, unless the motor was already pulled from the vehicle and bolted to a motor stand. With my '84 Ford, about 2 years after I bought it new, I went to a car wash to pressure wash the motor. THe Ford 302 of that vintage had lovely valve cover gaskets, they leaked like crazy. So after I put on "proper" valve cover gaskets (They're still on and haven't leaked since) I used the wand to pressure wash the motor, then left the hood up for 5 mins to - hopefully - let the water evaporate. The motor started easy enough, but at the first stop sign it started to buck and misfire. I made it another mile or so and it quit. The distributor on a Ford 289/302 V8 is at the very front of the motor, above the water pump. Evidently, a bit of water got into the distributor housing, as a large chunk of the side was missing. You could see the rotor too. That must have been a serious arc path. So I had to hitch a ride (Back then in small towns everybody stopped to help out stranded motorists, way before cell phones too) to the nearest parts store and get a new distributor housing, cap, and rotor. It took 5 mins to replace and ran like new. I've never washed a motor after that either. Unless the motor is a serious leaker, at the most you'll have some dust. That's easy enough to wipe off or just ignore. Jay
I hope you wear a good respirator. A lot of the chemicals used in pressure washing aren't good for you. Also, you never know what sort of chemical environment the forklift truck operated in, so you could be knocking loose a lot of dangerous dusts, then breathing them in. Can't say I don't try to look out for people ...
