Recall Alert-2004-2007 Inverter Water Pump

Thanks for the link, saechaka. I checked and sure enough, my 07 is on the list for the water pump replacement.

 

thank you so much to to OP for posting this I just registered at my toyota on the toyota web site and found this under my service records. My car hasn't had this done yet and I was just thinking of replacing this pump so now I can get it done for free :clap2:

 

My inverter pump went bad (check engine and red triangle lights came on) in July and I had it fixed at the deal for ~$400. Sounds like I have a case for refund. What number should i call to get the refund?

thanks.

 

Thanks for the link.

Oddly my 2007 does not show recall on that site.

Must be production date variation.

Mine has a prod date of 7-2007.

 

It won't be replaced again unless it was replaced with the old part number pump. The "recall" still uses the same "improved" pump that was part of the TSB.

 

so here's a question - i've followed this issue over the years and wondered if i needed a new pump. at least according to toyota, both my priuses (2006 and 2007) are part of the recall.

both of these cars make the intermittent 'whining' or 'screetching' sound when pumping coolant into the thermos, when you turn off the ignition. is that the same pump that's being replaced here? or is that a different pump?

thanks for any insights.

 

thanks, JeffD. now that you mention it, i knew about that TSB but clearly i've conflated the two issues. i have to go dig that TSB up.

my cars are both solidly out of warranty (the 2006 has 107k miles now). if something is only "covered" by a TSB (rather than a recall or LSC) is it something that i have to haggle with the dealer over to have it repaired on toyota's dime?

 

Well, this issue has gotten some press attention now. I saw this while going thru my stock portfolio.
Toyota fixing coolant pump in Prius globally - Yahoo! Finance

edit: It's now gotten yet more attention. A link to http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101130/bs_nm/us_toyota_prius is on front page of Yahoo now with headline "Toyota to fix coolant pump glitch on about 650,000 Prius cars".

 

I was about to go oh boy, not another which hunt. But I'm glad Toyota is taking action with the inverter water pumps.

 

So why doesn't this issue effect 08 and 09? Did they already fix it or is toyota screwing the last to model years of the gen II?

 

It apparently doesn't affect all VINs of certain model years (07?). It's possible Toyota made a running change (e.g. change of part, redesign, improved design, in response to field failures/warranty claims, response to internal testing, as part of an investigation into other failures, change to another supplier, etc.) This is all speculation on my part.

It's not like the Prius was totally unchanged in other aspects throughout the entire 2nd gen. The 06 model year brought the biggest changes (some as options) such as the higher res MFD, backup camera, audio input jack, leather, different dash texture, hybrid badges, etc.

edit: More coverage at http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/11/30/toyota-keeping-prius-customers-happy/?mod=yahoo_hs.

 

The owner community (read: PriusChat members) identified that the part number had been updated at least a couple of years ago after pump failure in some of the earlier model years. Obviously Toyota realized there was a problem and updated the pump then.

 

Ya! I brought my car in for an oil change Friday and they did the re-replacment then. I'm glad becaue the "new"one was starting to scream again. An oil change, tire rotation and pump re-replacement took 3 hours and cost $28.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. Mine will be replaced Thursday.

 

For those of you affected, I hope Toyota treats this as Honda did on the only recall that affected my '88 CRX Si. I had an igniter fail, putting my car behind a tow truck for the only time in its lifetime. I had an independent Honda only shop replace it and they told me to hang on to the receipt as they were seeing quite a few of these failures and they suspected an eventual recall. It was recalled a year later so Honda replaced the igniter with the redesigned one at no charge, and reimbursed me for the earlier repair AND the $100+ tow bill, all with no questions or arguments.

If you had a tow bill for an earlier replacement, at least try for reimbursement on that as well!

 

My Prius dealer says that this is an extended warranty program, not a recall replacement. They will replace pump if they hear it making noise when doing oil change etc, OR the dreaded red triangle lights, or check engine lights and has certain codes. Advisor THINKS the Prius should run on the ICE without the inverter pump running. Boy, I sure hope he's right.