Anyone change coolant control valve

GLIDE50,

I had to replace the control coolant flow valve on my '07 Prius about a year ago. As you probably are acutely aware, the second generation Prius uses a 3-way valve to control coolant flow between the engine, the hot coolant storage tank (thermos), and the heater core. Thus it’s involved in heating the passenger cabin (when requested), as well as reducing cold start emissions (with the coolant storage system). Anything that has to do with emissions illuminates the “check engine†light; if something goes wrong with this valve, the “check engine†light comes on.

Evidently the valve is prone to sticking, and Toyota has issued a technicial service bulletin (TSB) on this problem: EG001-08 M.I.L. “ON†DTC P1121.

The fix is replacing the valve. It’s mounted along the driver’s side frame of the engine compartment, near the radiator, and can be removed by elevating the inverter and pulling the valve out from the top. With good use of hose clamps, the job can be performed without loosing more than a spash of coolant.

How much did the repairs cost me?

Warranty time for valve replacement, as listed in the TSB, is 2.1 hours. I took it into a local independent Toyota garage that specializes in Prius repairs and they took about 1.75 hours to complete the job. The labour charges ran about $210.


As for the parts, the Valve Assy, Water, P/N 16670-21010: $78.59 at dealers and $62.50 at toyotapartseast.com
Qt Super Long Lift Coolant: $5

The grand total came in at slightly shy of $300


Cheers and beers!

 

An alternate experience.

I had the stuck valve code earlier in the life of my 2004 Prius. The dealer had not fully filled the ICE coolant at 100k miles when both the ICE and inverter coolants were drained and refilled. The car needed to be towed back to the dealer as the engine was overheating.

After properly filling the coolant and clearing the codes (for free of course as was the flat bed tow), I deferred on replacing the valve (He quoted $375). It has worked fine ever since and I just went over 200k miles. I believe that air in the valve can cause sticking since the coolant acts as a lubricant.

JeffD

 

Check Engine light the past week........
Pulled the P1121 Code.
Purchased the valve yesterday, the day before the 4th July holiday.... so time was a factor.
Dealer quoted me $82 but I told them another quote was $75......... they countered at $74.....never hurts to ask for a better price.
My only concern is the coolant!
I just changed out my coolant about 12k miles ago and can't bear the thought of having to re-purchase more of this $$ stuff.
Hoping I can get away with re-using what I drain out.

 

Yes, you can - as long as you drain the coolant into a clean container for reuse.

 

Thanks Patrick.....
That's good news.
A side to this bad valve issue.
Curious if this valve-going-bad........ was the source of an intermittent "dry pump whirling noise" I would hear ever so often?
This, of course should answer itself in time, if after the fix I should never hear it again!

EDIT...I just found the thread that describes the air-purge and will try my hand at this procedure!
Changing engine coolant | Page 3 | PriusChat

EDIT EDIT....Success...!
Entered Inspection Mode....several burpings and slow coolant top-offs later (about 1 hour)...I took her out for a short 5 min drive, parked it, cooled down and check radiator cap coolant level remained full.
THANKS .. Prius Chat AGAIN to the rescue!

SIGH....Red Triangle flashed on/off .....in tandem with Temp Icon.......while driving home (about 4 miles) after changing out this valve.
I'm suspecting air in the system not bled off appropriately. Wiring harness re-connected.
All hoses reconnected correctly....no leaks.
Anyone with thoughts on this?
Anything else I need to consider or procedure I need to follow to correct this?

Thanks

 

AutoNation Toyota of Irvine is charging me $570 (before tax) P/L to get this fixed. This is the 3rd time I've taken it to them asked for diagnosis -- each time they charged me $90.

Is it fair I talk to Toyota to get reimbursed for the previous times they failed to fix this even though there is a service bulletin and it did get the engine code?

 

You can ask.

When I lived in OC I formed the opinion that the Irvine Toyota dealer service dept was unscrupulous based upon experiences my daughter had as well as a few first-hand impressions. I hope their service practices have improved.

 

With the valve replaced (I supposed, since I didn't ask for a core), my coolant pump sounds like it's working again after sounding very weak for quite a while. I wonder if these two are correlated.

I've also noticed that my engine-check light for something wrong with O2/exhaust-catalyst hasn't come on in a while (over 500 miles -- a full tank cycle). I wonder if these two are also correlated.

Meanwhile, at a stop-light, I think I hear the valve faintly flipping back-and-forth again.

 

After replacing the inverter coolant valve, I leaked a decent amount of coolant from the radiator. Now that I can imagine I got air bubbles in my system after topping it off, do I bleed the system in this order:
1) CHRS
2) Heater Core
3) inverter coolant valve

Thanks in advance!