Corroded AC wiring harness 2010 - anyone heard of this?

Newer heard of it. If this was design flaw, we would hear about this problem all the time. How many Gen 3 Prii are out there ? Close to 2 millions? But nobody mentioned it before you. So it must be very specific to your location/use/unlucky combination of factors. Maybe even manufacturing defect - they do happen, its just a question of how often?




- Alex

 

Good thought about dielectric grease. Has anyone asked the dealer if cleaning and applying dielectric grease or other corrosion inhibitor to the connection is a good or bad preventive measure and whether there is a TSB for this problem? The design of this connection does look like it would promote corrosion. Having to replace an expensive compressor and wiring sub-harness because of something like this is outrageous.

 

If its like the G2 compressor there's only one wire harness and thats the HI VOLT line from the Inverter to the compressor. The orange harness. No splicey there.
Must be replaced from the Inverter.

Which is not a real big deal but hard to find an Indie that won't be afraid of that. Don't have the G3 book but Inverter may have to come out.

First need to find out if its just the connector end on the harness thats rotted or the connector on the compressor itself also which would be a new compressor also.

Need to pull the harness out of the compressor and inspect terminal condition but be careful make sure car is off off!!!
HI VOLTAGE THERE WOOHOO!!

It will as they say in the electrician trade turn your hat around.

 

Yeah, seems to me the main time this gets done is if the car has been resold, by a dealership trying to impress the customer.

 

I inspected the AC compressor electrical connections on my 2010 Prius with 68,xxx miles. There are two electrical connections to the compressor, the high voltage power connection on the side of the compressor and a low voltage control connection that runs to the various AC sensors and controls. It is this latter low voltage connection on top of the compressor that exhibits corrosion. Below is a picture of the low voltage connection on top of the compressor. Notice the corrosion at the bottom right corner.




Below is a picture of the wire that plugs into the base of the connector. Notice that there is no corrosion on this part of the connection.




Below is a picture of the base of the connector on top of the compressor with the wire disconnected. Notice that the corrosion is on the metal that the base connector sits on, not inside the connector where the pins are. It appears that water sits around the base of the connector and corrodes the metal. Presumably the metal will eventually corrode until it disintegrates and cause the connection to fail. So this is a real problem, but it looks like it can be managed by applying anticorrosion material to the metal around the base of the connector.

The question is: what is the best corrosion inhibitor to apply to this area? It would be good to hear from a naval or automotive engineer, or materials expert.

Also, is there electrolysis between the connection and the metal? Would dielectric grease inside the connection help prevent this?

 

My best guess is a liberal application of dielectric grease. It should do the job.

 

^Non of the above, rather after further inspection, I am fairly certain it is galvanic or dissimilar metal corrosion. The body of the compressor is a nonferrous alloy and the bracket that attaches the connector to the compressor is a ferrous metal. Therefore, I am going to put dielectric grease inside the connector, but I have not decided exactly which anti-corrosion inhibitor to put on the outside.

 

great investigative work and pics den, very helpful, thanks!

 

i wonder if rain water could have gotten inside the connection? perhaps it was loose or defective.

 

10 minutes to dig down to that plug, then 30 minutes later: it's still plug 1, Mendel zero. I know there's a release at around 6:30 on the above pictures, but it's really playing hard to get.

 

So that connector's part-and-parcel of the compressor?

 

good question, looks like it's fastened on?

 

sounds like poor design, but i wonder why we aren't hearing about it more often?

 

right, and people drive in a ton of worse moisture than your area. strange that the dealer acted like they see it all the time. isn't it nice that when they sell you the car, they tell you it's bullet proof, then, when something goes wrong, they're like, well it's just the moisture in our area and low miles.???

 

It does, but special fasteners, like I've never seen before.

 

every time they come out with the special tool for the public, the mfg.'s come out with a new fastener.