Driving with a failed inverter coolant pump?

Hello Ed, I have a similar issue. My prius just got in a front end accident and now all of the inverter cooleant runs out the seam of the cvt. Is this major. Car is driving fine. Would you recomend towing or driving to get repaired.

 

Yes, this is major. Towing is best, because while the transaxle probably cannot be repaired, you still want to protect the inverter. If you have insurance, this is potentially enough for the car to be declared a total loss. Call your adjuster ASAP and ask to have the vehicle towed to a repair shop. If you are fixing out of pocket, best bet is to install a salvage transaxle. Try Mellor's Automotive in West Melbourne.

 

Thanks for this tip Patrick... I didn't want to risk the 20 mile drive after I cleared the P0A93... But that bag of ice worked great and saved me a tow truck! I'm waiting for the dealer to install the cooling pump right now!

 

Thanks for this tip... You saved me lots of dollars on a tow truck trip... That bag of ice worked way better than I expected!!!

 

Hate to be resurrecting this old thread, but I think my inverter coolant pump has failed as I can't hear it when putting my 2010 Prius in IG 2 mode (pressing power button twice without brake pedal). Just a few days ago the VSC light, ABS light, and emergency brake lights came on near the start of a trip I made. I also noticed regenerative braking wasn't working (the brake pedal was noticeably different and the charge meter never filled). After about an hour, I pulled over to get gas and checked a couple things, and as I pulled away the lights went away and the car drove normally again, for the remainder of my 6 hour trip. Today, I had the same symptoms as above. I did a little research and found the inverter coolant pump was likely the issue.

All that being said - am I crazy to think I can make the 6-7 hour return trip with a non-working inverter coolant pump, if that is in fact the issue? Thankfully I'm in the Northeastern US, where temperatures for my return trip in a few days will be around 10-15 F, so things will definitely be pretty chilly. From my understanding there's a chance I could overheat/fry the inverter itself - is it dumb to push my luck, or am I likely to be okay with such cold weather?

 

First of all, thanks for your response. If I'm remembering correctly, the lights came on about 15-20 minutes into the trip, which was all highway at that point - so 15-20 miles or so. I got off at the next exit, and as I was pulling into a parking lot, all the lights kicked off and the car went back to working normally. I got back on the highway, and the issue returned about 10 minutes later, and remained in that state until I stopped to get gas ~1 hour later. Then as I was getting back on the highway, all the lights went back off, and the car operated as normal for the rest of the several hours on the road (including some stop and go traffic).

Today when I turned the car on (first time since making the trip) the lights came on after about 5 minutes of driving.

I'll check with a flashlight as you described in the morning. Just to be clear, pressing the power button twice (without the brake pedal being depressed) should definitely start the inverter coolant pump running, right?

 

It may be low on coolant. My daughter got a deal on her 09 and a few days later the dash lit up. Code was inverter pump failure. It was just low on coolant. It's been fine for about 2 years.

 

I just again checked the inverter coolant reservoir, looking down the filler hole with a flashlight and after having pressed the power button twice (without brake pedal). The coolant is perfectly still. I bumped the tank with my hand to verify that I would be able to see the fluid moving, and I can definitely tell that there's no turbulence when I'm not moving it myself. I also felt both hoses going to the tank and felt no vibration, and listened closely again and could hear no pump running. So... where can I find the fuse for that pump? I'd like to at least take a look at the fuse.

Nope, not low on inverter coolant... the level this morning is about 3/4 of the way full between the Full and Low lines. I did add a bit to the engine coolant (different reservoir) about a week ago as it was almost down to the fill line, but that should be unrelated.

 

Why not start the car normally and see what happens?

You say 2010 (Gen3), but this is a Gen2 thread?

Haven’t seen many Gen3 inverter water pumps fail yet.

Have you gotten the codes read or have a code reader? Know someone who does?

The inverter water pump on our 2010 is just behind the drivers headlight. You can probably put a stethoscope or make a poor man’s stethoscope out of a piece of metal and listen to the pump to see if it is working.

How many miles on your Prius?

Keep us posted.

 

Yes, this is a Gen3/2010 model - sorry, I didn't realize this was a Gen2 thread.

I'll try starting the car normally and see if I can make out a pump running. My Dad (where I am for the holidays) has an OBD diagnostic tool, but it didn't show any codes or at least I couldn't find them in the phone app he had - I may try this again and fiddle with it to see if I can find anything it's reporting.

My Prius has just shy of 167,000 miles on it.

I'm also going to go buy a voltmeter and measure the battery, both with the car off and on - from my understanding, it should be around 12V off and 13.8V with the car on? My Dad had an old battery charger that we checked the battery with, and it helpfully indicated the battery was "charged", but I'd feel much more comfortable with an actual voltage reading.

 

If there are lights on the dash, you’ll be able to see what the car is telling you is wrong if you have the right software.

Where is your dad located? If we know the location, we might be able to help with pointing you to a shop.

Sounds like your dad has some equipment, no multimeter or voltmeter? You can pick up a serviceable one cheap (I have a free one from Harbor Freight ).

Keep us posted .

 

So with the car fully started (but after the engine turns off) I can hear something that sounds like a pump running - but not behind the driver's side headlight, closer to the other side of the car.

I bought a cheap voltmeter/multimeter and checked the battery directly, first with the car off - 12.1V, and with the car fully on - 14.8V. So it seems the battery and charging circuitry is operational.

There are lights on the dash, but the OBD tools tells me "no fault codes", which I think is because the OBD software is crap, not because there are no fault codes. I really need to just buy a good one (may not help me right now, but for future use). Anyone have recommendations? I know I've heard good things about Scangauge, other than that I haven't researched getting one at all.

Dad is located in the Lake George/Glens Falls area in upstate NY.

I'm going to try jumping pins 4 and 13 on the OBD port and see if I can get the codes to clear. Obviously not really a solution, but maybe then I'd try plugging the OBD tool in and drive around until the codes are thrown again.

 

While your situation is not great, your location is.

@m.wynn is located in Queensbury and has a vxdiag paired with Techstream .

He might be willing to help with a diagnosis if you talk nice to him.

Got a text from him this morning that it is -5 F there so I know he’s up and about and might be looking for a diversion today .

 

Wow, thanks! I'll definitely give him a shout.

Clearing the codes did essentially nothing; when I turned the car on after clearing them, the lights (being the stability control light, emergency brake light, and the ABS light) all first went off but came back on after about 5 seconds.

 

Any history of damage to the car?

12.1 volts, while it seems ok is relatively low. Given how cold it is there, this may be affecting the electronics more than usual, given a low 12v battery.

Our 2010 with 171 k miles on it had a reading of 12.61 this morning (original battery in the car when bought in 2009).

Good luck .

 

Nope, no history of damage to the car, I have all the maintenance records (and ran a carfax when I bought it 2 years ago). The previous owner had the 12V battery replaced back in... 2013 or 2014 I think, I don't have the records in front of me.

Some kind of issue with the cold does seem to make sense to me, seeing as how after the first hour or so of my 7 hour trip here, I was able to get the lights to go off and stay that way for the rest of the trip. Makes me think once something had warmed up enough (or, if the battery was the issue, charged for long enough) everything started working normally.

 

No worries.

We got to the bottom of it.

Let’s hope he is in @m.wynn ’s capable hands.