HV battery cooling fan fault and fix

That connector is not connected to the fan operation. That's for the light right?

 

I don't think that the wires for cargo light is on the same circuit as hv fan....

 

Can confirm, was having a similar issue and a corroded connector on the left side of the boot was the culprit for me too! Thank you for the write up.

 

welcome, and thanks for the confirmation!

 

Great job, since it’s a 04, and in the UK and you have identified one corroded connector. Probably the salt in the air. You may want to spray/ &/or clean all the accessible connectors with electra-clean.

 

Imagine paying 400£ for a bit of corrosion..............some do.

 

I'm having the exact same problem (with a salvage fan - that worked in the car once). I shall be having a look quick.

When you get to it. Do you clean it, replace it, what?

 

I think that depends on how you'd want to go about. Inspect it, and see extend of damage. That would definitely tell you, if it needs repaired, or replaced.

 

I think he cleaned it, Electro Clean is a good product. just moving the connector in and out also helps. if you have one corroded connector, you probably have more, look around.

 

I think the corrosion may be from hatch leak as it runs down the inside of the car in that area.
Leak can be confirmed by checking for water under the spare tire or water in the battery well.

Leak is where the roof meets the quarter panel where it’s spot welded in the valley of the hatch in the corner.
Hairline cracks running up the valley the long black plastic strips run on each side of the roof.
Pull the black plastic strips off they just pop offand look for hairline cracks in the paint from the valley area.

 

I remember having some water and colour/grime in both metal wells a few years ago as edthefox5 describes.

I can get to it, but rn I don't have any cleaner or the time or place to work on this. Well, that and I'm terrified of breaking something fragile. Until then I only have a 50 mile driving range before lights start a flashin.

 

Your fear of breaking something must be overcome, your 21 years old. Fear is the enemy of mankind. Everybody has the same 24 hours a day. It’s a pleasure to work on your car on a nice day. Stock your trunk with car related items.

 

Most likely I've misunderstood what was wrote, but if you're driving around without a working HV fan you might want to fix it before any additional battery damage occurs.

 

Ha, don't worry. I got probably over 10kg of junk like that in the boot. Including a lovely tool set I got as a gift that ejects every single thing, nut and gauge inside that was once neatly sorted as soon as you left it still and looked at it funny.
My concern is doing something dumb and ultimately breaking the car. Which will only spell havoc.

I had faaaar worse this time last year, before I got an OBD reader. The lights were showing for 2 months and I didn't know why. There were 2 times when it entered limp mode - and all because the dude who cleaned my fan forgot to plug it back in. Now, I don't particularly drive far enough to get above 36C (which triggers the hv fan fault lights), but none of that matters now!

I'd like to say that this method does work. At least when commanding the fan to start on the Torque app, it does so and whirrs away without any lights coming up. I've yet to see what it does after a long enough drive.

Just doused the plug in electrical contact cleaner and left it to dry. The pics show it as I found it.

 

Are you saying that using the Torque (or Torque Pro) app you can force the Hybrid Battery cooling fans to run?

 

Beware, if you override the ECU and command a particular speed, it will stay at that speed, even if circumstances were that the ECU wants to run the fan faster. Not a problem if you run the fan full speed, but could be dangerous if you command the fan on speed 1 or 2.

Just be aware of the danger.

 

My problem is that I had to abandon my attempt at reconditioning the HV battery of my 2010 HiHy because I could not confirm whether the cooling fans were running at all. I could not hear any sound nor could I detect any air movement - neither at the inlet vents nor at the outlet vent.

Next time I try to do the battery reconditioning, I plan to stop the process periodically and check the battery temps using either the Mini VCI or the Bluetooth adapter (which I still need to purchase).

Any suggestions on how to go about doing this without harming the HV battery? I am assuming that I will have to switch on the ignition of the vehicle to connect to either the Mini VCI or the Bluetooth adapter. Would that be safe to do right after charging the battery for, say 10 hours at a stretch or after discharging it.

 

If the cooling fans were running, I'm fairly sure you would know.

I would think it would be better to find out why the system is not running the fans and fix it. You said that they were running when your harness was installed. I would not try any charging without the fans running.

 

Using the Mini VCI and/ or the Bluetooth adapter I also wanted to first establish that the fans are actually running during the normal use of the vehicle so I can be sure of that going into the summer.