Engine rattles tremedously after replacement of inverter

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019.

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  1. AsianDriver

    AsianDriver New Member

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    Hi guys. In need of help asap. 2010 Prius with 388K. Actually i blew up the old motor. Just put another motor in that only have 80K on it. Works fine after the swap, for about 3 weeks. Then a couple days ago it stalled on me on the freeway. I have my obD2 on and was linked to dr prius app. I can see that the temp was 120 degrees on the 2nd location. So i took it home on the lower streets. Got home ran some test on the hybrid battery. Battery was fine after it cool down. I am able to drive it again. Then i strated to work thinking its solved. This time it stalled out on me again after a hour long drive. I was able to use the App to turn the fan on and i blast the AC on cold. It cool the battery temp and i made it home. When i got home an hour later, it did it again. But this time the battery temp was not hot. Its at random i guess.

    So this morning i went to the car junk yard and got an inverter from the same car that i got the motor from. Put it in...and rattle rattle rattle.!!!!!!! The motor shakes violently. I turned it off. I returned the inventer to the junk yard thinking it was bad and got another one. Got home, popped it in and the exact same thing!!! Rattle rattle and shakes!!!!! So 2 bad inverter???? Ok so let see if it shakes when i put back the original inverter from this car. It didnt shake or rattles before. Well i popped it in..... Shakes and rattles. Now Im at a loss. I have no idea what to do next except to shoot it now. Any help will greatly appreciated. Thank you
     
    #1 AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019
  2. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Sounds like the inverter isn't the problem. They rarely are.

    Your new engine may only have 80k but it's not healthy.
     
    #2 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Dec 9, 2019
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  3. AsianDriver

    AsianDriver New Member

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    Maybe so but i put over 10K miles on it since the replacement. It was fine until a couple days ago when it stalled on me. Now i hve this rattling noise when replacing the inverter. I hvae used 3 inverters so far and all same rattles. But the rattles was not there before i start changing out the inverters.
     
    #3 AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019
  4. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    Clean the egr circuit
     
    #4 tankyuong, Dec 9, 2019
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    but the original engine went 388k without cleaning it(n)
     
    #5 bisco, Dec 9, 2019
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  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    ...and blew up. No idea if somebody nursed it carefully through the last 280k of that.
     
    #6 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Dec 9, 2019
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  7. AsianDriver

    AsianDriver New Member

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    Back story. I got this car about 16 months ago. When I got it, it had only 140K. Now it's at 388K since I drive Uber. I had a blown head gasket a few months back so I went the easy route.... I put that Blue Devil gasket fixer!!!! The next day I drove about 500 miles on it. Everything was fine. The next morning while I was with passengers, the damn motor blew up on the freeway. I was limping back home and died halfway. Got my roommate to come tow me home. Then I take a good look at the motor. Cylinder #2 three a rod and busted the casing front and back. I just went and got another motor and popped that in. Drove 3 weeks on it so far until now... now we have this problem.
     
    #7 AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019
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  8. AsianDriver

    AsianDriver New Member

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    I have cleaned everything there is to cleaned. Egr, PVC, etc etc. Everything. I changed out the water pump and I rebuild this current battery about 3-4 months ago. The thing I have not worked on is the inverter system.
     
    #8 AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019
  9. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    Does an OBD scan show any diagnostic codes?
     
    #9 Rebound, Dec 9, 2019
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  10. AsianDriver

    AsianDriver New Member

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    Battery codes says to replace battery pack. But that code has always been there way before the rattle. I just cleared it every time.

    Engine codes are related to O2 sensors and catalytic converter. No misfiring codes at all
     
    #10 AsianDriver, Dec 9, 2019
  11. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    I’d cut my loses and buy a corolla or Camry and never look back if I’m in such situation after investing in multiple motors and inverters.
     
    #11 Grit, Dec 9, 2019
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  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    hmm... uber passengers stranded on highway. no wonder i still drive myself everywhere :cool:
     
    #12 bisco, Dec 10, 2019
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  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    120 degrees (Fahrenheit) is not an abormally high temp for sensor #2. In stop-and-go city driving on a warm day in particular.

    I didn't know Dr Prius could do that btw. Thought it could read a few codes, could change when the Hybrid fan comes on, but didn't read the temp. I have read temp, though with ScanGuage.

    I'd chime in with the others: check the EGR components and intake manifold, make sure they're free-flowing.

    Ok, you say you've done all that. Not sure then.

    One thing, I get the sense you want it to be something, and are willing to bend the data to make it that. That might lead you in the wrong direction: keep an open mind when troubleshooting, consider all the possiblities.
     
    #13 Mendel Leisk, Dec 10, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2019
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  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    maybe time for tech stream?
     
    #14 bisco, Dec 10, 2019
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  15. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I'm trying to understand your troubleshooting methodology.

    In one sentence, the HV battery is bad, with what you believe is a high temp, so you crank the AC. 120F will not cause a battery to shut the car off, so I'm at a loss about that. Actually, I don't think any battery temperature will cause the car to shut down.

    Your initial symptoms would tend to lead me to looking at inverter temperatures and the inverter cooling system. I'm trying to understand why you jumped right into swapping the inverter. Unfortunately, I would now venture something happened during a swap and either something isn't connected correctly or there's a broken wire/bad connection somewhere.
     
    #15 TMR-JWAP, Dec 10, 2019
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  16. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Sensor #2? Talking about hv bat temp sensor? Or another type of sensor?
     
    #16 Grit, Dec 10, 2019
  17. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah sorry, getting esoteric: there's 3 sensors on the hybrid battery, spaced along the top. The midde one (#2) tends to be hottest, and I think the usual one monitored, for this reason.
     
    #17 Mendel Leisk, Dec 10, 2019
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  18. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    120F on any battery sensor bad, in fact your hv bat went into protection mode and may have caused the limp. Hwy regen must have help the high temp build up quickly and if you had the heater on. Double check dr prius fan settings and lower the fan on threshold to speed up the hv fan intake. Then turn on AC so fan can pull air into the pack, fan is at speed 1 when any sensor is above 96F, speed 2 at 102F.
     
    #18 Grit, Dec 10, 2019
  19. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I was thinking the same. Guessing isn't the way to fix a modern car. It's too much work and too much money. Need data from a code reader for one thing.
     
    #19 jerrymildred, Dec 10, 2019
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