A few weeks ago, I took my 2008 Prius to a car wash that does interior detailing. It took longer than normal to do it, as their online reservation system took two more reservations for said time period than it was supposed to. When I picked my car up, the guy said that he had to usemore water than usual, and that I may see some warning lights. He said that i should keep the windows open as much as possible for a few days. Every warning light was on, including my parking brake light. I aired it out for a few days, but then opened my console between the front seats a day later and there was an inch of water in it. I think he hosed the interior down with the water hose and vacuumed it out. When I drove it, the passenger speaker near the outside of the windshield crackled. If I ran the air conditioner for more than five minutes, a constant warning beep would start. Then, my power brake unit went out after the bell started, then I lost my power braking, then the car put itself into neutral, and then the power steering went out. I have error codes c1203, c1241, c1256, c1345, and c1392. I'm guessing my breaking ecu needs replaced. Any suggestions?
Also, if it suits for awhile, the warning lights are still on, but no beeping or loss of breaking, power steering, etc unless i run the air conditioner.
A good thread, if for no other reason, to show the pitfalls of having someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing work on your Prius.
Don't drive the vehicle or turn it on and get it towed to a mechanic who has experience/specialises in water damaged vehicles. The owner of the car detailing business that did this "work" better have business insurance because they're gonna need it!
There was a guy from India on here that posted he did the same thing. insane. They destroyed your car. All that tin under the dash is not designed to get wet much less all the electronic control boxes there’s like 10 of those under the dash. Amazing the car started. sorry but you are going to have to sue them. Take pictures and video of the wet car now.
Toyota put a TSB out warning against even using upholstery steam cleaners inside the vehicle, because the steam could condense to water inside electrical components. T-SB-0182-17 Interior Electrical Component Precautions
Off-topic, but I'd say same story for under-the-hood. There's more than a few horror stories here, you get talked into getting the engine bay "nice and clean", with a pressure washer, and surprise, surprise... I'd second insurance claims and going after the establishment that did the cleaning.
While power washing an engine was fairly normal with regular gas engine cars, you'd think people would realize that's not an option with high voltage electronics in a Prius engine compartment. Just the small amount of water that gets in there from washing the outside of the car combined with a spray bottle of all purpose cleaner and a rag is all you need to clean the engine compartment, even a really dirty one.
It seems like most of the underhood pressure wash adventures people report here are still about water getting in the ordinary 12 volt electrical connections (such as the goofy upward-facing one on the Gen 3 A/C compressor). Kind of stands to reason; there are so many more of those, and the few high-voltage connections in there are very well sealed up. That said, I did see a recent thread about cleaning and reflowing the PC board inside an A/C compressor where water (probably via the goofy upward 12 volt connector) did get in where the PC board was, causing a high-voltage isolation fault.
