Dealership recommending HV battery fan service for Prime

IMHO: You shouldn't need to clean the fan, if the filter is in place and undamaged. That's the job of a filter!! Now if the filter is missing or damaged, you'll have to clean out the entire pathway - just to be safe and ensure everything is working properly. Whatever damaged your filter, could be hung-up in your air cooling system someplace - ready to short-out or damage something else.

 

Check out this video from the Car Care Nut.

 

DEALER RECOMMENDED SERVICE vs. FACTORY RECOMMENDED SERVICE

Dealers ALWAYS recommend addition services. I took my 2021 Prime to a dealer for the first time since I purchased the car. With 50k, I purchased the factory recommended 50k service. Additionally the Service Department wanted to empty, flush and refill my fuel tank for $350 and replace my PVC valve for another $250. Of course they also wanted to empty, flush and refill my brake fluid. NONE of these items is factory recommended. Just profit for the service department.

By the way, after changing my oil and rotating my tires, they didn't even top off my fluids. After checking, I had to go back and make them do that. Poor service but about what I expected. I did get their free 20 point inspection report.

This has been my experience at most authorized dealers, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Subaru, etc. Doesn't matter where.

 

That's crazy!!

Probably not needed, but not that hard of a job as I recall.

Not necessarily a bad thing to do at 50k. There is a simple test for moisture, though.

 

Which “fluids”?

The two coolant reservoirs may drop in the first few years of ownership, maybe due to air pockets from the factory fill working their way out.

othen’n that: brake fluid? A properly functioning brake system is very unlikely to need a top up. The level will drop as pads wear. Then with pad replacement, goes back up. I would second the comment about periodic brake fluid replacement. FWIW Toyota Canada recommends tri-yearly or 48k kms (30k miles). I realize Toyota USA says nothing though; your call.

Transaxle fluid? With no dipstick, it’s involved to check the level. And unless there’s leakage evident, should be good. A transaxle fluid CHANGE is something to consider though.

what else we got, windshield washer fluid…

 

Turns out that the reservoir was for the HV Coolant. In my 2021, the tank is up front to the left of the 12V battery.

 

I agree with everyone else. The 2017-2022 prius prime has pretty solid air filters for the hybrid battery fan, so I doubt the fan would be dirty. I have gotten this service done twice on my 2013 prius C. The first time was in October of 2017 with 97,011 miles. Then another dealership recommended it again March 2022 with 134,976 miles. I was suspicious the second time, but because we had a dog that occasionally sat in the back and the HV battery warranty was getting close to its end, I authorized the service. However, I insisted they take a picture of the fan before they cleaned it. The photos are attched. The fan looks pretty clean to me. I could have just vacumed the filter. The filter to the 2013 prius C was just a mesh wire, so I would expect small debree to get through that. As you can see on page 4 of the Toyota Service Bulletin posted by droplet and the Car Care Nut video posted by Georgina Rudkus, the prius prime filters look like they are made of materials similar to that of cabin or engine air filters. I doubt much is getting through that without tearing it up. That is why the bulletin just says to check and if needed clean or replace the filters. The fan should not be dirty, though I guess you can check that too if you are being extra cautious.

 

I wonder if these photos are of YOUR vehicle? An old trick of repair shops is to dumpster dive when a customer asks for the old parts to be returned. Could be the same approach for photos. I'm sure that there are lots of dirty fan photos on the internet. Just saying. I question EVERYTHING and that was before AI.

 

If that's the case, they didn't do a very good job of finding photos of dirty fans and filters. The fan looked pretty clean and the filter didn't look that terrible either. Maybe they would have put more effort into finding bad photos if I hadn't already authorized the service.