Two coolant systems -Dealer error

Probably none but nobody's talking about how many miles they went approximately with these conditions the inverter the little reservoir that was filled up first not a humongous problem honestly and as long as when it was filled coolant was moving and the pump was running you're probably good there. The shrieking you heard may have been the belt driving a dry water pump for the engine this engine has a belt driven water pump but after it was filled should have been okay this is assuming that there are no leaks undone hose clamps or anything like that so now when you look under the hood the reservoir behind the radiator should show a level amount of coolant and the one in between the hybrid synergy drive inverter and the engine should show full also and now you have no shrieking You don't see a red triangle flashing at you on and off when you're driving smartly down the highway I would say thumbs up. But yes this looks very bad on the mechanic deal or whatever.

 

Your engine “may” be toast. I would not drive it. Go into the dealership and talk directly to the service manager if possible. If you’ve got a knowledgeable automotive friend, bring them. What dealership is this?

 

It would be helpful if you mentioned exactly what services they performed. If you have a receipt that states they replaced fluids in the engine and the inverter cooling systems, then you have a strong case.

It seems likely the tech drained the fluids but either forgot to close the drains (my guess for the engine) or forgot to fill the reservoir(s) again. Either way the car could have driven the six mile test drive.

The service adviser is a commissioned salesman, not a mechanic in almost every case. The service manager is usually the most successful in revenues service adviser. He does not want to pay for an engine or an inverter. Normally the mechanic who screwed up has to fix it free, eg no pay for him and sometimes he pays parts. In your case the guy probably can’t do it.

But with documentation you can call Toyota Corp AFTER you personally go down and talk to the service manager. Sometimes they will ghost you even with you there so ask for the general manager.

 

Running the inverter pump dry will damage it. It might not fail immediately, but its life has been shortened. The inverter will be fine, it shuts itself off when it gets too hot, as you found out.

For the ICE coolant loop, you said the overflow tank was empty. Was the radiator also empty? The car will cool, just not optimally, if it is a couple of quarts low. If it is completely empty though, the only cooling would have been from air blowing over the motor and whatever heat could radiate out the bottom of the oil pan, pulled down there by the oil. That isn't very much cooling though, hence the whole coolant system.

For the ICE, assuming the worst case, it may depend on how you drove it. If you only made short trips at moderate speed the motor may not have become hot enough to break anything. Maybe. Our 2007 takes about 2 or 3 miles to get up to operating temperature in that sort of driving. The OP's car never threw an overheat code, but I'm not sure if that is helpful in this case. Does that temperature sensor go into the block or does it go into the coolant? In the latter case it would have been hanging out in the air, which even if it was really hot, isn't its normal operating environment and might not have given a meaningful reading. I would worry about the head gasket failing now when it otherwise would not have. Even if the average temperature of the engine wasn't too hot, I strongly suspect that the area around the cylinders overheated. A car can run for a few seconds without coolant and not damage anything, but I would never run one for minutes that way (excluding of course air cooled motors).

There are also 3 water pumps on the ICE circuit. The ones that only run when the car starts or starts would only have run dry briefly, so they might be OK. The main water pump was spinning dry the whole time the ICE was on, and it would probably have been damaged by that.

If it was me I would be demanding a new ICE motor (why should you have to live with this huge question mark because they screwed up?) and new water pumps. I also would never go to that dealer again. If (make that when) they give you a hard time, point out that if you had done this to the car and then brought it in for service under warranty for the damage, they would have refused to pay for it. If they don't play nice, and they probably won't, you will need a lawyer.

Edit: one other point. They billed you for service that they did not perform. That is fraud. The problem that caused is bigger than the dollars paid for no work, but this may be your best lever for making them fix everything they broke.

 

I don't think so. Assuming by "ICE circuit" you mean engine coolant. Both the engine and inverter coolant reservoirs were reported empty, and both have a single pump, AFAIK.

 

There are 3 on the (complicated) ICE circuit. The main one on the motor, one under the thermos, and one somewhere in the back of the engine compartment for the heater. Two of them are visible in this diagram:

https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2019/04/165077_Prius_ICE_cooling_curcuit_NA.png

The thermos pump is on the bottom and around the other side, so it cannot be seen from this angle.

 

The one on the back side of the engine if we're going to call it that is actually in between the break actuator accumulator assembly and I guess the part the pedals connected to right in between those on the actuator bracket you'll be taking the 10 mm bolt out of that pump to get the bracket and the actuator assembly out without the pump and it's related hoses. That pump is actually the one I'm using for my inverter pump right now and it's been in there for years. And generally all that stuff works great The electric pumps aren't going to like to run dry but they're mag drive type design so I would fill it all up and see what you got. Then if you want to go fight for an engine or money or something I guess if you got the time press on You're probably find the car runs great and there's nothing happening.

 

So are you saying they did not bill for or service the cooling systems? If so your leverage is weak.

 

Oh hell, I could have swore this was a gen 3 topic. Sorry.