Been quite a few years since I've participated on these forums, but still got the old Gen2 and it's still going strong at about 460000 km. A few days ago while I was checking the oil I noticed that the inverter coolant pump wasn't running. I usually check for that, and coolant levels etc any time I'm checking the oil. So not sure how long it's been non functional, though probably not more than about 3 or 4 weeks as it was working fine last time I checked the oil. No blown fuses or error codes or anything, so I guess I'm lucky that it's only been driven pretty easily in that time and nothing overheated. Rang around my local Toyota dealers for a replacement part and apparently none in the country. They told me 4 to 8 weeks from Japan, ouch. Anyway, didn't want to be off the road for that long so I took a punt on a cheap non genuine part from ebay. Shipped overnight and I put it in this afternoon and is working perfectly. For how long though? That I'm not sure of, but at least I'm back on the road. Will be keeping a close eye on it, but for now it looks really good and is pumping strongly. Maybe I'll get nervous and end up replacing it with a genuine part some time in the future, not sure at this point, but all good for now. Will update this post if anything untoward happens.
In cool weather, you cannot observe the absence of the inverter part of the pump. Especially during short trips. The coolant will not have time to heat up and nothing critical for the Gen2 inverter will happen. The contract spare part may not be used for long. It is better to wait for a new pump and replace it.
They're are about 50 12 volt hot rated water pumps w 5/8 barbs in almost exact clocked positions . I'm using one from a gy6 water cooled scooter like a Vespa. Been in place about 4 yrs dead silent too.if not above 65 us degrees you'll probably never know it's not working.
Interesting. So do they all have the same size/type/polarity electrical connector, or did you have to rewire the plug? Summer here in Australia at the moment and day time temps sometimes exceeding 100F, so in my case just lucky that it hadn't been driven hard over the past few weeks (like just to the shops and back as opposed to mountain passes etc). BTW. I usually check for flow in the coolant reservoir by just shining a flashlight through the tank and observing turbulence (car in ready mode of course). No need to remove the reservoir cap or anything, and it's a pretty reliable was of telling that the pump is working. This was the first time that I'd ever done that and found no flow, so I'm glad I've been checking that all these years (takes about an extra 5 seconds when I'm checking the oil and fluid levels).
Yes there are a pile of pumps Do you need to rewire anything probably not what I did was get the mail portion of the plug which I think is built onto the factory inverter pump but there are other places on the car with a plug that will plug into the receptacle in the harness that plugs onto the inverter pump then that gives you two wires coming out of that plug that you just plugged in where your inverter pump goes now the scooter GY6 water pump with the proper barbs and everything the two wires from that pump will go to the two wires you just created from the plug that should be plugged on to your inverter when you turn the car on one of those wires is going to get hot and one's going to be ground You will put the hot wire to the hot wire of the pump which is clearly marked and the other wire can only be the ground and that pump will start pumping or turn on immediately while you're holding it in your hand most of these are mag drive type pumps the impeller is not physically attached to the motor shaft kind of like a washing machine undo the plug so it's not running connect the two barbs put the clamps on fill up the reservoir and plug the pump back up and turn on the car listen for the pump to labor as it starts to move water everything settles down top off the reservoir leave it alone for years this pump will not fail like the factory inverter pump for a while I'm 5 years in I also have the same pump on three piaggio scooters which is the company that makes Vespa I'm running Aprilia the grown up scooter with the big Harley wheels they are more reliable than many Prius
Ok thanks. That's kinda what I meant by rewiring the plug. Personally I'd rather use the correct part and not have to faff around with an extra plug and extension wires. The oem pump on my Prius was replaced for free (Toyota recall) in 2009 or 2010 and has lasted about 15 years and 250,000 miles.
Hey good to see some old familiar users here Bisco. I know you moved on from your Gen2 many years back, but I'm still keeping the old girl going while ever it's still getting good fuel economy and running reliably. I haven't been on the forums here for quite a while, though I had planned to come back for the 299,999+ mile thread when that ticks over soon. Currently at about 288,000 miles (463,000 km).
It's just another option in case one gets in trouble out in the middle of nowhere or something You can have one of these just sitting in your trunk or whatever kick panel then again you can drive without the inverter pump for quite some time unless you're trying to make a land speed record
OMG!!! Uart has returned. Welcome back home, although I assume your stay will be short. You have been missed Thought you had been consumed by the saltwater crocs. kris
