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My Prius has the STINCH!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by tech, Oct 13, 2009.

  1. tech

    tech New Member

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    I bought a '06 with 67K miles on the cheap cause it had an odor like cat pee or vomit inside. Thought I could get smell out with a little elbow grease and cleaner. After a week of hard labor, sun-ing, airing out & fumigating, I read the "sniff your duct" thread and realized there is a lithium battery issue here. Odor is definetly coming from THAT vent. But what I haven't found is anyone who said how they/toyota solved the problem and were they charged! There must be a few thousand of them out there. Can anyone help with this smell issue?
     
    #1 tech, Oct 13, 2009
  2. Rokeby

    Rokeby Member

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    tech,

    :welcome: to PRIUSchat.

    Stinky air conditioning ducts, condenser, etc, is not an infrequent
    complaint from owners in high temp, high humidity areas.

    I don't know of an easy way to call up past threads on this subject.
    However, if you use the search tool with "stinks" as the search term,
    amongst the many threads listed, the threads discussing this issue are
    easily identified.

    Apparently, this can be a very difficult problem to fix. Good luck.

    Hope this helps.
     
    #2 Rokeby, Oct 13, 2009
  3. tech

    tech New Member

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    THAT vent I'm refering to is the one at the right rear seatback going directly to the HV battery compartment. Odor emanates from there and once vehicle is closed up, it gets into fabrics/carpet. I have read back many threads and there are many complaints on this exact issue but I'm hoping for an answer before going to dealer. Other than that, I love the Prius!Thanks
     
    #3 tech, Oct 13, 2009
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    BTW, the traction battery is not lithium, it is NiMH.

    I have not seen complaints of a smell coming from the battery vent before. I wonder if you have a dead rat in the ventilation ducting.
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Oct 14, 2009
  5. tech

    tech New Member

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    Type in "smell" under search tab... and you're right about the batttery - NiMH, it's also HV - High Voltage - 500vdc! carefull when handling!

    ________________
    2000 Honda Accord coupe
    2003 Chevy TBlazer LT
    2006 Lexus IS250
    2006 Prius
    2008 Honda Civic LX coupe
     
    #5 tech, Oct 14, 2009
  6. direstraits71

    direstraits71 Member

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    Actually "only about 220 VDC" but still plenty dangerous! :)
     
    #6 direstraits71, Oct 14, 2009
  7. kkayser

    kkayser Junior Member

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    Smells like a dead animal. Eventually it will dehydrate and stop smelling, but finding and removing is much faster. Try an ozone generator. It would not hurt to talk to the dealer.
     
    #7 kkayser, Oct 15, 2009
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