electric water pump

You need a capable scan tool like the AP200 to read the real codes and see what's really going on If the car got hot after it cooled off that should clear up It can't be overheated 5 hours later etc. Usually when the orange lights are on VSC! ABS and so on skid control lines you are way past overheating I do believe so you have some other things going on overheating in the Prius is usually very intermittent in a generation too the belts broken on the water pump something. Here we're dealing with the inverter cooling system which is all by itself and has one little pancake pump that moves water very slowly like a fish pump through the upper portion of a separate radiator mounted on the same bracket and then it goes back into the other side of the inverter where it makes this continuous loop A failing inverter pump pretty much does nothing a pump that fails doesn't usually make any noise because it's not pumping and the impeller's not moving take a look at a pool pump under these conditions It might hum a little bit when you take the cap off the inverter reservoir and you look very carefully with a flashlight or not You see no ripples in the water no water moving generally a failed pancake pump for the inverter cooling system is what's happening by a cheap one and you'll be doing this every 20 to 60 days by the original Toyota model and it may make another 10 years. There are lots of things you can put there to do this duty You can drive with the inverter pump not working even in the heat as long as you're not beating on or taxing the car like driving like you have some sense maybe drive in the morning or the late afternoon instead of in the heat of the day trying to burn something up choices do help.

 

The inverter water pump in some cases just stops pumping effectively, and then the inverter may overheat, giving a trouble code like P0A93, and the car may reduce power for protection (sometimes by interrupting A/C first, before other reductions). It may go into a limp mode you can get to the side of the road, but be undriveable for a while until it cools.

In some other cases, the pump can fail and draw excessive current, blowing the AM2 fuse. In those cases, the car is crippled right away, because other critical bits of the car also get power from that same fuse. The car can't be started again until the fuse is replaced, but if the failed pump is still there, it will just blow the replacement fuse. There is a connector near the fuse box that allows the pump to be temporarily unplugged so the fuse can be replaced and the car (gently) driven, until the pump can be replaced.

 

Use an OEM pump if you replace the inverter pump. It is said that Aisin makes that pump, so if price is a major constraint, perhaps consider the one Aisin makes. Do not use anything else. This forum is full of stories about other brands of inverter pumps failing.