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Inverter coolant low on both my Prius's

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Li W, Oct 8, 2024.

  1. Li W

    Li W Junior Member

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    Location:
    Seattle
    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    I have a 2020 Prius and a 2022 Prius Prime that I regularly take in for service at the dealership. A month after service on the 2020, I was checking under the hood and noticed that the inverter coolant level is low. I'm assuming they top off fluids for each service so it shouldn't really be low. Took it back to dealer and they're doing a very expensive diagnostic on it. So I went home and checked the 2020 Prius Prime and that one has coolant low too! I have no idea what's causing the same problem on both cars (other than the service dept messing it up). The 2022 Prime has about 60k miles on it and I haven't found any reports of this being a common problem at all.

    Any ideas on what could be wrong?
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    Touring
    Could just be evaporation. For comparison, with our 3rd gen I've had to do some top up, over the years. The timeline:

    2010_11 - purchased car
    2015_05 - 52k kms - both reservoirs at low line, topped up
    2018_10 - 78k kms - engine reservoir only at low line, topped up (inverter reservoir never budged)
    2020_10 - 88k kms - both reservoirs still at full line, changed coolant in both
     
  3. FuelMiser

    FuelMiser Senior Member

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    Monument, CO
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
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    Touring
    When you say "Low" what exactly do you mean? Is the level on the low mark or well below the low mark?

    If it's simply on the low mark, I would not worry. Anywhere between low and high is acceptable.
     
  4. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    surprise, surprise - a dealership not doing their job. Not really. A busy dealership is a production line and mechanics that can push more cars out the door are rewarded. It's no surprise that some unscrupulous mechanics will simply check things off a list and not even look at it. That's probably what happened. There's almost zero profit margin in standard OM maintenance per OEM manual - they make up for that in additional and/or un-needed services. ie.. your expensive diagnostic fees. Hopefully they don't replace something that doesn't need replacing, just to get a few extra bucks from ya'...
    Dealership will complement you on your attentiveness, while they're sticking a crowbar into your wallet. Thank You for catching our mistake and here's your bill for $1K, services rendered. Win-Win!!! well more so for dealership.

    1. never assume
    2. could've saved a lot of money by just topping it off and checking it, for the next few weeks. If it continues to go down, take it in. If it stays put, you just saved yourself a bunch of diagnostic money and replacement parts that wasn't needed.
     
    #4 BiomedO1, Oct 9, 2024
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2024