Longo Toyota tells me Prius overheating is *normal*!?

I can just imagine you sitting on the couch cutting out little paper "fan blades" with a beer in your hand. Yea, the "puller" to a "pusher" concept is a myth. I agree the fans are designed to work much better when installed the right way, but flipping it will not make it push air.

 

That is almost *exactly* what I did. The cats were looking at me as if I had finally gone insane. I obviously can no longer have 3-4 beers so close to bedtime, my head is still a bit sore ...

:violin:

Oi

 

NARFF!!! Glad to be of service, and thanks for th' chuckle :_>

 

Well, I finally got around to doing that little science experiment with my '84 Ford. It has a custom-made 5 row rad, a hub spacer, and a Flex-a-Lite heavy duty towing fan, similar to this one

Flex-a-lite 7-Blade Flex Fan

Even at idle, that fan really pulls air in. At 2,000 rpm it has a low roar to it

Very easy to unbolt the shroud, undo the fan bolts, and flip the fan around. Around 4 mins later I had everything tightened down, hopped into the cab, hit the starter.

Oh boy, what a weird noise. Sort of a whack-whack-whack noise. I checked the fan wasn't hitting anything, just the blades themselves were making that weird noise

Airflow: there actually wasn't any that I could determine. Normally, at idle you can feel a *very* strong airflow out the fan over the motor. Nothing.

So I aborted the science experiment before fan blades started to fly off, and put it back on properly. Wonder where that urban legend of turning a car fan into a pusher came from?

 

I read your article written last year , i have same problem on my 2008 prius , can you please tell me how you overcame the overheating problem ?

 

Normally your Prius ICE should NEVER overheat. The only time mine did was on the expressway after a coolant exchange at the dealer (my second one at 150,000 miles). They failed to remove all the air in the ICE cooling system.

Check your coolant level in the coolant overflow tank. If it is low get to the dealer for a preferably free top off. You should ONLY use Toyota SLL coolant, the pink one. A gallon of Toyota Super Long Life coolant costs about $25.

JeffD

 

Was your car in a front-end accident?

If yes, check the radiator fan blade count. When you are standing in front of the car and looking at the fans, the one on your left (passenger side of the car on left-hand-drive models) should have seven blades. The one on your right (driver's side on LHD models) should have five blades. If the fan positions were reversed, that is probably the cause of your overheating problem.

If the fans are installed properly, check engine coolant level in the overflow container (mounted behind the radiator). The coolant level should be at the full mark. Then remove the black plastic cover over the radiator, remove the radiator cap (when the engine is cold) and check the fluid level which should be at the top of the cap opening.

If the fluid level is good, then your engine cooling system might have air in it, especially if you can hear air bubbling in the heater core. In that case you'll need to return the car to your Toyota dealer to have the air purged out.

 

This happened to me. Toyota had even replaced the inverter cooling pump without noticing the real cause, the misplaced fan blades. Since this happened before I bought the car, I'll never know whether the pump had actually failed due to heat stress, or if the mechanic simply misdiagnosed the problem. Installing the fan blades on the wrong sides would be an easy mistake to make--they aren't marked regarding direction of rotation, and fit perfectly on either motor. And these motors spin in opposite directions!

 

Were the fans installed wrong from the factory?

 

I doubt it. Almost certainly it happened during repairs to front-end damage. The front bumper has been replaced, and the radiator and fans probably suffered damage.

 

Your cooling fans may have been installed backwards = thus blowing air towards the front of the car.

This would explain why the outside temp went way up.

 

Engine overheating generally will not result in the engine ECU logging a DTC code.

I agree with Bob that the fact your outside air temp reading went up is very strong evidence that the fans are blowing air towards the radiator, rather than sucking air from the radiator.

I strongly recommend that you examine the fan blades yourself, as I suggested previously. It is likely that the fan positions have been reversed, which would be an indication that the car had front-end repair work in the past.

I don't imagine there are many Prius in your country, hence I would not expect your local Toyota dealer service staff to be very familiar with the car.

 

Guys you are right !!! when facing the car the blade count on the left (passenger side ) are five , and seven on the right side .

The next thing i will do , is put the car in inspection mode and have the fans work to check the direction of air flow only to double check before taking the the car back to the dealer .

 

Actually, all you have to do is to turn on your air conditioner compressor when the Prius is READY. That should activate the radiator fans so that you can see whether the fans are blowing air through the grille.

 

when i put my hand at front end grille , I could easily feel the fans blowing the air toward the front grille . Tomorrow iam going to the dealer . Do you have any Idea what it takes to change the fans positions , i mean do we have to take the radiator off for example ?

because like you said the dealer here still new to these cars , they started to come here only 2009 . And iam already worried they might miss up something else .

 

The radiator itself does not have to be removed. However, this looks like a 2-3 hour job. The major steps to get to the fan assembly:

Remove plastic covers above radiator and below engine.
Drain engine coolant.
Remove front bumper cover.
Remove several hoses to provide service access.
Remove the radiator support above the radiator.
Remove the assembly containing the two fans.

 

It should be obvious to any mechanic that it will not be helpful to have radiator fans that counter the normal flow of air when the car is at speed. It's scary that your Toyota dealer mechanic asserted this.

You have three independent shops in your country that specialize in hybrid cars? That's impressive given the population of six million.

Which hybrid cars are available there? Are there enough Prius owners to form a local club?

What is the history of your car - was it a used vehicle imported from another country?

I would be very surprised if the car was built with reversed fans. In any event, thanks for the update, hope that your car will run well now.