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No blower...Tech help please..,electronics,scanner?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by eastender43, Sep 11, 2007.

  1. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    We bought a new 2007 on EBAY ,zero miles,very cheap,but it had been vandalized.Toyota voided the warranty and it has a salvage title...

    The vandals cut all the wires coming out of the main fuse box(Under the dash)..That were connected to the main wiring harness...My son,an electrical engineer,used the Wiring diagram manual to get everything connected correctly again....This was not easy because there are like 5 solid blacks,4 solid yellows,4 solid greens....etc...He then carefully soldered/shrink wrapped everything...

    And everything works!....Except for the blower motor!....The climate system responds to commands to alter temp,change from windshield to floor,etc,etc...but after another 5 hour session,he was unable to get the blower to respond.All fuses have been checked,and everything else he can think of has been scrutinized.

    So I have several questions...Does anyone have any ideas?

    Does anyone know if the Toyota diagnostic scanner could identify which component is at fault?

    We are now considering taking it in....but as you can imagine,the dealer wants to install a new wire harness for $2000....and we just want the blower to blow air...And just to look at it is $95/hr...worth it if they can find the problem in an hour....but can their scanner find things in the wiring system?

    Any educated ideas are very welcome,and appreciated.
     
  2. etyler88

    etyler88 etyler88

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    How about rewiring the blower to the switches, a parallel wiring job.
     
  3. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi eastender43,

    The Prius blower is controlled by a PWM (your son will know what those letters stand for) control. If the blower was running when it was vandalized, the power switching transistor in the PWM could be toast. Its a little box under the dash. Hobbit has a good write up on it, as he runs his blower off batteries for sleeping ventilation when he goes car camping.


    Here is a link: http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/nest/
     
  4. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi eastender43,

    The Prius blower is controlled by a PWM (your son will know what those letters stand for) control. If the blower was running when it was vandalized, the power switching transistor in the PWM could be toast. Its a little box under the dash. Hobbit has a good write up on it, as he runs his blower off batteries for sleeping ventilation when he goes car camping.


    Here is a link: http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/nest/
     
  5. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    a scantool won't tell you anything, don't bother with that.
     
  6. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    a scantool won't tell you anything, don't bother with that.
     
  7. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    Wow...thanks Donee....Hobbit's post is very enlightening....My son will be tearing the dash/blower/etc apart next and checking continuity ...but the info from Hobbit will help alot...hopefully we get this thing to move air soon...it was 35 here this AM,and the defroster would be appreciated...

    There is no chance anything was powered up during the vandalization,but who knows what we may have done during our reconnecting things.Hopefully the ECU's,etc.are fine.

    I will post up again after the next marathon....ofcourse each time the drivers seat comes out,the dash is diassembeld,the fuse blocks removed,etc...He is getting good at it...But also a bit weary after 20+hours on this little project.....

    Thanks again to all for the help!This is a wonderful place ,very much like the Prius is a friendly car.







    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Sep 11 2007, 07:41 PM) [snapback]510918[/snapback]</div>
     
  8. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    Wow...thanks Donee....Hobbit's post is very enlightening....My son will be tearing the dash/blower/etc apart next and checking continuity ...but the info from Hobbit will help alot...hopefully we get this thing to move air soon...it was 35 here this AM,and the defroster would be appreciated...

    There is no chance anything was powered up during the vandalization,but who knows what we may have done during our reconnecting things.Hopefully the ECU's,etc.are fine.

    I will post up again after the next marathon....ofcourse each time the drivers seat comes out,the dash is diassembeld,the fuse blocks removed,etc...He is getting good at it...But also a bit weary after 20+hours on this little project.....

    Thanks again to all for the help!This is a wonderful place ,very much like the Prius is a friendly car.







    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Sep 11 2007, 07:41 PM) [snapback]510918[/snapback]</div>
     
  9. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    UPDATE:So the blowerless Prius was examined again by my electrical engineer son ....he wound up with 3 pages of notes,verifying all connections are correct...Shot story..It appears the AC ECU is the culprit....it varies blower speed by varying voltage to the blower,and that function is not operative ....the voltage never varies,and so the blower never blows....

    So he temporarily bypassed the Ac ECU,and put in a blower switch,and YIPEE! there is now a blower function when you flip that switch....you get full blower power,or none,but all the functions related to heat/location etc work fine...This is a huge relief...nightime visibility in the rain was an issue!

    He is pretty sure the AC ECU is the culprit....so I will now try to get a salvage yard to pull one for me....

    He put in another solid 8 hours with his Multi Tester to chase this down,and get us a functioning blower...

    I got to drive his 2007 Mazda SpeedWagon (Fastest front wheel drive car ever made)63miles to work....And I bought him a Bel RX65 Pro radar detector as a reward,because OMG,with that car ,he needs it...That car is as fast as my R6 crotchrocket....Amazing car....

    So if anyone knows where there is a yard with a 2007 Prius,willing to pull the AC ECU...let me know,please,and thanks again for all the help!....Bob
     
  10. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    you might check out autobeyours- and you have quite the dedicated son to track that down for you! glad you've got the blower for now, here's the website:

    http://autobeyours.com/
     
  11. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    WOW......!!!......Thanks,they have one cheap,and they have a blower motor controller too!I think I will just get both....my son is very patient,never complains,but he has better things to do than live under the dash of this car...

    Thanks again beyond words,I will report again when we have the new units installed!








    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Sep 24 2007, 09:15 AM) [snapback]516850[/snapback]</div>
     
  12. eastender43

    eastender43 Junior Member

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    SWEET!.....The culprit was the AC Amplifier.....got a used one from Steve Woodruff at AutoBeYours.com

    Great source for Prius parts cheap,fast and accurate!

    Plug and play,baby!......My son is very happy to be out from under the dash of the Prius,and The Prius has been restored to full NORMAL operation..All Ac Blower functions completely restored!.

    As pereviosly reported,All cut wires from the vandalization were painstakingly identified,soldered/shrinkwrapped,and the final glitch was traced to the AC Amp....(.must have been fried by the Tech at the wholesaler....).....

    Anyhow,Huge Humble Gratitude to everyone who helped out,especially Galaxee,Hobbit,but everyone who encouraged us to find the fix......THANKYOU !!!!!

    And to those many doubters who said"You'll never get this figured out"......and the Toyota dealers who said stuff like "Each wire of that wire harness has a specific resistance,and by splicing/soldering it you will totally screw up all the ECU's,and nothing will work right"......And "You know this is a HYBRID right?That means its electrical.....and you could get electrocuted working on it!".....And "We can fix it but it will be atleast $5000"

    well,it's like everything else in Life...If you are careful,persistent,have patience,use common sense,and have a son who loves to solve electronic dilemmas..Well..

    .Never forget..in the words of Jonny Lang...."Anything's Possible"...
     
  13. partipilo

    partipilo Weirdo

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    That's a really touching story. Good to hear you have such a good son. I try and help out my parents with whatever I can. They buy new cars so usually its work around the house. Really glad everything worked out well.