Prius Lifespan and warranty 86000 miles here

Do some research on this forum. You'll discover that Toyota has been mass-producing hybrid vehicles for consumers for almost ten years and has spent a lot of time, effort, and capital on R&D. I guess it depends on your definition of "new technology," but even so, just because it's new doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.

 

sarcasm mode on

Yeah, better give up the ship 'cause of 2 or 3 failures out of, what, over 200,000 vehicles?

sarcasm mode off

Sorry to hear about the car. That is not fun. Please take the advice of others here, not my sarcasm. Get the used PSD and have the inverter warranteed.

 

i asked my husband about this one. he says:

so uh, what's a floating short?

transmissions do go bad, it happens on every car model on a very rare basis. (huh huh... except for ford... exchange "rare" with "common")

get your inverter done under warranty- this is covered. push them.

get the used tranny and have the dealer install it. that being said, know there's no warranty on that used tranny if the place you buy it from doesn't warrant it. you might check before hand though, look around a bit and find a shop that will install a used part for you. some places won't install parts they haven't sold you. as far as labor... you're stuck there. sorry

another note... hybrid tech training includes a teardown and rebuild of the transmission... they are rebuildable. but probably more expensive to do it that way. transmissions are cheaper to replace than rebuild.

good luck.

 

I googled "floating short" and couldn't find anything. It sounds like what happens when you put a hairdryer in a bathtub.

 

:lol:

he asked what it was floating in too...

yep, still not clear what they meant by that.

 

floating short=any short in the winding of an electirc motor that are not there when checked. IE: insulation break down under heat and load. Most common in forklift electic pump motors that are used for many hours per shift. Lift load lower lift again. There is an insulation tester that can sometime locate them but lots of times I'll put the motor parts in and old electric oven and bake it overnight at 300F and take parts out and test. Some are found this way and some aren't. Some you never find the exact location of the problem but you change armature or field windings and it's gone. Like a conventional diode that starts to Zener. Under the vague heading of "wierd electical problems"

 

ahh. okay. thanks.

not something you see in the typical car then, which explains something. must be a rare phenomenon. he hasn't seen anything like that yet in the shop.

 

ohhhh- so is this like dead spots in starter field windings? where if it hits a certain spot and it gets current, it won't move because that spot is dead?

if that's the case... maybe the transaxle took out the inverter... the spike generated could have taken that right out.

 

I'd hate to be the guy rewinding those big motors on the Prius.

 

yes it's probably the drive motor that popped the inverter. I wouldn't just change that first. I'd run some tests on the motor/s and see if they could duplcate the short. If not I wouldn't want to be the one changing an expensive inverter on the chance it won't do it again.

 

I agree... how could they have malfunctioned independently?.. they are both required to run the car?

So if the floating ground took out the inverter.. thats covered under 8 years/100000 miles, it seems extremely obvious or at least highly suspicious that one caused the other?

there is alot of electronics in the tranny tied to the inverter... again, I don't see how a freak thing could happen whereas both happened at the same time without being related?

Maybe you need to call Toyota themselves and ask them.

Seems since the inverter went out, they carry a burden of proof to show the tranny is not related?

Sometimes it pays to raise a stink and fight for yourself until someone can prove you wrong.... until then.. raise HELL!

 

At that price does the PSD get replaced with MG1 and MG2 as part of the assembly?

 

what frank and my DH were discussing was the likelihood that the damage to the windings on the transaxle took out the inverter. in that case they wouldn't want to cover it under warranty because the short in the non-covered transaxle caused the problem.

and that really sucks, because they call it a "hybrid transaxle" yet it's not covered under the "hybrid warranty."

 

I have seen that problem with large 3-phase industrial motors (70-350 HP, 460-575 VAC) hooked up to variable frequency motor drives. What usually happens is - to save a few bucks (Thanks to the bean counter - Naturally!) - the person specing the motor does *not* spec one rated for "inverter duty." They also save a few bucks by not specing load reactors on the motor drive.

The sudden voltage/frequency changes in the stator windings cause corona, which over time breaks down the insulation. Oddly enough, when you tear apart the motor, you will only find telltale corona damage on just one phase of the stator winding. A load reactor on the motor drive would have prevented most of the corona damage.

On the issue of rewinding a motor, I NEVER specify rewinding. You can never quite approach the efficiency of the motor when new. Given present electricity costs, expected future increases, most industrial plants are *far* better off replacing with a new motor that meets the EPA's "Super E" rating. The usual ROI in a continuous process is 3-5 years.

As a bonus, most of those "Super E" motors have windings and insulation rated for inverter duty, and have thermisters embedded into the windings. With a proper networked MCC (Allen-Bradley IntelliCenter or similar), you can monitor stator temps and be alerted to unusual temp patterns.

On the issue of failed transmissions, I've had a few co-workers tell me of horror stories. It seems for most electronically controlled transmissions, especially transaxles, you're *lucky* to get away with "only" $4,000 for a rebuild/replacement.

FWIW when I had my 2000 GMC Sierra, I asked the service guy how much it would cost if I cooked my 4L60E. He quoted around $4,000. Naturally, I took *very* good care of that transmission!

 

Now wait a second: are you saying that the MG1 and MG2, which I suppose are integrated into the transaxle, are NOT covered under the Hybrid Warranty? :blink: Just what parts DO they consider to be part of the hybrid drivetrain, if MG1 and MG2 are not included? I guess I should have asked the dealer for an itemized list, as I just *nice person-umed* MG1 and MG2 were included. Stupid me! <_<

 

I would call toyota and ask... I wouldn't put it past a car dealer to pocket your money and submit the deal under warranty and they get paid by toyota too!

Mg1 or Mg2 should be part of the hybrid technology!.. other cars don't have them?