Hi there, This afternoon my Gen II Prius started smoking from under the bonnet, and a strong electrical smell is present. The car does not start into "READY" mode. I am having it towed to the local dealer right now. I am guessing something to do with the inverter? Any advice greatly appreciated!!! Thank-you.
I don't think a failed inverter pump should cause the thing to smoke... If the inverter overheated, I'd imagine it shutting down into a "limp home" mode instead of blindly continuing to provide juice... Does the car go into ready after parked under a shaded area for an hour or two? Do you see any warning lights? Did it suddenly die while driving?
You did the right thing by having the car towed. If smoke was coming from the engine compartment, my guess is that the main relay/fuse box has an electrical short.
The MFD said something like 'problem' and the car forced itself into neutral and I had to coast to the side of the road. Car would not go into 'ready' afterwards. In fact, this post by BigED is what made me think of the inverter pump. His description is EXACTLY what happened to my car, all the way down to the box outlines with no letters on the dash, electrical smell, forced into neutral, etc: (copy and paste because priuschat won't let me use a URL until I've had 5 posts!) Worse than Hybrid System Warning Light! I wonder if I'll win a prize for this one. I've been searching all over, and this might be my best shot. My Hybrid System Warning light, red triangle with exclamation, and Check Engine light all went off at the same time. Couple seconds later, not only do I get forced into a "neutral" roll (which, as it just so happens, I had enough momentum to get me into a gas station parking lot), but it completely shuts down on me. I try to turn it back on, and for about a second, the box outlines of where P, N, D, B, are start flashing (without the letters!), and it immediately "clicks" off, with the light within the power button glowing orange on and off. Then came that weird burnt electrical smell.... I suspect it must be some sort of electrical component, as there was no rough engine noise or anything, just those warning light, then a few seconds later, the engine shutdown, followed by a complete electrical shutdown... It's going to a Toyota dealer tomorrow, but boy, I'm really worried something "big" went on this one. Anyone here experience this?
Hi all, Update on my situation: the dealer replaced the inverter coolant pump today. $191 for the parts and $250 for labour (Australian dollars). They said that the inverter itself had escaped damage. Drove it for about half an hour after picking it up and everything seems as normal. There is still a faint electrical-type smell when I open the engine compartment which I'm guessing will go away after a few days. After reading some other posts on here it seems like this is a bit of a weak spot for the Prius and maybe some folks should consider a new pump as some worthwhile preventative maintainence. Data point: my pump failed at 190,000km. Thanks everyone.
Yup, did my pump at 110-ish K miles, as documented. But it gave me plenty of warning that the old one was on the way out. . _H*
Thanks for the update. I am really surprised that sufficient overheating occurred to cause a smell, yet no permanent inverter damage resulted. I also replaced the inverter coolant pump on my 2004 last spring as preventive maintenance.
In Brisbane, where it's winter time here right now (not that it gets that cold!). At the time of the incident it was probably around 18 degrees C.
