A week ago last Saturday, I was going out for the evening, and once I got to the town I was visiting, parked, and got back in, my battery cooling fan started up, running continuously, and the Hybrid System Malfunction indicator light came on on the dash. As I sat, trying to figure out what to do, 40 miles away from home on a weekend after dealerships were closed, the fan went from its normal sound to a high-pitched whine to shutting off completely. Given that it was 30F outside, I was less concerned about the battery overheating than I would have been in higher temperatures, so I drove home. A couple days later, I took it to my local dealer, who confirmed that the motor in the fan had burnt up, and the duct from the air intake under the driver's seat was clogged. $720 and 8 missed hours from work later, after they'd replaced the fan and cleaned the ductwork, everything seemed to be fine. Fast-forward to this morning, and the exact same thing happened after I was leaving work to run an errand; the light was on and the fan was running continuously. So I'm dropping it off at the dealer tonight and getting a rental, because I can't afford to miss that much work again (I'm a contractor and don't get paid if I'm not there). Anybody else experienced this kind of issue? What happened? Did I get a bum fan the first time? Did they not do what they said they were doing to fix it? I've got 107,000 miles on it, but that shouldn't be a problem. I can't afford another big bill *and* missed work.
I sense they think they did, but didn't really solve the problem first time around... Did they check any outlet ducting, downline of the fan?
Immediately downstream of the fan the air passes over top of the battery cells. Then (in 3rd gen hatchback at least), the air just dumps into the spare tire area under the hatch floor, and then exits via outlets with flaps in the two rear corners of that bay. Maybe there was clogging atop the cells?? This seems somewhat akin to the EGR system, in that it's a system that's not even mentioned in the Maintenance Shedule, but prone to progressive deterioration, somewhat depending on conditions. DIY monitoring of these systems is good.
Update: When I left work to go to lunch, I started the car, and the Check Engine light came on, in addition to the Hybrid Malfunction, so I decided to chance the drive to the dealer. 10 miles into the drive, all of the brake/traction-related lights came on, and the cruise control stopped working, so I put my hazard lights on and pulled over to the side of the road, called the dealer, and was told that as long as nothing was blinking, I should be okay to drive. 80 minutes very tense minutes later, I arrived at the dealer and dropped off the car. I'm still waiting to hear from them, but I've just about had it with this car. This is the 4th weird issue I've had in the last 6 months, and I'm done. I'm looking at alternatives this weekend, because I can't be without a vehicle, and I'm not going to sink $4,000-5,000 into major repairs. Looking into the Kia Niro as an alternative.
And what was it that was clogging the duct-work and forcing the fan to overwork itself? Not to mention why would one think driving it for a week after the hybrid malfunction light came on was OK? He did say the car had 107k miles.
I've had this happen on TWO of the 3 Generation Prius in my family! Isn't that insane! Both fans had to be replaced. The dealership said it wasn't coverd under the hybrid system warranty.. INSANE! It's just about the most important part for the battery. Anyway, call Toyota corporate they will help you. I had a lady that gave my shitty dealership some sass! Everything paid for. The other Prius had 175k miles so it was out of warranty. We replaced it with a fan from a junk yard
if your fan was clogged, you may have bigger problems. this is pretty unusual. do you carry shedding pets or the like on a regular basis?