Starter Fuse Blew While Car Was Running

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by garrick, May 3, 2025 at 11:34 PM.

  1. garrick

    garrick New Member

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    I was waiting for food with my car running and I came back to a car that had turned off and a chlorine-like smell. Blinkers and all that seemed to work fine but the car wasnt starting so I concluded it was the starter fuse. Turns out I was right and when I replaced the fuse the car started right when I put it in but then I also saw a ton of smoke coming from underneath the fuse box. I quickly pulled the fuse and it stopped. The fuse I replaced was the 15A AM2 "IGN" fuse, ignition system fuse. Any ideas what this could be?
     
    #1 garrick, May 3, 2025 at 11:34 PM
    Last edited: May 3, 2025 at 11:44 PM
  2. MAX2

    MAX2 Senior Member

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    Hybrid coolant pump. Water Pump Motor (Inverter)
     
    #2 MAX2, May 4, 2025 at 3:19 AM
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  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Right. As there is no starter, there is of course no "starter fuse", but the cooling pump motor for the hybrid electronics does occasionally fail in such a way that the magic smoke escapes, and when that happens it blows the AM2 fuse, which also supplies power to a few other things needed for the car to run.

    There is a connector you can unplug so that AM2 won't keep blowing while you get around to replacing the stinky pump. The pump cools the electronics; drive gently while it's unplugged.

    [​IMG]
     
    #3 ChapmanF, May 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
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