Last week my 2008 Prius' warning lights started going off, the A/C shut down as did the Blue Tooth. By the time I drove 5 miles to my closest dealer, I think just about every warning light had come on but the car seemed to drive o.k. After an over night I was called by the dealer to say my "inverter pump" needed to be replaced. It would be covered under my waranty, however, it would take a "minimum" of 30 days to get the part. How can that be possible in this day and age that a part for a 2 year old car of any kind wouldn't be available for 30 or more days? I've tried searching parts sites myself but there seem to be a lot of different parts that fall under the Inverter Pump heading. The dealership said they would cover the rental on the 2010 Prius I have from Toyota Rental but frankly I don't like it as much as my 2008 (it's very stripped down). Has anyone else run across this. Do you know of anywhere I can send the dealership to get this part any sooner. It seems to me that if Toyota built an inverter pump by hand today, they would place it on a flight to Houston in a full fare seat cheaper than renting me a car I don't like for 30 or more days.
You need G9020-47031. MSRP $116. I paid $88 at Champion Toyota Gulf Freeway last June. I suppose that they also are out of stock? The out-of-stock situation has been reported previously.
Patrick and others have identified the pump as a weak spot on the GII Prius. My hunch is that more failures have occurred than Toyota anticipated, leading to a persistent backorder condition. Hopefully Toyota will ramp up production to resolve it. I plan to replace mine as a preventative maintenance measure in the not-too-distant future. To price the work, I recently called a local indie shop who, interestingly, told me that at least one local dealer had the pump in stock.
Call around to other dealerships in your area to see if they have the part. If not, call the numerous online Toyota parts dealers (metrotoyotapartsnow.com, citytoyotaparts.com, etc) and have them ship the part to you for, $90 or so. Many of these online parts departments will not tell you if a part is backordered which is why calling is better. Then, insist that the dealer holding your car hostage install your pump for less than two hours of labor. A competent tech can do this in 45 minutes, and Toyota covers the R&R at 1 hour of labor, so there's really no way to justify more than two hours like some people have reported here.
I still have mine sitting on my shelf. I bet many are doing the same as me. That could also attribute to the "shortage". My inverter pump just would not quit (now at 133k miles). I have been regularly monitoring it and there is no hint of strange noise nor lower turbulence in the reservoir.
30 days to get one... absolutely ridiculous. Shame on you, Toyota. My '08 has ~46K miles on the clock. Some while back after reading too many reports of inverter pump failure, I decided to get a spare. Last week I bought one from a PC member, and it arrived tonight. :cheer2: In my case, I don't know that putting the pump on a shelf is wise. My family is spread out from Tampa, Florida, to Augusta, Maine. Should/when the pump goes out, it will be little help if I'm on the road visiting, and it's at safe and warm at home. I haven't checked it out yet, but I'm hoping that it will fit in that triangular space on the driver's side under the hatch area floor... maybe even in a fitted padded box -- worth its weight in gold it is. Failing that, under the hatch area floor boards.
It's not hard. If you are pushing 100,000 miles, then it is recommended to replace the coolant. Regardless, use an AirLift to bleed air out of the system.
