broken part identification help

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by prius_2007, Jun 22, 2015.

  1. prius_2007

    prius_2007 New Member

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    Can anyone tell me the name of this part and perhaps why it broke? It is on the underside of the car. The back driver's side. By the wheel. It looks like it should be attached to something with the metal bracket. The metal bracket appears to be damage and broken. It is attached to a wired sensor by a couple of arms which are free moving. Something that move the sensor when the car hits a bump perhaps?

    Attached are a few photos of the part.

    2007 Prius if that matters much.
    Thanks for any help,
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 prius_2007, Jun 22, 2015
  2. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    It’s rear suspension level sensor for headlight leveling system. Toyota calls it HEIGHT CONTROL SENSOR SUB–ASSY REAR LH. But broken part is actually the mount that connects the sensor to suspension. Has somebody done some work on your back suspension?

    48966-47010 is the part number. But you should also check that the sensor itself is working.
     
    #2 valde3, Jun 22, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2015
  3. prius_2007

    prius_2007 New Member

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    Thank you for the information. It is a used "new to me" Prius so I don't know why that bracket would be broken off. I have not owned a card this new before, so many of these sensors are foreign to my repair knowledge. Do you happen to know why the height control would meter height, and what that information would be used for/sent to? Would it just to see when the shocks might have failed? And if so, should I be getting some error code?

    Thanks again for your time.
     
    #3 prius_2007, Jun 22, 2015
  4. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    It’s for headlight leveling system. It keeps the headlights at the same level regardless of how much load is in your trunk (how low rear suspension is).

    http://www.sector13.org/jason/prius/headlights/images/IMG_8502%20(Medium).JPG here’s the picture of intact one.

    Now the mount is hanging from the sensor which is pulling the sensor lever down telling the car that rear suspension is high. Move the leaver up to tell the car that suspension is low. Did the headlight bean move (slowly) down? If it did sensor is OK and you only need the mount which part number I already gave to you. If the leaver is hard to move the sensor is bad so you need the sensor and the mount. If headlight height didn’t change sensor is most likely bad.
     
    #4 valde3, Jun 22, 2015
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  5. prius_2007

    prius_2007 New Member

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    Thank you so much for the quick and extremely helpful information. The intact image will be useful for me to repair my issue. I will test out the headlamps this evening to see if I need to order the sensor along with the mounting bracket. Hopefully it will be fine since it was still free moving.

    -Thank you again-
     
    #5 prius_2007, Jun 22, 2015
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