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The 2006 Prius just showed a triangle on the dash.
The scan gauge showed code POA93??
Looked up online says something about impending failure of inverter fan??

What is up?
Wasn't there some sort of recall on some part?

Thanks
Charlie

The 2006 Prius just showed a triangle on the dash.
The scan gauge showed code POA93??
Looked up online says something about impending failure of inverter fan??

What is up?
Wasn't there some sort of recall on some part?

Thanks
Charlie

Recall was for a potential leak of the inverter pump.

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/75429-poa93.html

It's an error relating to the inverter cooling system.

That is not something you want to fail.

ItNotAbout
Thanks for the info.
I did a quick search and found something that gives me hope that Toyota will be on the hook for this repair- not me.

The inverter list for just $2000-ha,ha-
it sure is about the money when it is $2000+!!
Thanks
Charlie


PS I found the below- apparently the inverter cooling pumps regularly fail-hence the recall

Toyota Prius Inverter Water Pump Recall

imageInverter water pumps are a common failure on second generation Toyota Prius (model years 2004-2009). Read LG’s original blog here:

Prius Code P0A93: Inverter Water Pump Failure dated 3/2009

Toyota issued a “Technical Service Bulletin” on this issue over two years prior, dated January 26th, 2007. Download a copy:

TSB EG001-07: M.I.L. “ON” DTC P0A93, INFORMATION CODE 346 via PriusChat

In short, inverter pump replacement is old news. What’s new is that the dealer will perform the service for free, at least until November 30th, 2013, as announced yesterday (read a regurgitated press release from ConsumerReports.com) regardless of whether the pump is working or not.

Read the Toyota Letter to Owners here

Officially a “Limited Service Campaign”, no doubt everyone will call it a recall and the press will spin about Toyota quality and hybrid doubts, etc.. IMO it’s a “recall” with less urgency and “limited” duration. Given sufficient free time, I will compose a blog about manufacturer response to common failures in the internet age, titled “Service Campaigns: Don’t Call It A Recall”.

According to Toyota, the concern is air getting trapped in the impeller “causing pump actuation to be slow.” It is possible for air to get

Did you not get a notice from Toyota to come in and have them change the inverter pump? Check with ignition on and see if you can see the fluid circulating in the tank. If not, get it in ASP. A new inverter is closer to 5 grand! H

Harold
Where in the engine bay is this cooling tank?
I took a quick look-saw three tanks-windshield washer, brake fluid and
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ENGINE BAY WHAT I TOOK TO BE THE COOLANT OVERFLOW (radiator)RESERVOIR WITH RED COOLANT IN IT.

Is that the tank for the inverter coolant -red fluid middle of engine bay?

My wife now says "we might have gotten another notice, but I thought it was just the same "rug" notice."

Thanks
Charlie

It is the tank in the middle. It contains the coolant for the trans-axle. Hal

Sorry It is the inverter tank not trans-axle tank although I believe they are related. I haven't had my Prius that long, so still learning. H

Harold
Thanks.
Does it constantly circulate whenever the ignition is on-even when engine is off?
Thanks
Charlie
PS Just checked- no fluid movement at all-even with the engine idling.
I looked thru the translucent plastic-then took the cap off- no movement.
Will there always be fluid circulating-even when everything under the hood is cold( or as cold as it gets in S Louisiana in June)?

Using a flashlight as a back light, you should see movement (ripples) any time the car is "Ready." If you don't, your pump sounds well and truly dead. Driving the car like that, especially in summer heat, runs the risk of killing the inverter, so don't delay in getting the work done. I would go as far as to recommend that you don't drive the car until it's done, save perhaps a very short trip to the dealer if that.

brick(Tim)
Thanks for the info.
A question- How do I know the car is "ready?"
Does it have to "run" a bit or just be "on"(pushed button)?
I agree with you-We aren't going to drive it-except for the 7 miles to the dealer-and we'll do that as early in the day as possible when the temp is under 78 degrees(NOLA is hot in the summer).
Amazing how a cheap part($100 apparently??) can sink a car in so few miles.Via eyeball the Prius looks tough to work on- my ancient 216,000 mile gas guzzling 98 Suburban(bought used 195,000 miles $2900) is relatively easy to work on. We don't drive it many miles(3000/yr), so the mpg penalty isn't too bad for a 2nd car.It has been surprisingly reliable(survivor bias maybe)

Maybe AAA will tow it-not sure if they will but I'll check on that.?
Thanks
Charlie
PS It has been a great, absolutely trouble free vehicle for 5 years-until this of course.

Just put the e-brake on and make the car ready.ICE does not have to be running! Check for circulation in the tank. Good luck, Hal

Hal
Thanks.
There is a TINY TINY amount of movement(the engine actually came on for a time)
but I checked the windshield washer reservoir and there was at least as much movement on the surface of the washer as the surface of the coolant.

I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be too subtle-there just isn't any fluid being pumped in and out of that tank.
Thanks
Charlie
PS Now I get to see how accommodating the dealer is.

I went out to play with mine. Seems to me that the car doesn't even need to be in "ready" mode, as my pump runs in IG-ON as well. I can hear it whirring near the driver's side headlight, and when I opened the coolant cap (the system was cold!) I could see fluid flow by. It doesn't seem to move quickly, at least not in my case.

Here is an interesting, recent PriusChat thread on inverter coolant. I don't find the OP's explanation at all satisfying, but I'm curious enough to bleed my system and see if it does anything. IIRC, the TSB made it sound like air infiltration through a bad seal has something to do with failures.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-care-maintenance-troubleshooting/95406-better-gas-mileage.html

Brick
Thanks.
I don't see ANY MOVEMENT in mine.
I'll check again with a flashlight at dusk- it might be easier to detect with less ambient light.
but I suspect my pump is dead.

The MPG suggestion the priuschat guy mentions???
Hmm, our trip meter is reading 36 mpg for some reason- it usually reads 42 mpg or so.
I rarely drive it-wife and son drive it-I'm stuck with the lumbering Suburban.Just as well since my wife gets HORRIBLE-single digit- mpg with the Suburban in city driving.

I wouldn't think a coolant problem could drop the MPG by 10%, but it will raise the resistance , so maybe it does??

I did notice a spike in mpg in late winter when ambient temp was about 50 degrees-I assumed I had accidentally gotten some pure gasoline- not the 15% ethanol we are stuck with.
Thanks to all- I'll let you know how the dealer treats us.
Charlie

If you don't see any movement then your pump is dead for sure. You should not have any trouble seeing movement! H

Yeah, it's dead. I went out to look again and there was no question that the fluid was moving. It's especially obvious when you take the cap off of the reservoir. If you don't see anything moving when you view it directly, it ain't flowing.

Brick-I rechecked it with a flashlight around dawn(so it would be easier to see).
ZERO movement.

How in the world does an electric pump die in such a way that it doesn't move at all?
Does the electric motor "die"
Or does the blade motor shaft connection somehow get severed?It must be a direct connection-probably plastic-so I can see it just shearing.

Thanks
Charlie
PS We'll be bring it to the dealer when they say they can work on it- maybe I'll precool the fluid in the reservoirwith some ice before the 7 mile trip to the dealer.

Charlie, I'm afraid chilling the reservoir is going to have limited effect at the inverter because the (likely) narrow tubes will limit convective mixing.

Your best bet is driving short trips in "cool" weather.

Is there an XGauge for inverter temperature?

Right lane

We are getting ready to drive the 3.5 miles to the dealer- it is 79 degrees here-8am-NOLA-.
I actually put a cold pack on top of the inverter case(I'm guessing it is the big silver cube(maybe 1x1x1 feet) and put some wet newspaper and poured a little water on the silver cube.
I going to take the wet newspaper and cold pack off before leaving-3 minutes from now.
We only drove it .8 miles home after the red triangle showed up.

I couldn't actually get anything on top of the reservoir-and since like you say it isn't circulating, so all I would get would be pitiful convection cooling currents. Fingers crossed-hope the 3 miles isn't too harsh a trip.

Just curious- is the Prius motor an AC motor?? They are more efficient that DC I guess?
I don't guess it will matter much how I drive it since it is constantly using/changing electric power,right? I certainly won't try to get it to go all electric-since I'm guessing it has to convert DC battery power to AC power??

Thanks-I'll keep you guys posted on what the dealer does/says
Thanks again for all the help
Charlie

The Prius uses permanent magnet AC synchronous motors and you are correct -- the motors are used regardless of driving mode. The motors themselves don't generate much heat but the inverter certainly does.

Keep the speeds low and more importantly, the acceleration rates low -- that will limit the current peaks and should help with the temperature. I would blip the pedal to get it to use the engine and then drive as gently as you can with the engine running. 3mi is short enough that you'll be stuck in the warm up routine, though. IIRC that runs the engine in a warming cycle while driving the wheels purely in electric -- again, use slow accelerations!

Just drove to dealer- 3.9 miles.
I would bet that the vehicle was only "on" (meaning using storing regenerating) for 4-5 minutes of the 15 minute trip.
Between the vehicle completely shutting down at redlights, and gliding with no regeneration you can really minimize how much energy is being passed thru the inverter.

Waiting to hear from dealer- fingers crossed that they won't try to pull a fast one.
The service writer seemed pretty nice- but she mentioned "well the vehicle has 4 water pumps,so it might be something else(it being the red triangle)"-I had mentioned that I looked up the code and it pointed to the inverter pump-which is the recall item.

Thanks
Charlie

Just got it back- it was the inverter pump -done free

However they also say that the belt driven water pump is LEAKING!!
55,000 miles and the water pump is toast- they want $380 to replace it.
They also wanted to do a front brake job-"2mm of pad left" $190
Fuel system cleaning- $80
Miscellaneous other stuff-all in all they wanted permission to do $950 worth of other stuff.
I said I would have them do it when I got the $$.
In truth I'll do the wp myself-$85 delivered for a new Toyota pump-few $ for a gasket I guess.
I'll also replace the pads myself- but I doubt they are down to 2mm-don't they have a squeal warning ?? No squealing yet.
I sure won't do a fuel injection cleaning"described as throttle body cleaning on the ticket"

Hard to believe Toyota has pumps going out at 55,000 miles-what kind of junky parts are they using- never had a wp go out so early on any car.The coolant is low-so they might be telling the truth-probably is leaking.

Thanks all
Charlie
PS Has anyone done a belt driven wp replacement on a Gen 2 prius?? Very close quarters-so it will be lots of fun. On site suggests you have to support the engine and remove one of the motor mounts-always fun!!

Leaking or weeping? If it's just a little drop past the seals every now and then...not enough to notice in your main coolant reservoir...I wouldn't replace the pump. The new one will probably do it, too. The symptom would be a little crust from dried coolant, but nothing should be visibly wet. If it's enough to show up in the form of low coolant levels or a visible leak then go ahead and do it. Look at the condition of the serpentine belt before you order parts in case you want to throw a new one on while you're in there.

If it really needs new pads at 55k I'll be impressed!

Brick-it took me 16 ounces of water to fill the reservoir-(didn't have coolant at hand, so I used water-besides I would be dumping it soon anyway).

Something is leaking-so probably the wp.
The "2mm left on pads" is probably pure BS. I've had another(honda) service writers play that same trick-went home and 7 mm left.
I think that is a common revenue enhancing scam.
Thanks
Charlie
PS The WP looks like it will be no fun to replace- not much clearance-one online source suggests the motor mount has to be removed while supporting the engine-sounds like fun!!

I'm glad the Prius is back in working order!

Right Lane-Brick
Thanks for the sentiments.

I just realized that I couldn't see the radiator cap!!!
Never had a car that didn't have a clearly visible radiator cap.Yesterday I didn't fill the radiator-I just filled the reservoir.
Just checked the actual radiator-looks full-actually 2 ounces below the siphon hole-about right I guess.I did notice that the little phillips headed snap fittings that hold that cowl in place were slightly mangled.Don't know what to make of that-ham fasted mechanic-hope he didn't rush too much.

I don't see any coolant in the driveway- it would be dripping when the motor is running,so most of it would be on the road somewhere else.
While parked- if it was a fast leak- it would initially drop to the plastic undercowling smoothing out the airflow under the engine bay,and then it should eventually hit the driveway,I guess.
It was driven 10 miles last night-no drop in coolant level in reservoir.
By the way- it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to make out the coolant level thru that radiator reservoir.

I am very happy this was a no cost problem.
Not too happy to have a leaky water pump at just 55,000 miles, but that is life I guess. Maybe Toyota sourced the WP from the same place they sourced the inverter pump.

The Prius has good reliability rating according to CR, so I guess I just had some bad luck in respect to the belt driven WP.

It does look like the airbox snorkel has to be removed-AND THE MOTOR MOUNT- to replace the WP.You also need a tool to hold the pulley while removing the 3 bolts.screws.
I might have a motorcycle tool that will work-it is for holding external flywheels .

Well I'll keep an eye on the coolant,and see if I can get a look at the underside of the WP-I do have a little extending mirror-so I'll take a look.
I would expect much of a leak to be obvious-like you say Brick- a little weeping isn't worth repairing. 12-14 ounces down over 55,000 miles??

Thanks for the help
Charlie
PS This hasn't soured me on the Prius-2 failures in 55,000 miles isn't too big a deal-glad Toyota didn't try to weasel on the inverter pump.

PS This hasn't soured me on the Prius-2 failures in 55,000 miles isn't too big a deal-glad Toyota didn't try to weasel on the inverter pump.

That would be too obvious.

If they play nice on the stuff that doesn't cost them anything they can hope to screw you on the other stuff.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney

Ha,ha-
Yes Toyota has to be a bit more careful with their customers, since all the bad publicity they got-some obviously undeserved-in respect to the rugs getting stuck under the accelerators.
Folks kinda goofed on that-brakes always make at least 2x the HP of the engines-many of those who wrecked their cars were hitting the GO pedal, and many weren't standing on the brakes they way they should have-some were out and out scammers.

I am sure the writer was scamming me with the brake job claim("just 2mm pad left")-no squealing- but I'll have to check to be absolutely sure.This is a typical service writer claim in NOLA- across all car lines- not the manufacturers fault-but they could monitor their dealers a bit more carefully. We-NOLA- have a very 3rd world culture of corruption here-pols, business etc.
The "Clean you fuel system" $80 is also BS. Pretty sure Toyota doesn't suggest that as a regular service item.

I'm not overjoyed that the belt driven WP pump is leaking(if it is leaking-guessing it probably is since reservoir was 16 ounces low). I'll write that off to bad luck since I don't see many complaints of that on the forum.

When/if I do the WP- I'll post how I did it and how long it took-level of difficulty.
The motor mount removal certainly isn't anything I'm looking forward to.It looks straight forward, but supporting-and maybe slightly lifting the motor to remove it-might be tricky. Not looking forward to it!!

Thanks
Charlie

It doesn't sound like you have seen the leak from the pump. Don't take their word on it. If it is leaking, I would be surprised.
If you can't see it, stick your hand underneath with a point and shoot digital or cell phone and take several pics at different angles. Raise the front with ramps or jack stands and look from below.

If the brakes only have 2mm left, you are WAY too aggressive. At 155,000 miles, I might be a little more concerned.

What year is your car?

msirach
I'm starting to doubt the wp leak story also. I can't find any evidence of a leak.

1)This am drove 10 miles-came home at 9:30 am-put newspaper under the car.
Checked for leak spots at 30 min-1 hr, 1.5 hr 2hr,3 hr, 4 hr,5 hr, 5.75 hrs.
NOTHING- NO LEAK SPOTS AT ALL.

2)From above I eyeballed the area around the pump, and under the pump-NOTHING.
Fluid leaking from the pump should drip and pool -(to some extent)- in the plastic cowling under the engine bay-NOTHING THERE EITHER.

3) I just stuck my hand- middle finger- under the pump area-I should have felt some slightly slippery gritty "stuff" and my finger should have come out damp and slippery-
NOTHING- NOT EVEN DIRTY!!

4) I don't see and splash marks anywhere either.

Now the coolant reservoir was about 15 ounces low-so I can't discount the leak, but in 55,000 miles you probably could evaporate 15 ounces of water.Heck if you dripped weeped 2-3 standard sized drops/d -it would be 400mls in 5 years.

I'm having my doubts about a WP leak-there isn't any discernible leak now.

It was also kinda suspicious that when I brought it in for the service the writer explained "it has 3 other water pumps, so we don't know that that red triangle is from the inverter pump." I had told her I read the code, and it said it was "inverter temp" which I assumed meant the inverter pump croaked.I also said I didn't see any movement in the reservoir-indicating no pumping/dead pump.

The car has maybe 1000 separate parts- but she mentions the water pumps,and then finds it is leaking-There was no reason to suspect a bad water pump from what I told her-code poa93-so how she made that call is beyond me.
UNLESS OF COURSE this is part of their regular scam package
The brake "2mm left " is absolute BS- no squeal-just BS-got that same story from a Honda writer in 1998 -same BS-went in for a recall-get BS phone call wanting permission to do $$$ in work- said NO- checked pads when I got home-probably 8mm or so left.
The fuel injection cleaning is also absolute BS.

I'll keep checking but usually WP leaks are very very obvious once you look for them.Just changed out the WP on my 98 Suburban- really obvious-2 hours and $150(Auto Zone rebuilt)-much more expensive that the Toyota pump.

I'll keep checking, but...I have some doubt. Eventually I'll check the pads also.

Thanks
Charlie

I am sure all is well! Wait for it to start dripping. Will be interesting to here how much is left on your brake pads! H

Here's a question: what service department would find a cooling system that low and then miss the opportunity to charge you $10 to top it up? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I say keep an eye on it before doing anything.

FYI, I just checked my car and my wife's at 80k and 110k, respectively. We have never topped up the coolant on either, and both reservoirs read about 1/4" below "full". I think a full pint, if it were real, would be a leak worth fixing.

Brick

Yes it is odd that they didn't top up the reservoir??
I checked again this am-can't find any wet spots or signs of wet spots.Newspaper under car-flashlight peering into engine bay-NOTHING.
I assume this coolant-in drops-won't evaporate very quickly,and it would leave a SHADOW of a spot even after evaporating??

I don't know what to make of it.
Maybe it is leaking somewhere else-but I would still expect to see some spots.
Close to a pint is plenty- your 1/4 down is just 4 ounces or so.
Maybe it is weeping/oozing somewhere else.

I don't know what to think-15 ounces is a lot-even in a hot climate like NOLA.I don't want to change the wp if it is good-and I don't want to change it and find out I'm losing coolant somewhere else.
I'll keep looking. It is puzzling.

I took a look at the brake pads-but I looked from the outside-peering thru the wheel.
Via eyeball-looking at pad while looking at a caliper-my guess is slightly more than 3mm-.130".
So her 2mm estimate is not bad. I'll actually take off the wheel later and get a better look. Peering from the outside you can't actually see exactly where the material meets the backing plate of the pads-so I'm kinda guessing- but it is certainly at least 3mm.

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THICK NEW FACTORY FT BRAKE PADS ARE??
I have some 2001 Prizm(Corolla) pads-they are dead on 10mm.
If the Prizm has 10mm-then we get 7000 miles/1mm.

My wife and son drive the Prius- She is a gas/brake/gas/brake driver-so can't say I'm too surprised.

I'll actually measure the pads later-maybe slip a feeler gauge in there.
I just don't know what to make of the missing coolant.I'll assume the writer was correct- but keep looking for the lost coolant(and /or a drop in coolant level) before actually replacing the pump.It could be leaking somewhere other than the pump.Maybe even just evaporating over time, but I doubt that -1 pint is a lot of just 5 years-55,000 miles.

Thanks
Charlie

Brick
I don't know why they didn't do a top up.
Seems odd.
After they told me about the $1250 worth of repairs etc-I did say to just do the recall stuff.
She didn't ask if she could top it up-I did ask if it was low on fluid-it didn't occur to me that they wouldn't top it up if it was that low-1 pint-heck the reservoir was just about empty I guess.She said it was low- but didn't say the darned thing was empty.
I should have asked- but I was kinda taken aback by the $1250-so I didn't.
Probably my fault for not telling them to fill it.

I eyeballed the pads from the outside- via eyeball-while staring at a caliper it looks like 3-4mm material left.You can't really see exactly where brake material meets backing-so 3-4mm is a guess.
Her 2mm guess/measurement isn't far off.
Specs are 11mm new- replace at 1 mm-according to someone on another forum-seems about right.

Makes me more determined to find a leak.Once again no sign of a leak this am-no spots anywhere-nothing on paper under engine bay- nothing can be seem on anything when peering into engine bay with flashlight.
I'll keep looking- 15 ounces is a lot.

I am puzzled that I'm having so much trouble find the leak-
Thanks
Charlie

Rechecked today- also used a mirror to look under the pump-
I can't find any staining or drips.
I couldn't really see much with the mirror-too little light.

I'm really puzzled.
Usually leaks are easy to find-occasionally it is hard to see exactly where a leak comes from- but it usually isn't so hard to find drips- stains greasy spots etc.

I really don't know where that 15 ounces leaked from-yet.
I will keep looking.
Probably put it on jack stands and actually look from underneath.
Any ideas out there?
We are all in agreement that it is unlikely that 15 ounces of coolant would not have just evaporated over 5 years/55,000 miles?
Charlie

Did the car ever overheat and boil some off?

Sean

No it never overheated.
River Ridge-4 miles W of New Orleans is hot of course- and the Prius is black, so I would guess the engine bay is pretty warm many months of the year.

I'm not very familiar with exactly how the coolant system works.
Is the coolant in the reservoir exposed to the atmosphere through an overflow hose ? Just like a "normal car?" It doesn't have some sort of valve in the line that only allows excess coolant out, but it otherwise closed?
If it is constantly exposed to the atm ,maybe it could lose 15 ounces in 5 years 3 months?
But apparently no one else loses coolant, so I had better keep looking for a leak.

It is puzzling-not seeing any spotting/staining-but 15 ounces is missing..

Thanks
Charlie

The inverter pumps are easy to replace:
_ http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/maint100k/part4.html
.
You might want to look around at the sections about coolants,
too. Your water pump isn't leaking.
.
_H*

Hobbit
Thanks for the good article.
The dealer replaced the inverter pump under the recall.
I wonder how much Toyota pays them for that service? Probably less than they would like.

I certainly can't find a leak around, near or under the belt driven WP. I've put my finger under it(hard to get fully under the "nose" of the pump), looked with a flashlight all around the engine bay and at the undercowling where I would expect it to pool or drip-newspaper under engine bay. I've looked for stains, splatter marks/residue-Looked with a mirror(hard to see directly under the nose-too little light).
BUT so far I haven't been able to find a water/coolant leak.
No drop in coolant level in the reservoir-no coolant odor after driving.

I just don't know what happened to 15 ounces of coolant.The service writer said the belt driven WP was leaking.She didn't equivocate at all- just said it was leaking- period.

I'm puzzled-but will keep looking.I won't change that WP until I'm dead sure it is leaking.

I can't find any leak of anything in the engine bay.The AC puts out nice clean,clear,colorless,cool water- but it is 2-3 feet rearward of the WP.
Thanks
Charlie

P

July 1- still can't find any wet spots.
If I look very closely at the nose of the pump I can see the outline of a stain. I wonder if this is the "leak.". It isn't wet-just a stain. It isn't new I noticed it from the beginning, but didn't make anything out of it since it wasn't wet-just an outline/shadow.

Brick- could this be the weeping you suggested? It is on the top side of the nose of the pump.I guess it is also underneath?I haven't jacked the car up yet and taken a look under it.I will today.
If it is leaking a tiny amount maybe it is being evaporated off by a hot pump?

Still a puzzle.
Thanks
Charlie

That's the sort of thing that I would expect. If it isn't damp after a drive of 20 or 30 minutes then I wouldn't lose sleep over it. If it were me, I would just check on it once a week or so. Maybe less after a few weeks of not seeing anything.

7:40am July 1 2011.
Brick-thanks for your response.
I Just jacked up the Prius-
I CAN'T SEE ANY WET SPOTS AROUND THE BELT DRIVEN WP.
I got a reasonably good look at the underside of the pump-NOTHING!
There was a very very faint stain-but no grunge dirt on the stain.Usually gooey stick stuff picks up some dirt grunge-NOTHING.

I couldn't see the weep hole? I got a good look at the nose of the WP- but couldn't see any weephole??
Is it all the way at the tip-obscured by the pulley?

Thanks
Charlie
PS Sorry to drag this out. I'm really puzzled that I'm having such a hard time tracking down the missing 15 ounces of coolant.

I hate to think the worst of anyone but is it possible they simply siphoned out some coolant to make a case for the pump replacement? :(

Right Lane Criuser

I hadn't thought of that possibility.
Hmmm, if I was a sneaky SOB and had lied about the WP I might have covered it up by doing that??
The writer was close in respect to the brake job she advised-"2mm pad left" actually 3.5mm left on the front brakes,so I'm assuming she isn't scamming me.

It seems awfully "bad/evil/sneaky"-fix replace a part that isn't broken??
Of course it was odd that she insisted on telling me that the Prius had 4 water pumps and they don't know that the inverter is what is causing the TRIANGLE OF DEATH.-She mentioned before they had checked anything-and I told her I had read the code and it clearly pointed to the inverter.

Why would they chose such a hard part to replace?? She did say leaked- not that it was "broken" .You-Toyota- could probably test for a broken pump if they cared to, but a leaky gasket is impossible to prove once it is removed.

Thanks for the help.Removing some fluid didn't occur to me, but she probably didn't expect that I would refuse the repair,so once I refused it would make sense to cover it up a bit.

I'm still leaning toward the Prius actually losing coolant-maybe evaporating over 5 years(but no one else has a 15 ounce loss).
But a pure scam is on my radar.
Thanks all you guys for all the help.I will keep looking every week at the reservoir and the radiator-and checking for leaks. I'll post if I find anything.
Charlie

PS This is an excellent forum- very useful-and welcoming even to Guzzler owners like me(98 suburban-216,400 miles-21 mpg hy).Thanks to WG etc.