Our latest featured service is Inverter Water Pump Replacement on a 2001 Toyota Prius, brought to us by a client from Kitsilano, Vancouver.
Toyota Prius’ have two water pumps, one to cool the engine and the other to keep the inverter cool. The inverter is a major component of the hybrid drive system converting the battery’s DC voltage to AC voltage to be used by the electric motor. Heat is generated during the process so a cooling system is incorporated to ensure long component life.
This vehicle came to our shop with the check engine light illuminated. Diagnostic tests found the cause of the concern to be an intermittently defective inverter water pump.
This part was relatively inexpensive and not overly time consuming to replace. That’s fortunate because many parts of the hybrid system are costly and difficult to repair.
Toyota Prius’ have proven to be very well built and reliable vehicles which is exactly what you want in a highly complex car. This first generation Prius lacks the sophistication of the newer models, nonetheless it works well and it still saves lots of fuel.
For more about hybrid drive systems click here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle_drivetrain
For more about the reliable Toyota Prius click here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius
