Mark: Hi, it's Mark. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. Vancouver's best auto service experience, multiple winners of best auto repair in Vancouver, as voted by their customers, and we're talking cars. How you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today's guest is a 2011 Toyota Highlander hybrid. What was happening with this vehicle?
Bernie: So this vehicle came in with an inverter problem, which we'd rectified. But it turned out there was a few problems on top of that which we eventually traced to where in the transmission or the motor, the motor generator transmission unit.
Mark: So hybrids are a very complicated piece of machinery, electrical, mechanical, and kind of running through the motor generator transmission, which is this weird, complicated piece of machinery. What was the mileage on this vehicle?
Bernie: Yeah, so this vehicle had quite high mileage. It was about 280,000 kilometres which is, you know, in miles I think that's about 180 or something. It's up there. So it had some good use. And I guess in all fairness, things will go wrong on a vehicle of that mileage. Even a reliable Toyota.
Mark: All right. So there was problems with the transmission. Let's have a look at some pictures.
Bernie: Yeah. And so how we got here, I mean, there were problems with the inverter and we replaced it. And then after a road test, we were getting a fault code for an isolation fault, which is basically electrical leakage in the system. So we made some tests related to that. Everything seemed to be fine. The next area we looked at was what's the quality of the transmission fluid? Because if the fluid is contaminated, there's too much metal in the fluid it can cause isolation fault code. So we drained the transmission fluid and this is what we found. And you can see that it's a bit reddish, but there's a lot of grey. And now all that grey is metal filings.
Mark: All the shiny bits there.
Bernie: All the shiny bits, hideous amount of metal filings in the transmission fluid. And we talked with the owner about it and they said that they'd had the [00:02:00] transmission fluid replaced recently. We called the shop that had done it and he said, yeah, I remember that car. The fluid was very black and dirty. So this is like not even very old fluid that we're draining out here, and it's full of metal filings.
Mark: What's this here?
Bernie: So this is draining out some cleaner fluid. So we basically did a double fluid drain and fill. Basically drain the fluid out, filled it up with fresh fluid, road tested the vehicle for a little while, came back, drained it again. So this is the fluid that came out. Still had a tiny bit of metal in it, but very, very minimal. You can see that's how the fluid should look. But we did a second drain just to ensure we got out as much particulate crap as possible. And so did a second fill and obviously the fluid would be much cleaner from the second one, which we, we didn't drain out.
Mark: And that removed the trouble codes and all those things. An assumption that perhaps the vehicle's okay at that point?
Bernie: Well, we basically left it with the customer saying, Hey, you know what, this transmission's got severe wear inside and we don't know how long it's gonna last. You know, it may be finished by tomorrow, it might be six months, a couple years. You never know. But basically the fact it had, so basically three transmission fluid changes, it's pretty severe. So we road test the vehicle extensively for an hour. Drove fine. No codes, no warning lights, figured. Hey, okay, great. Unfortunately the next day it failed again, and the transmission needs to be replaced. So we're still pending their approval or decision on doing it. But that's where we're at.
Mark: So you mentioned to me earlier that you did some research on this and there's something inside these transmissions that will cause this?
Bernie: Yeah, there's a metal plate that wears out inside the transmission. I actually haven't disassembled one myself to look at. But apparently there's a metal plate inside that will come loose and it starts rubbing in a way it shouldn't. And that just creates a bunch of metal that goes through the system. So what happens with metal filings in the system, it will sort of short circuit or create electrical conductivity in the fluid which you don't want. So the fluid is special in these transmissions. We only use the genuine Toyota fluid just to make sure there's no weird issues.
Mark: And why would that be an issue? Why is I think an isolation fault? Why would that be an issue for safety even?
Bernie: Well, you know, these vehicles have high voltage, you know, 300 ish approximate voltage. It fluctuates around that's deadly voltage. You know, if it were to leak into the car, for instance, and you're holding the steering wheel and all of a sudden the 300 volts went through the steering wheel, could kill you. Or if you step out of the vehicle and one of your body's grounded and the other's, you know, electrically charged. So they put a lot of safety features. All the wires and cables, if you ever look on an EV or hybrid, they're all orange covered cables, and those are all shielded cables. You have to be very careful when you're doing electrical testing.
You can't do the old fashioned way. Piercing through the insulation to test it. Because the moment you do that, you've now shorted the isolation to the voltage and the cable's junk. So very precise procedures to do testing on these kind of things. But it's all there for safety and any minute amount of electrical leakage in the system, it's all monitored. Any minute amount of electrical leakage, it will basically shut the hybrid system down.
Mark: And so what would that possibly, maybe even, probably have done to the inverter?
Bernie: Well, it could, it could have damaged the inverter. You know, if there's too much material, metals and things are conducting in the wrong way, it could cause an inverter failure. So it might well be the reason the original inverter failed. But inverters do fail from time to time, even in a perfect running system. So can't really necessarily blame that on the transmission, but it's a possible cause.
Mark: And this hybrid, this is just specific to around this kind of vintage of Toyota Highlander hybrid.
Bernie: Yeah. They made this model for, I can't remember how many years now, but the Highlanders are slightly more problematic and have a few more issues than Prius is do, because they're a little more complex. They have a third motor in the rear to drive the all wheel drive system.
Mark: Three motors.
Bernie: Three motors, yeah.
Mark: Three times as much fun.
Bernie: So yeah, the more complexity you add, it makes for a more useful vehicle and more stuff goes wrong.
Mark: If you're looking for service for your hybrid, any make or model or electric EV. The people to see in Vancouver are Pawlik Automotive. You can book online at pawlikautomotive.com, or you can call them to book your appointment at (604) 327-7112. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive, Vancouver, BC Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thanks Mark. And thank you for watching and listening.
