Have consulted internet and found that other Prius owners from 2008 + have complained about "garbage" like odor that seems to be coming from the right rear passenger side air vent, at the rear seat/door post. It allows cabin air drawn by electric fan thru a tube to cool the High Voltage battery, then expels thru another tube to exterior flap(s) in the RR wheel well.
The odor, apparently, is from constant heating and then deterioration of plastic intake and/ outgoing tubes for cooling the HV battery.
T
he fix suggested on U-Tube, for a DIY owner, is to remove rear seats and seat backs, all cloth and plastic cover shrouds to expose the cooling fan, tubes and HV battery. Cleaning the fan of debris and dust is suggested and, of course, sniffing the tubes for the source of the obnoxious odor.
Apparently there may be replacement tubes OEM plastic (but using the same bio-degradable plastic tubing seems to just create the same problem again) or some sort of after-market silicone-based plastic. Other suggestions are that the tubes are not needed (I'm not sure about the validity of this suggestion).
Is this a complaint you've had information on and should it be a Toyota Warranty covered item?
Please advise on this, as it causes mild nausea while driving, if we don't run the A/C (with outside air source) and keep the rear windows rolled down a little to exhaust some of the odor. My wife says "FIX IT"!
Have consulted internet and found that other Prius owners from 2008 + have complained about "garbage" like odor that seems to be coming from the right rear passenger side air vent, at the rear seat/door post. It allows cabin air drawn by electric fan thru a tube to cool the High Voltage battery, then expels thru another tube to exterior flap(s) in the RR wheel well.
The odor, apparently, is from constant heating and then deterioration of plastic intake and/ outgoing tubes for cooling the HV battery. T he fix suggested on U-Tube, for a DIY owner, is to remove rear seats and seat backs, all cloth and plastic cover shrouds to expose the cooling fan, tubes and HV battery. Cleaning the fan of debris and dust is suggested and, of course, sniffing the tubes for the source of the obnoxious odor.
Apparently there may be replacement tubes OEM plastic (but using the same bio-degradable plastic tubing seems to just create the same problem again) or some sort of after-market silicone-based plastic. Other suggestions are that the tubes are not needed (I'm not sure about the validity of this suggestion).
Is this a complaint you've had information on and should it be a Toyota Warranty covered item?
Please advise on this, as it causes mild nausea while driving, if we don't run the A/C (with outside air source) and keep the rear windows rolled down a little to exhaust some of the odor. My wife says "FIX IT"!
So" HELP" and thanks for solutions.
- Wade B., Chicago, IL, US