Prius (2010-12) :: Washing Engine Compartment?
Apr 15, 2011
I usually washed my previous car's engine compartments with a hand nozzle at a coin-op car wash. I would do it a couple times a year so dust and grease never built up to the point of ever needing deep degreasing.
I looked at the engine compartment of the GENIII Prius and see that there seem to be a lot of exposed orange (high voltage?) wires that would be better off covered with some kind of plastic engine cover near the driver's side. It looks naked and some of the orange wires look like they have bare wires exposed on the outside of the tubing where it connects with clamps nearer to the front of the car. I thought my car must be missing the engine cover, but I found pics online that are the same.
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recently after an oil change from Toyota dealership, I notice a wire is unplugged behind the passenger’s side headlight! The headlight, the signal light and the high beam, everything works fine.
Is this wire supposed to be open for all 3rd Gen Prius? If yes, what is the purpose for this wire? Where does this connect too?
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I was looking around under the hood and noticed a plastic T with two rubber hoses attached, and one end of the T open with no hose. This is on the drivers side in the engine compartment toward the fire wall. Why would this not have a hose on it or at least some type of filter?
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I have a 2013 Prius II with 35,000 miles we bought certified used from a dealer 1 year ago. When I turn the AC on, there is sometimes a louder than normal noise from the front right of the engine compartment area. Not right near the surface - seems to be coming from a little deeper in the engine compartment. If it is present, it starts when AC is turned on and stops a half second after the AC is turned off. Can't get it to repeat for dealer service tech yet (of course). I recorded the sound and played it for the tech who told me to check pink coolant levels in both reservoirs and then bring in to dealer. Thought it could be a dry or malfunctioning pump of some kind? Today I smelled a slight burning smell when the AC was turned on. No check engine light, AC seems to be working fine. My wife thinks the noise may have also been there when the heat was turned on but I cannot verify.
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i have a 2011 prius II, and i noticed that rain water is leaking into the engine compartment. after i look at the hood design and how it closes, it was very obvious to me that water will leak into the engine compartment by design. i found this prius V picture online (i think it is very similar if not identical to my prius II). the blue pointers indicate holes and gaps where water can leak in, and the read circle indicates where water end up.
i have owned 2 other cars before this one, and i have never had rain water leak into engine compartment. do i have to worry about this?
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My 2011 Prius plus made a growling noise from the front right engine compartment area the other day. Yesterday as I drove it to work...it stopped growling and the A/C stopped blowing cool air. The volume of air from the vents is the same, just no A/C.
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To install my FLIR system I need a 12V power supply, ideally switched with my Gen III's ignition switch. Where in the engine compartment can I find that?
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I got a braking issue today and I'm not able to drive my car anymore. I have a 2010 Prius with a continuous beeping sound, ABS and warning lights ON. I can hear a small sound (pulsing, cranking, vibrating) in the engine compartment after the hybrid system is started. I guess this is the actuator.
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It's been snowing for a couple hours now and on the way home I stopped to get gas. When I popped the hood to add some windshield washer, I noticed that there was quite a bit of snow in the engine compartment, especially in the battery area and on the other side of the engine bay as well...When I arrived home, I checked my girlfriend's 2012 Accent that hasn't been moving today and there is snow as well... Is this normal that the snow gets in there so easily???
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The closest car wash is less than two miles from our home and we often bring the GX home directly from the car wash and park it in the garage. We've noticed that the parking brake remains applied when we start the GX the next morning, even though the foot pedal releases. Presumably, the parking brake components were wet from the car wash and enough rust/corrosion forms overnight so that the springs to release the brake can't overcome the 'stiction'.
The GX "squats and grunts" when we put it in gear, but doesn't move. Shifting into reverse solves the problem ... there's a loud 'pop' from the rear of the vehicle as the brake releases, the GX starts to move, but in reverse, which we quickly stop with the service brake, then we shift into forward and drive off ... did I mention that we back into our garage?
I may already have confessed that we are heavy parking brake users ... every time we park the vehicle, even if just temporarily while we step out of the vehicle to get the mail, etc. We use the parking brake so much that the cable stretches and every year our dealership has to re-tension.
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So I just took my 2010 Camry xle-4 in today for brakes and a squealing noise coming from the engine compartment, 76,000 on the odometer. Thought they were going to tell me one of the two belts needed to be replaced and to my surprise they tell me it is the transmission. If you put it in park the noise is gone. I have the 100,000 Toyota backed extended warranty. the tech stated what I did not know until today - sealed transmission. They had to requested an adjuster (warranty requirement) to come out and look at the vehicle prior to ordering a new transmission - no repair option. Vehicle shifts with no issues, drives fine.
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I just washed my engine with degreaser and made the engine look like new and I went to start my car and it sounds like there's water in the engine it giggles and when you press the pedal you get little response I tried to drive and had to rip on the rpm to get it to move what could this possibly be?
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Thinking of washing the engine bay of my 2012 3.6 Passat for the first time.
Usually, I cover the brake fluid reservoir, the power steering reserv., the alternator and the dip sticks before I spray Gunk Gone (or something similar), leave for sereral minutes and then hose the engine down.
This will be the first time I am doing the Passat. What do you folks do as a precautionary prep to wash the engine? Is there something called the clutch peep hole that I need to make sure is properly plugged?
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OK, I've been reading a lot about this problem occurring in the pre 2010 prius where there is a crack around the hatch that fills the 12V battery well with water. About a month ago, I started getting a whiff of something rotting. A mix of the dead smell and rotting fruit. I was certain one of my kids left some food in the car or something got in the HVAC vent. As time has gone by, the odor has changed to more of a rotting leaves kind of smell.
I got out my shopvac and a snake camera. I went through the HVAC system and found that the filter was pulled back a bit. I replaced it on the spot. I found a few leaves and dust and that was it. The air coming from the vents from the outside smells clean. There were lots of wet leaves in the engine bay, but it wasn't the problem.
I started tearing apart the trunk because sometimes stuff spills into the tire well. I found the spare tire had turned brown on the tread.
I opened the battery compartment and found about an inch of standing milky white water. The kicker here is that the water didn't seem to smell that bad! I dried it all up and bleached the metal to kill any mold that might be in the residue...but the odor remains. The car smells awful!
I have torn apart the back of the car but I cannot find the source of the leak. I actually think it was from the car wash or going through a puddle and water got in the rear vent. The battery fender vent vanes were flapping with gusts of wind today, but even after a heavy rainstorm no new water has gotten in.
The car was hit in the parking lot and the rear fender moved about an 1/8th of an inch from the bumper, but there are no obvious signs of water entry anywhere... in fact, I was even suspicious that it might have come from the battery itself, but I didn't touch it (used paper towels on a snake to dry it up under there). I didn't think to try baking soda to see if it was an acid, which makes bleach pretty stupid to use...but I didn't see any foaming.
TL;DR Found water in my 12V battery compartment. My car smells bad. Cleaning out water did not improve smell. Nothing in HVAC system, it is only clean air source in car. No signs of water ingress above 12v battery well. After rainstorm, no additional water found in battery well. Fender vent flaps in gusty wind, but still no new water.
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In my 2003 3.5 awd I successfully got my used transmission in and running great. I made the mistake of washing the engine. Now, it runs like Cr@p. It pops and sputters. At one point the CEL came on with 7 codes mostly misfires. It ran ok prior to the bath but I am getting ready to do the timing belt and wp and plug wires. In the meantime, whats the most likely cause of misfires after a hosing down on these engines? I'm leaning towards plug wires or coils...
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I seem to be having a leak occuring from somewhere within the engine compartment, as I see beads of water dripping into the driver side and passenger side carpets. It only occurs when I turn the fan/A/C on.
This is leading me to believe that the evaporator drain is clogged, the only issue is: Where is it exactly located? I'm looking near the passenger side firewall within the engine compartment for a small black rubber hose, but I can't seem to find it. Is it further down underneath the firewall?
To add insult to injury, the VSA, traction control and check engine light both turned on today. I'm not sure if this is the result of persistent water leaking and causing something to short (I don't really know how water has been leaking for) but what could've caused that?
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Up until yesterday, my 1995 Convertible GT ran perfect. The power steering pump has a leak and the foamed fluid overflowed. I replaced the fluid and cleaned out the engine bay where the spill was. I used a little soap, and rinsed it with some water.
Since then, the battery drains in about 60 seconds. I can shut off, and immediately start the car back up. If the car sits for more than a minute, I just get clicking. Starter doesn't even turn over. I can jump the car to get her running.
I've taken all the wire harnesses and electrical connections apart on that side of the engine bay and cleaned them with electrical contact/wire cleaner. I removed the fender, the lights, the bumper, etc to clean. The battery, alternator, and charging security pass a check at AutoZone. I can run and drive the car without throwing of codes, etc. As soon as I turn off the engine for longer than a minute, it doesn't start.
Not sure what else I can do. I was in the middle of a sale, and now thats gone pending me solving this annoying and time-consuming issue. If I don't figure this out in a few days, I'm calling a yard. I really don't have time to deal with a car I'm trying to get rid of.
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I started noticing some strange sounds coming from the engine compartment after shutting off the car ( a 2007 with 90K miles). It's different from the hum for several seconds that I often hear after switching off the car. This one is a squeaky rough sound like a small motor wearing out. I think it's from the driver side of the engine compartment. Is that where the inverter pump is? This car didn't have any record of needing the inverter pump changed for the recall as far as I could tell.
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First off it's a 2008 Prius with 80K on it.
There is a new sound that has started coming from the front of the car in the engine compartment or even lower. It is a turning turbine like sound that is mostly obvious when driving at 60 mph, but my guess is that it is always there, but not as audible at lower speeds. The air and heater are both off and have no effect on this sound. The only thing that could have had anything to do with it is that a day or two before, the tires were low so I filled them to 40 psi. The other thing is that it clicked over to 80K the last week and the friendly red maintenance required light came on.
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Developed a whining type noise in my '07 prius engine compartment. Noise only there when gas pedal pressed. If I let off on gas the whining noise stops.
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OK; I give up. How do I check the trans. fluid level on my 2010 F150 6 spd. auto trans????? I see that there is NOT a dipstick in the engine compartment.
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