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High Voltage cable corrosion


srt
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On 2/7/2023 at 11:22 AM, kucyk said:

@displaced if you haven't already, consider unplugging the cable and putting some grease/wax around this rubber gasket. The problem is, when the connector on the cable side corrodes, the rubber gasket doesn't work anymore. Then the water/humidity gets inside, causing corrosion of the plug itself on the engine side resulting in hefty bil for the cable and engine!!! replacement. I saw this on the other forums.

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I recently had the cable checked after 6 months (and after winter gritting) and it was Ok. The dealers advice was to keep checking each service upto and before the end of the 3 year warranty. Adding dielectric grease would invalidate the 3 year manufacturers warranty.

Then, if the cable is still Ok, it's my option whether to take any additional action, such as adding dielectric grease beyond 3 years as the manufacturer warranty no longer covers this. This seemed like good practicable advice.

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If me I would not touch the cables or connectors adding any grease. Anything that alter the manufacturer specs will be used against the owner in future warranty claim. The grease will not prevent formation of corrosion imo, just may slow it down a bit. This seems like will go widespread in few years time here in uk too, seen the amount of salt thrown on the roads every night between November and May for absolutely no reason simply destroys cars and roads.
This is more like manufacturer fault than anything else and should be covered by the extended warranty with each service.
Other cars has better protection, right? Or each and every hybrids or bev’s suffer the same problem? 

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15 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

If me I would not touch the cables or connectors adding any grease. Anything that alter the manufacturer specs will be used against the owner in future warranty claim. The grease will not prevent formation of corrosion imo, just may slow it down a bit. This seems like will go widespread in few years time here in uk too, seen the amount of salt thrown on the roads every night between November and May for absolutely no reason simply destroys cars and roads.
This is more like manufacturer fault than anything else and should be covered by the extended warranty with each service.
Other cars has better protection, right? Or each and every hybrids or bev’s suffer the same problem? 

You shouldn't actually use grease, but there are special waxes to protect stuff like that. Obviously you don't put that inside of the connector where the cable meets the engine, only on the seal and inside of this orange thingy, so it's hard to believe you would void any warranty by doing that. Also, this is unlikely to break during the first 3 years and not all RAV4s are covered under the extended warranty. At the end of the day you have to ask yourself a question - do you take a risk or not. If the connector on the engine end corrodes, the bill to replace the cable and the engine would be around +10k.

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8 minutes ago, kucyk said:

You shouldn't actually use grease, but there are special waxes to protect stuff like that. Obviously you don't put that inside of the connector where the cable meets the engine, only on the seal and inside of this orange thingy, so it's hard to believe you would void any warranty by doing that. Also, this is unlikely to break during the first 3 years and not all RAV4s are covered under the extended warranty. At the end of the day you have to ask yourself a question - do you take a risk or not. If the connector on the engine end corrodes, the bill to replace the cable and the engine would be around +10k.

That’s your choice. There are basically two options to the car owners:

1. Do everything yourself, or with independent garage , or mechanic 

2. Stay within the dealer network for service and repair- if you choose this anything that you add or do to the car can cause you issues down the line in any future warranty claims.
If you make a claim about your steering wheel column for example they won’t take into account that you had added some protection to the high voltage cable, but if you claim about the high voltage cable and they see this part has been touched, forget about any help under warranty. This is how dealers work. 

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I think it's sensible to take preventative action near the end of the warranty.

Dielectric grease is used to protect electrical connectors in marine applications, so should extend the life of the cable on salty roads. ACF likewise will extend the life.

Maybe in 5-8 years time there will be a more affordable aftermarket solution if there is enough demand

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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh bugger, yes 8 weeks ago I got (here in the UK) “hybrid fault detected, please go to your dealer”

So after I’d loaded up on illicit drugs, I then thought I’d head to Toyota in Milton Keynes get it serviced and get them to check. That was now 9 weeks ago. It took them 7 weeks to get the tool to check and confirm the issue (god know what tool…it seems fairly obvious using eyes), I’ve now been told by Toyota GB, it needs a new wiring loom (presume HV they won’t tell me) but shock horror there are none in the uk or Europe.

We need the thing back in 6 weeks as Silverstone is in 8 and it needs to tow a caravan.

so angry about all of this, could it really take months to get parts?

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6 minutes ago, Alex R said:

could it really take months to get parts?

Possibly. Supply of parts (regardless of manufacturer) still affected by Covid in other countries, Ukraine, chip production, etc, etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes my fellow Brits we are officially boned. The part is on back order across the entirety of Europe and my man at Toyota GB is not confident that we will have our car back before the end of July.

 

I mean it’s great for keeping the mileage down on the vehicle but equally it sucks massive donkey dangles, that we’re stuck in a crappy VW T-Roc that is costing us an absolute ton in fuel and whatever Adblue is (someone is on to a massive earner there….a tub of distilled water and ***** for a tenner)

Looking enviously at every Rav4 that drives across our path.

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You'd think someone would be able to take out the plug and socket at the rear and do a weather proof splice of a new bit of hv wire between the first non corroded part of the existing harness and the motor.

Add a bit of shielding if you want the AM radio to work

I think it's only three core (plus the shielding).

Would make changing out the motor harder of that was required in future, but would seem a reasonable trade off.

Ps. This is a non electrician saying "it can't be that hard" and hopefully a grown up will be along in a minute to correct me.

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31 minutes ago, displaced said:

You'd think someone would be able to take out the plug and socket at the rear and do a weather proof splice of a new bit of hv wire between the first non corroded part of the existing harness and the motor.

Add a bit of shielding if you want the AM radio to work

I think it's only three core (plus the shielding).

Would make changing out the motor harder of that was required in future, but would seem a reasonable trade off.

Ps. This is a non electrician saying "it can't be that hard" and hopefully a grown up will be along in a minute to correct me.

I think the grown up response is sadly, good idea but unfortunately the workshop guys are fitters and not mechanics that would be able to do the job consistently and reliably enough even in the short term.

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You could probably get an indep to do that, but dealers and insurance workshops are very litigation-averse and have to do everything by the book only to cover themselves, even if it defies common sense.

 

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Well ballcocks to that!

Feeling most dischuffed.

Specially wrt to relatively useless 10 year "warrenty" in respect of this and other stuff.

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I believe Toyota updated the platic cover. Simply by drilling the drain hole. I think newer model has different design, it is now up side down so water will not be collected 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sigh…..it’s not coming back any time soon.

Frustratingly it’s commercially sensitive data, but Toyota know how many are required across Europe….and well I’m guessing it’s a lot. 😞

This is so frustratingly disappointing.

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When I applied dielectric grease to mine as a preventative measure, lots of people said "but you've invalidated your warranty!"

After your experience, I'm glad I did!

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I have used Ambersil to great effect to protect the electrical components of jet aircraft and found it to be totally reliable, have a high temperature range and good insulation properties.

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I you out of warranty you can use,

Other things you can use to keep water out if spotted in time is Self Amalgamating tape or even just silicone sealant. 

But if it alread inside the plug thats or the casing earth is compromised then this needs fixing first.

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On 5/20/2023 at 8:39 AM, AisinW said:

I believe Toyota updated the platic cover. Simply by drilling the drain hole. I think newer model has different design, it is now up side down so water will not be collected 

Do you have any proof/ evidence of the different design. Rav4's are currently not avail in UK so perhaps its going to be difficult to verify. It would be useful to know as any design modification could effectively be argued that the existing design is faulty and therefore worthy of recall and/or extended warranty condition etc.

I understand other Toyota hybrids were already "upside-down" and therefore not affected like the Rav4.

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@srt I am not exactly sure but I think I saw one in Youtube  but do no remeber anymore.  You also can check The USA Government website on Recall and TSB for Toyota/Lexus. 

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10230382-9999.pdf and https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/RAV4_Hybrid/2019/tsbs/ in general for any TSB (service buletin)

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Am I right in thinking that this problem is only relevant to AWD models that obviously have a rear electric motor.

That American report above specifically refers to AWD models.

Terry

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35 minutes ago, Terry10 said:

Am I right in thinking that this problem is only relevant to AWD models that obviously have a rear electric motor.

That American report above specifically refers to AWD models.

Terry

Indeed, Toyota's documentation is titled: 

TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS
FOR
CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROGRAM 22TE09
HV FLOOR UNDER WIRE HARNESS AND REAR TRACTION MOTOR CABLE CORROSION
CERTAIN 2019 –2022 MODEL YEAR RAV4 HYBRID AWD

So it sounds to me as though it is AWD models only ...

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Did think that it was the cable from the battery's originally but that does appear quite specific that it is the cable to the rear motor doesn't it. I won't be personally concerned about that anymore then as I have the 2WD version.

Terry

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Tech docs say specifically hybrid - no mention of prime/phev.

Having been underneath mine, it appears to have the same vulnerability.

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Yes, awd cars only are affected. Fwd has no issues. Both  also has similar cables connection at inverter to the transmission but these are up the engine bay and kind of away from direct salt and water attack. 👍 

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I'm taking an interest in this as I'm going into a 2020 awd and have read the comments.

So do we think it's not covered under the extended warranty, just the standard?

If not covered then there'd be nothing to lose in taking action yourself to protect the area.

Coating it all in some kind of none-conducting waterproof resin springs to mind.

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