INTRODUCTION
Owing a highly efficient vehicle like a hybrid and/or electric vehicle(no matter what brand you opt for), comes with some responsibilities, in order to get the maximum benefits from your "investment".

As we all know these days, with the changing global emissions caps, and the uncertainties in the global oil markets, a lot of Nigerians, that have once vowed never to come close(r) to electric propulsion vehicles, are now seeing the benefits in the foreseeable future, of owning some of these marvelous" computers on wheels".

However, the cause  of concerns for future enthusiasts of this new form of technology, has always being the "myths" about battery life, technical expertise amongst technicians in repair shops.

MAINTENANCE SCHEDULES
Maintenance schedules are the kinds of repairs/maintenances you perform on serviceable components on a vehicle, after a certain duration has being reached(that's a layman's definition though).

Such maintenances are performed, not only when a vehicle breaks down(emergency/breakdown maintenance).

Maintenance like this, helped to put your car in top shape, even after it has exceeded its warranties, etc.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE OWNED A HYBRID CAR MORE THAN A YEAR OR 150,000MILES, WHAT MAINTENANCE DO YOU EMBARK UPON?

It is pertinent that you replaced all the fluids in the vehicle, seeing that you were not privy to the maintenance history of the USED CAR you bought and imported.

Its a risks driving that car, because of you just don't know the state of fluids in 
transmission, radiator, inverter, and brake systems.

Fluids no matter how a manufacturer in my view preaches about it's quality in terms of viscosity, and all that stuff, still degrades with time, which if not replaced on due time, would cause you much more problems ahead than having them replaced as scheduled.

WHAT FLUIDS SHOULD YOU REPLACED?

1. Coolants in the radiator, and the inverter assemblies.
The major component harnessing the high voltage battery (pack), and "dishing" it out I. various stages to the electric motors/generators in the trans axle, is the inverter/converter assembly.

The inverter  has some bunch of chips into, that takes care of electrical energy distribution.

It does tremendous amount of work, by generating excessive heat, every seconds that your car goes into the READY mode.

This heat is efficiently dissipated/managed by an air-liquid(coolant) process.

With this constant cycle of coolants undergoing exposures to heat, the long lasting additives premixed in coolants by various manufacturers tends to degrade with time, and looses its ability to transfer heat efficiently, thereby causing corrosion in cooling systems plumbing, and a failure of same.

They can cause premature failure of an inverter pump.

2. CVT transmission system fluid.
The same reasons for transmission system fluid replacement, can be referenced from #1 point above.
No matter what a manufacturer tells you about transmission fluids, to be on the safer side of things, always try to follow the maintenance schedules, and of possible, develop your own, based on the baseline of the manufacturer's timelines.

3. Brake fluids. Have you ever noticed black coloured rubber like impurities floating I. your car's brake reservoir, and I. some cases, have discoloured the tan colour(gold like) of the fluids in the reservoir?
Those impurities are from worn out rubber seals in the car's braking systems (master, brake calipers seals, etc), that has undergone various cycles of exposures to hundreds of degrees of temperature (boiling).

So, today, I'd be using one of a client's 2010 Toyota hybrid highlander as a case study.


CAR TYPE: Toyota highlander hybrid 2010
MILEAGE: 146,748Miles
TRANSMISSION TYPE: eCVT
ENGINE CAPACITY: 3.3L; V6
HISTORY: Car was imported into Nigeria from the USA 5years ago.
It has never given me any issues, until recently, when the vehicle keeps stalling after every 5minutes.

NATURE OF JOB:
1.Carry out FULL maintenance schedules on the truck.

2. Rectify parasitic battery drain issue with the 12V battery that's now dead(lasted just few months).

3. Rectify the frequent stalling of the car immediately after every 5min.

WHAT WE ARE DOING, AND HAVE DONE
Since the vehicle had spent 5years and more, and coupled with the lack of a maintenance history fro. the day of purchased, we decided to do a check TEST DRIVE OF THE CAR, and CHECK/REPLACED any fluids or parts that needs replacing.

1. Inverter and radiator coolants were replaced, using oy Toyota super long life coolants.
This coolant, just line other brands, have being premixed from the factory, for direct use.
So not mixed the coolants with any form of water.
Use directly, after draining the coolants from the radiator/inverter.

It is important to note that, this client, was financially buoyant, and opted for using Toyota coolants all through in the radiator, and inverter assemblies.

If you're not like this client, you could use coolant of any brands for the radiator alone, while making do with Toyota super long life coolant in the inverter/converter assembly.

2. Transmission system fluid was also replaced, using only Toyota WS transmission fluid.
Doing otherwise, would void your warranty, if your car is still under warranty, or severely damaged the transmission system.

A fluids (transmission) would eventually degrade, and get discoloured, thereby loosing its ability to take care of the transmission system, by cooling it, and also help in the lubrication of it's planetary gears).

3. Brake fluids. Replaced existing brake fluids, without necessarily flushing the system.
The replacement could be done via gravity flow.

4. All driveshaft and rear differential boots were inspected for rupture.
None were ruptured.

5. Brake pads had being replaced last year, and were still within tolerable limits(not worn considerably).

6. All leather cabin seats were torn, and had to be taken to an upholstery shop to have that fix.

7. Spark plugs were worn, and had to be replaced with sets of new ones.

8. Fuel injectors were all serviced using carb cleaners.
Exercise maximum caution, when using carb cleaner, close to batteries because of the sparks they might generate as the fuel injectors are serviced.

9. All suspension parts were replaced, even though, some appeared to be OK physically.

10. The suspension systems (shocks) were still in good working conditions.


11. Carrying out maintenance checks on the hybrid battery.
Sometimes, load tests are carried out to ascertain its current holding capacity.

The hybrid system blowers are cleaned of dust, and dog fur.


CONCLUSION
All vehicle parts, no matter what manufacturer made them, has the propensity to age, or degrade, due to usage and/or aging.

It might cost you much to embarked on a maintenance scheduled regiment, but the payback in the long run, is worth the investment in terms of cost, and time.

Consider investing in maintenance scheduled regiment for your hybrid vehicle today.



Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes.
If you don't have the needed skill set to embarked on any of the checks and repairs yourself, pls do pay someone to performed such a tasks.





Regards,
Joseph
DW Nig Ltd
Isolo,
Lagos
08066643532
www.dxta.com.ng

Coolant drained out from the inverter assembly of a 2010 hybrid highlander.

Shows the drain bolt for the inverter coolant. Use oy 10mm Allen wrench to break it loose.

To get the coolants to be effective, you MUST drain out all coolants from the radiator, and the engine block, as seen in this picture.
Not draining also from the engine block, would cause a dilution of the new coolants being introduced.
Use a 10mm socket wrench to break the bolt loose.

The most difficult tasks in pouring in new coolants in the radiator and inverter assemblies, is the bleeding part.
It tasks a lot of effort, and skill, to get the air bubbles out of the cooling systems.
With air bubbles lurking in there, you got a greater chance of overheating problems, and water pump noises occurring.

The most difficult tasks in pouring in new coolants in the radiator and inverter assemblies, is the bleeding part.

It tasks a lot of effort, and skill, to get the air bubbles out of the cooling systems.
With air bubbles lurking in there, you got a greater chance of overheating problems, and water pump noises occurring.

Ensured the bleeder on that radiator is flowing with coolant, as you pouring the coolant through the radiator neck.

Inverter bleeding process. There are several ways you could get air bubbles out of the system. 1. using a professional code reader to activate the pump 2. Activating the pump directly via its relay in the engine fusebox. Don't try this if you don't know the basics of electricity.
3. Using the small diameter hose as shown in the picture, and READY the car.

I chose the third option, during this process.
The marked portion is a bleeder point for the inverter pump "radiator".

Draining the transmission fluid.
Use only the marked point for draining transmission fluid.

That's the transmission fluid coming out of the transmission system.

Showing the radiator reservoir. Always filled up the radiator, before filling up the reservoir. Ensure you only fill to the FULL lever.

Those are the gallons of Toyota SLL coolants, WS transmission fluid, and the AC cabin filter.

Getting set to fill up the inverter assembly with coolant. Get a funnel close by to help. That prevents coolant wastages.

Coolant poured directly into the inverter reservoir

Coolant poured into the radiator

Radiator reservoir filling

After the transmission fluid was drained, a new one was poured in there.

Knowing the right quantity of transmission fluid to pour in the transmission system, requires you measure exactly how much quantity you drained from the transmission, using a graduated container in liters, and pouring same back into the transmission system.

Here's the justification for replacing the transmission fluid.
When we got the old one out, it had some metal chippings in there, and the colour of the fluid, was terribly black.

After five years, that was how the fluid looked like(left hand sample).

The fluid with red colour, was the new transmission fluid that was bought.

This is the hybrid pack of the highlander on display, showing the blower motors (fan).
The blower helps provide cooling to the batteries.
Their efficiencies are reduces, when dust and furs gets trapped in the motor vanes.

OK bro

Great job bro, thanks for taking time out to share your knowledge and enlightening us.

This guy good!

Imagine such knowledge and expertise work. That hybrid will now be born again to life.