openinverter forum

Looks like that is hitting in a different spot sometimes. Could still be outer cv. Can you write some letters / numbers around the tire tread to help see for sure where it's stopping?

What's your gearbox oil look like?

With the wheel hub side out, the clunk doesn't happen so either I've got a bent shat or the outer CV is buggered.

I like the idea that it shat itself but the outer CV is more likely.
Hopefully it's not the gearbox.

So new drive shaft didn't fix it. No issue in neutral, no issue with drivers side in the air and passenger side on ground. No issue when the passenger side shaft disconnected. All I've got left is wheel bearings or brake related?

One thing to bear in mind when replacing CV joints is to make sure and smother the bearings in grease BEFORE fitting the rubber boot.
The first time I did it I had cleaned the bearings of old grease then pumped new grease into the boot but did not confirm the bearings got any of the grease over them. It turned out they didn't.

Bigpie wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2023 7:33 pm A couple motor mounting bolts have snapped. Theory is, I'd not use thread lock and they've loosened and then the final impact snapped them. So motor is twisting entire engine/gearbox etc. It explains why slow turning by hand, or coasting was ok. It was immediately obvious when I had a helper to observe.

Normaly your inner joint alleviates small eccentric movements but if it is too far in it behaves as rigid shaft.
You could be looking at impropper/unaligned mounting for driveshaft or simply too long shaft on LH side.
You can simply verify this by alligning your steering wheel and trying to move each shaft in its position towards the wheel. You should see like 1cm of movement which is desirable because that kind of joint needs some space if unaligned...

Bigpie wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2023 5:39 pm With the beetle now being my only (was) working vehicle after getting rid of the diesel backup, I've got nothing to drive.

Sorry didnt have alook at that video. It seems clear to me that inner CV joint is seizing because one of the needle bearings is pushed too far inside the tripod and it acts as a rigid joint but still wants to have some radial movement.
Too long LH driveshaft if you ask me...
Load your drivetrain and test for some slack as in my previous post.

Well, I went back to the breakers and got the whole hub assemble.
Issue remained:


crasbe on discord said "try unplugging the ABS sensor"


And now I can drive again, without ABS/ESP.

Was the abs light coming on? I assume the abs pump was making its crunchy noises, but they weren't audible in the videos.
So bad sensor or screwed up toner wheel?

Glad you got it narrowed down.

ABS light wasn't on. I'll plug in ODIS at some point and see what it says

I missed that the other side was on the ground. If it has traction control it will apply the brake to the spinning wheel to try to get torque through the differential to the other side. I`d say that's normal behavior for traction control with 1 wheel turning.
It can kick the car off jack stands, be careful.

So was it the confusing traction control making it seem like something was wrong or is there something wrong?

Something else happened if the motor mount bolts loosened up. Was there a gap between the motor mount and where the bolts normally would seat on the case?
There's no need to loctite motor mount bolts. Imagine how hard it would have been removing the broken bolts with loctite on the threads.

Something must be up with the ABS/ESP as it was doing it on the road. I guess that driving home is while it was doing it was why the bolts broke

This generation of vw abs modules employed “electronic differential lock” active at low speeds, and doesn’t flash the abs light as far as I’m aware, looks like by pulling the abs sensor and disabling the system it stops that behaviour, silly question does it do it with both wheels jacked up? (I’m sure you have tested this)my only guess overwise is a pickup ring issue on the outer c/v as a bad sensor will immediately throw a fault light on power on self test, need to look at live wheel speeds for a clearer idea

With this wheel down on the ground and the other spinning doesn't have the fault. It did have the fault with both wheels jacked up.

It should be obvious if you can look at / log individual abs wheel speeds while rolling straight ahead in ODIS. The abs might only allow this up to 15mph or so.

Could be a bad sensor / toner ring on the front right side based on the testing and results you shared so far.

The motor mount bolts shouldn't break. They survive 1000hp launches with slicks. That's a separate thing that may have had the straw that broke the camels back sort of thing happen - the abs kicking in finishing them off.

Do you have the bottom mount installed with your swap?

Bottom mount is there and fairly new. I think the bolts had loosened as the one's that hadn't snapped were pretty loose. So they'll have been getting repeatedly slammed in to. ABS sensor not plugged in at the moment so i can drive will be investigating after xmas

Cars been running great all year, had a weekend away, multiple DCFC and destination charging, faultless. Went to my mothers and tried to get up her very steep driveway. Boom, Prius inverter RIP. Had to do a roadside inverter swap.

The Prius invincible myth is taking dents

Good to hear it works well otherwise

Why would a steep driveway kill the inverter?

Surely it sees far more current at full throttle accelleration on the road?

I've no idea. Full throttle on the road is fine but on the drive, it didn't have the umph and so was a stalled motor at full throttle maybe the 4.5 throtcur (450a) isn't possible on the motor while it's spinning with the back EMF?

The main difference between standstill and moving torque is the time peak current is conducted. While moving we constantly swing between peak current and no current and the average current across one phase leg is 0.7 times peak or something. In standstill full peak current flows through just 2 phase legs for a longer time.

Still would have thought the hardware limits catch that.

It usually does, the car has always struggled to get up her drive in reverse, sometimes I could make it up with a bit of a run up, othertimes the hardware protection cut out.

This makes me a little nervous with the GS450H and my campervan. I often go up steep mountain roads where you may have to stop to let people pass and then start again.... Take home message, keep a spare inverter handy and make sure the inverter is in a place that's easy to swap....

The gs450h is using OEM control signals. I'm making the Prius inverter do things Toyota would never do with the logic board replacement

Ah I see, good to know!