openinverter forum

so in my quest for sourcing more wire harnesses I saw that one of my local Pick N Pull yards had a 2007 Toyota Highlander (these are considered luxury vehicles here in the states and you do NOT see them in the local junkyards at all), so I thought lets go check it out, and let's share some pics, seems like these specific High Lands animals are native to the Americas and you may not have them across the pond, correct me if I am wrong

I hope for this to be a lil' companion thread to the resources below:

Toyota MGR Rear Traction Transaxle

Toyota/Lexus MGR Rear Transaxle Motor

so first let's level set, I went to see this thing because I swear to you after cherry picking the Wiki I recall reading: "All Highlander Hybrids are all-wheel drive..." yet there I was laying on my back under this thing in a pool of hybrid components coolant starring at an empty cavity, oh well I thought it must be a 2 wheeler so let's take it apart anyways

Fun Level Of Wrenching On One Of These (FLoWOOoT): Horrifically Horrible -227


so what was the first thing that I did you ask? Well I managed to drop my deep 10mm socket into the bowels of this beast on the very, very first bolt I unbolted, and spent the next 2 hours desperately trying to find it, using a regular 10mm wrench, fun level: 0

hybrids have two of everything and silly things have been done to them to make two things fit where one belongs, like for example moving the brake fluid reservoir 6 feet over to the other side and running endless plumbing to reach it

what a beautiful mess, and I think that's a coolant pump

2007 Toyota Highlander Inverter - yes it is totally huge !

so this is what surprised me, I was hoping to find an inverter that resembles the 2007 Lexus GS450h one, but instead this one looks more like the 2nd Gen 2004-09 Toyota Prius style ones, where you have to unbolt the tin cover to then unbolt the motor cables and worse yet the resolver connectors



Top Tip: If you plan on yanking one of these yourself make sure to bring a magnet on a stick to fish out the tiny little bolts that hold each of the three phase motor cables