Replace Engine or Junk Car?

I would get a 2nd diagnosis and estimate from another shop

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That's very rare for a Toyota as they generally rarely ever break since they are the Benchmark in reliability. If this was a Subaru that would make sense. But yeah I would try around at other places. Was this a Toyota dealership? I'm clocked at 166,612 miles on my 09 Prius as only a recall for the water pump was replaced, other than that, it's never been in a repair for shop in its 7 years with the exception of scheduled maintenance according to complete service records.

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prius engine 1.8 in Complete Engines | eBay

 

Why is this not warranty?

There was a 2012 prius v wagon (ex-taxi) in bright yellow on ebay Australia couple weeks ago with 190 miles that had suspect blown head gasket, it sold for $4000

couple months ago there was a 2012 XW30 prius (ex-taxi) with blown head gasket too is this a coincidence or is something up with some of the 2012 engines?

Thought about buying the V and just doing the head gasket you can buy a vrs kit for about 50 bucks for these things then do the job standing up! but when it sold for $4000 I soon changed my mind, that's going to end up pretty expensive for a patched up bright yellow stinky old ex-cab

very annoying, whole car effectively ruined over a $50 gasket kit job that no mechanic ever wants to take on, not even a hard job I would be getting quotes for the gasket to be done on original engine!

Good luck with it

 

164,000 miles

 

Sounds like a head gasket. That's a repair, not an engine replacement.

 

Unless they actually tore the engine down to assess the real damage, they don't have a clue what you need. Coolant in the oil *may* have caused damage and may not have. I'd have someone actually tear it down and only then decide what to do.

 

My understanding is it's just not economically viable to have dealership mechanics do this anymore. It's cheaper to swap in another engine, and the old engine may get rebuilt and resold by a third party.

 

Yes, coolant leaking into the combustion chamber is a sign of a failed head gasket. White smoke out the exhaust and a low coolant level are two obvious signs. The head needs to be removed, a new gasket installed and the head checked and possibly milled by a specialized shop for straightness before reinstallation. This is done by shops all the time.

Coolant (liquids) doesn't compress so a major leak into the combustion cylinder can cause hard parts (valves, pistons, con rods) to fail in a worst case scenario. That you were able to drive it 80 miles tells me the leak wasn't major.

Dealerships like to quote worst case repair scenario ($$$$), convince the customer the car is now unreliable and worthless and get them to trade it in for peanuts on a new, "safe" model. Then, fix the trade in for cheap (this case a new head gasket) and put it on the use car lot for big bucks. How many times have we seen threads here about owners limping or towed into dealerships with a failed HV battery only to be told it's a $4000+ repair (plus anything else they've "found") and they drive out with a new Pri?

 

Call Toyota corporate, I had a timing chain go on a cobalt long out of warranty and GM gave goodwill coverage lowering my bill to $980.

If Toyo feels bad they might help cover a portion of the repair.

All that said I have found whole Prius engines for under $200, get an independent dealer to drop it and you may find your out of pocket drop to $1500 ish

 

My guess is your last tuneup was not done properly and the dealer mechanic may have screwed up your Prius. Had your Prius engine blew out 20,000-30,000 miles after the last significant work on your Prius. Considering Toyota's legendary status as the most reliable cars on the road. I highly doubt the engine would fail on it's own. Toyota's have a reputation of never even needing an oil change. Not recommended but that is how reliable they are. I know people who have gone 30,000-40,000 miles without an oil change on their Toyota and it never skipped a beat. I would recommend synthetic oil if you know any of those type of people.

I would contact Toyota regarding your service history. I am not suggesting your dealer sabotaged your Prius. I am suggesting incompetence.

 

Good points. Maybe more "luscious garage" outlets would help the situation? It'd be good if garages of that ilk were economically viable, and that's where the dealerships will help: driving owners to a more sensible alternative.

I'm the first person to decry dealership service departments. Still, a lot of conjecture there, and I'm not sure how they would "sabotage" a head gasket. Not a big fan of 30K~40K oil changes either. I mean, you can do what you want, but glorify neglect??

 

The other possibility is that coolant in the oil would cause lubrication issues, causing bearing damage in the engine, depending on how bad it was.

Out of curiosity, what was the actual fault code?

 

What does that mean, "go into the engine"? You can't get very far for $200. What were the real issues they uncovered?

 

Even so, you don't really know if they went farther than just looking at the gasket. I agree with others here that dealerships are not engine shops, and it might not need much to get it running. They just don't want to tie up a bay and man to do it. Also very likely that they don't have anyone who's competent/qualified to do it.
My experience with stealerships is that they go just as far as they need to to determine they don't want to mess with it, or find any excuse to do nothing. They are essentially just in the business of replacing parts.