2010 Prius Blown Engine - What are my options?

Sorry to hear about your Prius .

Some that have done the engine work here:

@danlatu , @Wrekless and @Aaron Vitolins . They will be able to provide you with information and guidance.

As for the damage to your engine:

• Did your Prius burn oil?
• were there any early warning signs?
• Did you just perform any other maintenance other than the trans fluid swap?

Good luck .

 

Yes you'll need an engine swap if you want to keep it. My sisters 2010 blew it's head gasket at almost 200k. Nice loaded Prius so we bought a 2014 engine with 30 or 40k miles and my father and I replaced it our self's. The engine cost $1000. Runs great and battery still perfect. It would take a whole weekend to replace. The job was though, but easier than we thought!

 

You ever get a chance to rip into the water pump, intake manifold or egr system on that blown engine?

 

Wow! A hole in the engine block most likely means you need to replace the engine. If your engine suffered a blown piston, that may have been the cause of the hole. I cannot say for sure that that was what happened without seeing the engine for myself. At 230,000 miles, it would appear it is time to invest in another vehicle. Many other issues will start to come up with this car, as well as any car with 230,000 miles and to invest in this car (depending on your financial situation) at this point may cost you more over the next few years. If you can, have it checked out by a mechanic to help you make your decision. Good luck.

 

How many miles have you put on the Prius?

Did you change the oil last or have someone else change it?

Has the intake manifold or egr circuit ever been cleaned?

We're there any lights on the dash prior to the catastrophic failure?

 

You should find those posts by danlatu et al. to be encouraging that the work is at least feasible.

One question, though: the photo you used to illustrate the area of the hole doesn't look like a 2ZR engine; it looks like a 1NZ in a Gen 2. Is that just because you grabbed the first "prius engine" image you found? Your Gen 3 engine shouldn't have an oil filter in that location....

-Chap

 

There's been a few threads about Prius engines that threw a connecting rod out of the lower engine block, usually following an oil change, where someone didn't properly attach an oil filter or oil pan drain plug. Another cause of a piston seizing or catastrophic failure is head gasket failure, where coolant enters the combustion chamber.

Yes, you'll need a new or salvaged engine.

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2300 avg total

 

Where in the great state of Taxachussetts do you reside? If we have a better idea, we might be able to recommend a mechanic .

As for a swap then trade in, a Prius with 230 k miles will not trade for much, but it is worth even less in its current condition.

I would swap the engine and run it for a long time .

 

I think there is a specialist in Greenfield and another certified specialist in Williamsburg.

Good luck .

 

see what you can get on craigs list before paying for another engine, and look at kbb for the value if you put an engine in.

 

I strongly suspect that you won't get 100% of your money back (cost of engine+labor+cost of car with bad engine) if you try to trade it in, especially if you use a professional mechanic. You just might be able to sell it privately.

If the car is otherwise in decent shape, if it were me, I'd replace the engine as cheaply as possible and then drive it until it dies.

 

Yes, the waterpump looked fine, not sure if it was actually fine or not.

EGR cooler was probably 95% clogged. It's going to take a lot of work to clean it out. Used a can of brake cleaner on it but that didnt do much good

 

Thanks for the update .

If you keep the egr valve on the cooler and invert the assembly and let the Brake Kleen sit in the cooler for several hours, it didn't help?

Good to hear about the water pump. My plan was to change it out at 200 k miles as a preventative maintenance item, so I should be good.

Thanks for the confirmation .