Gen3 head gasket tech recommendations

Welcome to Prius Chat .

Northern Pennsylvania is a pretty large area. Are you more near the Scranton side or the Bradford/ Erie side? Or somewhere in the middle around Mansfield?

Sorry to hear about your Prius .

How many miles were on the replacement engine that was put in? Where did that engine come from? Any other issues with your Prius?

Keep us posted .

 

She looks good.

My folks live in a little town about 40 minutes north and west of Wilkes-Barre, so I know the area a bit.

If you’re willing to talk to some folks in the hybrid repair business, here are 2 options:

https://www.jimsautocaregroup.com/auto-service-and-repair/hybrid-auto-repair/

Hybrid Repair Shop - Country Road Auto, Lincoln Park, NJ

Now for some questions:

• How did your mechanic diagnose a failed head gasket?
• Are there any dash lights?
• Have you noticed any difference in performance?
• How is the gas mileage?
• Does this new engine burn any oil?

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

As part of the engine replacement, what was done to the EGR cooler?

 

I don't have any answers for you, but man.... I so feel your pain. I recently had to let go of my 2006 Trim 5 which was in immaculate condition at only 180k. In hindsight, I really wish I could've found a competent mechanic like you're looking for to keep it going. I believe it ended up being a minor fix after thousands of dollars of diagnostic costs by Toyota and another mechanic. (I donated it) So I applaud your efforts to revive it! Just seems like such a waste to throw away such a perfectly good car, in many respects.

 

That seems very high for the used engine price. My sister bought a used 2012 Prius plug-in engine with 45k for only $1000. Her silver 2010 blew it's head gasket too.

 

Why are we replacing engines when a head gasket fails? A head gasket is a relatively minor repair.

 

Take it to the dealer and normally it would be a decent repair for the head but if you start grinding down flush on some of our engines then you change engine measurement geometry that will due damage. Like I stated prior take it to the dealer or an experienced independent facility that knows what they are talking about.

 

Doing it well is more of a challenge than you might think. Much of the gasketing on the engine is FIPG, which will challenge you to get a proper, uncontaminated bead of the right dimensions laid down all within the few minutes of working time allowed in the tight quarters with the engine in place, and valve adjustment on the 1NZ is done by select fitting from 35 different sizes of bucket lifter, rather impractical outside the factory. (2ZR improved on that part, anyway.)

It's just a matter of adding up what you need to buy plus your price for labor and frustration, for both a cramped in-place head replacement and a straightforward engine swap, and the engines are available for cheap, so you see people choosing that route.

As this is a Gen 3 thread, the engine is 2ZR, the valve adjustment is less of a hassle than in Gen 1 and 2, and the engines aren't as cheaply available either, so some people also choose to take on the repair. It's a matter of your comfort level.

-Chap

 

In our case, it drank tons of oil, and we didn't know what kinda long term damage it did to all of thoes rough starts, and coolant in the oil. Our engine was just a dog, it got bad fuel economy before the headgasket ever failed too. I think it was just wore out.

 

White smoke from the engine bay if you look under the hood?

Now more questions :

• How many miles since the new engine was put in?
• Have you seen this before from the engine, or what prompted the look under the hood?
• Do you smell gas under the hood or in the Prius when you are in it?

It sounds to me like there might be something on the block that is burning off as the tailpipe doesn’t show the same behavior. Post the diagnosis once you have it on the head gasket “failure”.

If there is a check engine light, all you need is a cheap code reader or head to the local autozone as they can read the code for free.

Post the codes here once you have it.

Keep us posted .

 

I see what you're saying. I guess to me, the HG seems like a reasonable job -- I'm tooled up for it, and I have the experience. I've never done an engine swap, so in my mind that's a bigger job. But it's probably 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

Thanks for taking the time to post that info.

 

Either the mechanic bought a bad engine with tons of miles on it (maybe there's a vin on the engine you can look up?), or the mechanic tried fixing your old engine and said he replaced it.

Either way, 6 months a way too little time to have a repeat occurrence

 

You can run a carfax or log onto Toyota.com owner's portal and look up the maintenance history of that VIN. If you find the engine is not the mileage the mechanic quoted you, then you have a little leverage in having him warranty it.

 

Please get the second opinion before you add the K seal. You don’t want to add this stuff to a good engine.