replace head gasket or the entire enginee

Hi Folks,

I have 2011 Pricus. Past Thursday, the engine light went on, and the car sputtered when driven at certain speed. Took it to dealership, Initial report "Check Engine Light Diagnosis - Performed health check and found code P219A bank 1 air fuel ratio imbalance and P0303 cylinder 3 mis¦re detected. Viewed data list and con¦rmed active mis¦re on cylinder 3. Additional diagnostic labor is needed to remove windshield cowl to access spark plugs. ". then they did compression test and used camera to look inside, they confirmed the head gasket were blown.

The solution they propose is to replace entire engine with a used one, cost is $6,900. The reason to replace the engine instead just the head gasket is, according to the dealership, the cylinder block metal is too thin to machine for Gen 3.

I searched online, it seems people do replace the head gasket for Gen 3.

So I am little bit confused. Does anyone have the same experience?


Thanks.

George

 

Thanks for the reply. What you explained makes sense (dealer doesn't want to tear down the engine to find parts other than gasket are damaged too).
I am in SoCal. the car mileage is 97K. I am not sure how not disclosing the location is related to trust.
Thanks for the help.

 

yes, I am in SoCal. I have been to the dealership since I bought the car, all were regular maintenance and some brake replacement. I trust them but due to their nature high overhead, for repair work like this, the price probably is higher than independent ones. $6900 is a lot of money, I will look around to make sure I am paying what I should pay.
I googled and find some independent garages specializing in prius. I will give them a call on Monday.
Thanks for the help.

 

Thanks for all the replies. @rjparker @JC91006 @Mendel Leisk @BiomedO1 @bisco
The comments are much appreciated. I am not a car DIYer as you probably figured out. I am a hardware engineer in wireless communication.
Here is some more info on my car, and based on everyone's input, the course of actions I am going to take.

1. The car has been regularly maintained in dealership since the purchase, It only has 97K miles. no problem so far except this one. I have been happy with their service.
2. The value of this car is around $15,000. If I can spend a few thousand dollars (hopefully much less than $6.9K) to let it last for another 5 years, it is still worth it.
3. In last Dec, the engine light went on from time to time for a week, but I felt no difference in driving. It eventually went off until last week. In retrospect, I should have had it inspected.
4. Last week, it first started to sputter in midst of driving. The next day, it started fine without any knock, but still sputtered when being accelerated. After reaching the normal driving speed (~60 miles), it is smooth again.
5. The dealership charges $190 for initial diagnose and then another $570 for further diagnoses. I am not sure if they just did compression test and camera or physically tearing down the engine, I would think the former.
6. On the phone yesterday, the service coordinator suggested to replace the engine ( they found nothing else was damaged, but from their experience, GEN3 is very risky to be machined) and initially quoted $7.9K for engine replacement., then $6.9K after discount. As it was weekend, they hadn't contacted the used part vendor yet, so I am not sure how certain the quote is without knowing the exact used engine (I assume the prices varies with the used engine's mileage).

Here is what I plan to do:

1. I am going to the dealership tomorrow and clarify a few things: a. what kind of inspections have been done. b. to confirm from their finding, nothing else was damaged. c the final quote once the used engine is found.

2. I will call two independent shops. As I am in San Diego, the nearest Gasketmaster shop is 100miles away, I am not sure if it is feasible to send my car there. I found two local shops nearby. Based on what I read online, they are experts on Prius too.
sdhybrids
escondidoautopros

I will ask them (a) if nothing else is damaged, can they just replace the gasket? (b) how much is cost? (c) how much is the cost if the engine has to be replaced?
If the answer to (c) with comparable used engine is much less than the dealership, that alone is enough for me to send my car to them and hope the answer to (a) is yes and the answer to (b) is less than answer to (c).

Any comments?

I appreciated all the inputs. I probably won't have much knowledge to contribute this wonderful community, but I will do my part to contribute to the greater community with the skills I have.

Thanks,

George.

 

thanks for the suggestion.

 

Thanks for the information.
Today I found a local shop here in San Diego that will do the motor swap with a JDM engine about 60K mileage. The total cost is $3500. half of the price from the dealer. I will keep you updated after I pick up the car tomorrow.

 

thanks, but it is 80 miles away from where I live.