I just got a Prius! (And now I have to work on it!)

So I'm getting close to having time to work on the Prius. I finally did my first oil change on it. Since the previous owner claims it burns oil on the freeway, and everything I find seems to point to that probably being clogged oil control rings, I did the oil change this way:

1. I warmed up the engine to around 180⁰F.
2. I took out the sparkplugs to inspect them (they looked very good, almost brand new with some black oily stuff down around near the threaded part)
3. I also poured some Chemtool B-12 down in the cylinders to let the rings soak. I only threaded the sparkplugs back in at this point.
4. After a couple hours I torqued down the sparkplugs to spec and installed the coil packs.
5. I turned the crankshaft by the pulley/dampener around a couple times to make sure there wouldn't be any chance of hydrolocking. I was a able to do this by hand.
6. I also poured some LiquidMoly engine flush into the oil.
7. Then I started the car and kept my foot on the accelerator so as to keep the engine running. Some of the time I would keep the RPMs low and other times I would for it which would give me around 2,500rpm according to the Torque app.
8. I also floored it in Drive a couple times to charge up the HV battery which is what I've been doing about once a month. Voltages are still within 0.2-0.3V between all the blocks.
9. After ten minutes I shut off the engine and drained the oil.
10. Then I got stuck on removing the oil filter. I ended up resorting to using a pair of channel locks to get it to budge. The previous owner sure had this torqued down. It was about three full turns before I could turn it by hand. It came out all mangled up and punctured from the channel locks.
11. I the oil plug didn't seem to have a gasket (odd, shouldn't it?) and the gaskets for the Avalon didn't seem to work so I bought a pack from O'reilly's. I'll order Toyota ones for the next oil change.
12. I installed the oil filter (Toyota ZZ brand) and followed the instructions on the box to turn only 3/4 turn after gasket makes contact.
13. I poured in about 3.5qt of GTMO 5W-30.
14. I also changed the air filter (Toyota brand).

I also have the cabin filter to change and picked up some Toyota transmission fluid to change that. I also got the work bearing in and ready to change that. I do need to install the headlights after bending the frame parts back out which isn't too badly bent. After that it should be pretty much ready to go. I do need to order the front license plate holder.

 

One thing I am worried about now is that from what I understand, these types of sparkplug gaskets are a one time use crushable gasket. Maybe someone here can confirm if this is true or if I'm just paranoid. I'd like to find some sort of replacement and maybe do a compression test when I replace them.

EDIT:
I went ahead and ordered some sparkplugs from parts.toyota.com. That way I won't be paranoid about the crushable washer. I hate wasting money, but better to be safe than sorry.

Here's a pic of the old plugs:

 

After a lot of procrastination, I have a cylinder scope on order. When I get it I will figure out the condition of the cylinders and keep on going from there. I still need to put in the new plugs, but will do that once I get the oil problem figured out.

 

We'll see once the scope comes in. If the cylinders are toast there is no re-honing that can be done. So bad cylinders means new block or just junk the car and live without it. If it's piston rings only then that's something I can deal with. Even new pistons would not be as expensive as a new engine. Or I guess I could do a used engine.

 

Well, bad news.

I got my scope in today and looked inside each cylinder. In all of them there was some sort of grooves in the sides of the cylinders. And what is worse, in at least three of them there are chunks of cylinder sleeve that are missing. So the block is junk, there's nothing that can be done.

So... it needs:

• An engine block
• An HV battery
• And a California compliant catalyitc converter

Not to mention several other details like a new wheel bearing, new windshield and a 12V battery.

 

I didn't see any damage to the tops of the pistons. This is clearly the result of piston rings that have been stuck for too long of time. The fact that it happened in at least 3 of the cylinders and on the same side of the cylinder makes it pretty obvious it was ring related.

 

Thanks for the encouragement!

So a gen 4 engine will work in a gen 2 Prius?

The thing is the car needs a lot of other work. It needs a California compliant catalytic converter and an HV battery as well. The question is, would it be worth fixing? On the one hand it seems like I could pour way more money into the car than what it's actually worth. In other words, say I get a $1,800 engine, a $1,800 catalytic converter and a $1,800 HV battery. That's $3,800 worth of parts, plus the time to install them, yet if the car got totaled the day after all that work the insurance company would probably give me a $2,000 check and take the car.

On the other hand, for $4,000 to $6,000 it's hard these days to find a decent car. At least if I did all that I'd know the car would last a long time, as the major parts would be new or newish, instead of a $6,000 car that could very well end up having a similar problem.

 

I can get a brand new 1NZFXE..NHW20 short block (part number 1140180881) for $1,770.78 at a local dealer.

 

Here's the other pics I took. A question I have now is if the cylinders are bore-able or not. I was under the impression they weren't but now I'm seeing places that say they are. Still, I can't seem to find stock oversized pistons.

 

Well, looking at a direct car replacment, I searched Autotempest for another gen 2 Prius with less than 220,000 miles. I found three in a 500 mile radius for $4,000 to nearly $6,000 dollars.

Now I know it will take time and effort to work on this car, but at those prices, maybe it would be worth looking into replacing the engine and battery and eventually the catalytic converter? Like say I start looking for a low mileage engine or just get a short block and change that, then in 12 months replace the battery if I don't go crazy first from trying to whack moles. Then when I have the money to get a cat I can do that. Maybe by then an aftermarket brand will be approved.

 

I did a compression test:

#1 105psi
#2 110psi
#3 105psi
#4 100psi