Another "Headgasket?" Thread - Short Duration Death Rattle with Cylinder Borescope

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by STL314, Jan 17, 2023.

  1. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    57,108
    39,429
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    If the owner replaced plugs themselves, carfax doesn’t know?
     
    Grit likes this.
  2. STL314

    STL314 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2023
    13
    2
    0
    Location:
    St. Louis
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    True, I hope that truly is the case - the plugs seemed pretty high miles, but you're quite right. There's probably some fun stories this car could tell if it could. It didn't have much personality at all until recently on a few very cold mornings. :)
     
  3. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2013
    4,004
    1,369
    1
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    After I posted above, I went into my "car scanner pro" app and looked that the automatic test data for my Prius and it looked close to if not exactly like yours. Makes me wonder ..... I should, I hope I have a better understanding of the Auto Test results after I finish the EGR valve blockage data thread. Not that my 2017 Prime Plus (LE) at 75.5k miles is in all that great of condition. I may also be adding EGR check and / or clean to my list of maintenance of this spring.
    About techstream, I typically recommend at very least going to techinfo.toyota.com and purchasing a two day standard subscription for $20 ..... I've already done that twice so far and I still don't know how to find everything I want / need in the repair manual and New Car Features for my year and model.

    The other choice is is for the full legal price of the professional 2 day subscription which gives the latest version of the techstream software and access to the all the docs available with the standar subscript. for $65. I'd have to get accountant authorization to buy the accompanying mongoose passthrough cable for $550 (new $50 fee added this year) and so far I don't have it.
    or get the mini-vci passthough - pirated techstream software from china for $40 - 80

    There is I believe a huge difference between the apps and techstream. As you probably noticed there is a lot of info that shows in the apps we don't use often, if ever. And I don't know how to use a lot of the data shown in my apps. And I don't know exactly, but I still believe techstream is the best option when working on a Toyota be it a Prius,Tundra or any other Toyota model.

    And in this case of the EGR valve blockage, techstream has a manual test that can be run for more accurate data that has already be shared, both before and after checking / cleaning the EGR systems.
     
  4. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2013
    4,004
    1,369
    1
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    I was able to see your boroscope video today, yesterday it was a .jpg file for me. Happens a lot here. Anyways, after watching yours. which looked ok to me, i watched the Car Care Nuts - Gen 3 2010 Prius EGR repair.
    I'll give 2 links in the middle, if you haven't seen it yet, might want to watch all of it for a Dealer Mechanics point of view.

     
  5. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    10,689
    1,851
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    So he's replacing an intake that just needs to be cleaned with a brush I don't know how inexpensive it is brand new from Toyota but I'm sure it's not. And then the valve because it has a little bit of carbon at the flange where it's bolted on the front of the valve that could just be cleaned off too More cleaned with real good cleaner or they tank the parts at the shop and it should look brand new. And then the cooler he's just taking the hose off the back and blowing it out but I thought what was coming through there was sometimes more like an oily coked-up mess so I would think you'd want to send it out and get it tanked or stand there for a while and clean it with various and sundry fluids He's saying you can't get the exhaust clean well that's right you're not trying to get the exhaust clean You're trying to clean the cooler that some exhaust goes through and you will get it clean some of us here have done it but he just blows it out against the firewall and says that's clean.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    57,108
    39,429
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Yeah I like a lot this guy's videos, but this one is exasperating. Bottom line, today's "professional" mechanics don't stoop to cleaning. :rolleyes:
     
  7. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2013
    4,004
    1,369
    1
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    I didn't like most of it either, and I don't especially like the way dealer maintenance is done these days. It's like a box of chocolates...
    The putty knife behind the cooler was a neat trick and easy enough to test for a stuck open valve, if that is as least one of the issues. I tried hard to skip the - boring to me - descriptions of the differences between a dealer mechanic and a DIYer working on their own car....
    One of his other videos kept me screamin at the puter, Highway Miles for almost half an hour as he ranted about a 3 year old Toyota with 300K miles that still looked like new inside and out. blah blah blah
     
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  8. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    10,689
    1,851
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Yeah I don't think I could make 300 K in 3 years at this point I might could have done it when I was in my '20s but I don't think so I remember putting 50,000 miles on something in about 4 months and that wasn't much time to do anything else but that 50,000
     
  9. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2014
    2,642
    1,140
    0
    Location:
    Northwestern S.C.
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Yes, that's right. That value means you have significant clogging, but not nearly to the degree that would trigger an official "Fail," according to Toyota. It might be prudent to unclog the cooler well before the test value falls as low as their 0.99kPa Min, but we don't yet have data to absolutely prove that.
     
  10. Bill Norton

    Bill Norton Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2012
    1,957
    658
    0
    Location:
    MONW, Ks.
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Actually it may be the tiny ports in the intake manifold where the hot gasses touch the coolest part of the plastic manifold and condense on the surface clogging those ports.
    And it appears the clogging isn't even. Cylinders 1 and 2 get the worst of it due to the cooling the gasses.
     
  11. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2014
    2,642
    1,140
    0
    Location:
    Northwestern S.C.
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    That's all true, but I already suggested back in post #5 that he clean those out first. That's a lot easier than cleaning the cooler---but not as easy as checking the overall restriction through OBD2.
     
    Tombukt2 likes this.
  12. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    10,689
    1,851
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Removing the intake to clean out those ports easier than taking off the cooler and tanking it? And any of that related hardware you can take off to get cleaned.
     
  13. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2018
    6,651
    3,492
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    mmm It's easier just to put in 4.4 qts of oil than draining the old oil out......
    Usually, it's the harder stuff that's the most important....
     
    Tombukt2 likes this.
  14. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    10,689
    1,851
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    But near 8 quarts won't be good he he.