Gurgle, weak heater.

2011 Prius with a 2013 motor installed 6 months ago along with new radiator and water pump.

Motor started making the dreaded "death rattle," and I was like, "you gotta be kidding me - how can I need a head gasket already???"

Back it went to ISH in South FL who replaced the spark plugs and cleaned the EGR. He said the spark plugs showed no signs of coolant intrusion.

On my way back to NC, I got a "triangle of death" with "check hybrid system" when I pulled off 95 in Daytona to my cousin. Checking the codes, it seemed the water pump went so I limped it in electric to my cousin's place, where I replaced the water pump (with a new one from the dealer).

When I got back to Raleigh and figured all was well, only to have the rattle start again! ISH had me to take the o-ring from the coolant reservoir. This stopped the rattle, which he said sounds like it is because there is too much pressure in the coolant system.

He must be on to something, because when I've tried to bleed the coolant to stop the gurgling (from behind the dash), the coolant foams up into the reservoir :: eye roll ::

Now, I've read could be due to a head gasket leak, so I got the kit at Autozone, and I'm to say that the liquid stayed bright blue - no exhaust.

So is the problem as simple as air is getting into the coolant line, and if so, how do I make it stop?

 

Thank you for the feedback!

Ok, so Ish said he thought when the water pump went out that the motor must have overheated. So he replaced the motor again - this was 13 November when I picked it back up.

Later that same day, I heard the gurgling behind the dash. Checking the coolant expansion tank, it appeared some coolant was coming out the top. Ish said for me to continue to drive it and let him know if there was coolant loss.

So the next day - 14th - it turned out that there was coolant loss, so he had me pull the o-ring from the expansion tank cap to slow the loss of coolant. His speculation was that there may be a leak in the exhaust heat exchanger.

Therefore, my next day off on the 17th, I rerouted the coolant hoses under the car to bypass the exhaust heat exchanger. I drove it for a while with no issue, so I tried adding the o-ring back to the coolant tank cap.

The next morning - 18th - the coolant had gone down a little, but I was hoping this was from the air being purged out of the system.

This turned out to be incorrect as I discovered the next evening of the 19th when I tried running maintenance mode for 70 mins to purge the system to end the gurgling noise which - while intermittent - continued to return. While in maintenance mode, the coolant would periodically foam out of the top, with a max temp a little north of 205F. Ish said it shouldn't go even a little past 205.

Ish had me drop the car off on the 21st. After letting it run for a few hours, he saw the temp start to go up. Checking on the car, it seems it was a radiator fan going intermittently bad. Ish said he would have to order one, but to bring it by on the 26th and he would replace it for $275.

So, Tues - the 26th - he made the swap. There was still concern about the heater, but he said he could only speculate on that because he doesn't work on heat or A/C. To try to be DIY, I first flushed/backflushed the heater core with water, ending with a distilled water final flush before reconnecting. I also decided to swap out the cabin air filter before heading north. By evening, I had made it to Daytona, where I spent the night.

The car ran fine overnight, and during the day the next day (Wed, the 27th) as I was working from home (which is my Prius, if that isn't clear, already). After work, I headed north again, making it to a rest stop in Georgia to spend the night.

Thursday (28th) I had off, so I went to the gym in the morning before heading north on 95. I made it as far as North Carolina before stopping for the evening. Sometime in the middle of the night (~1AM, I want to say?) I was awaken by return of the death rattle! I couldn't believe it at first, and thought I must be having a nightmare. So I waited for the motor to kick on again, and sure enough, it had returned. Checking the coolant level, it was slightly below the tank seam/fill line, but I had left it a little low after flushing the heater core because I wanted to first get some pink coolant. Since I had done so in the interim, I added it to little over the seam. I also removed the o-ring for the time being.

Yesterday (Friday the 29th), I braved Black Friday at Walmart to pick up an engine air filter. The old one didn't look too dirty, but since changing the cabin air filter seemed like it might have had slight improvement on the heater, I figured it was worth gambling $20. I ran the motor for a while longer, and as it continued to have no issues, I tried adding the o-ring back. This was fine for a few hours, but then the death rattle returned, so I removed the o-ring again. Monitoring the temperatures closely last night, the temp while driving on the interstate maxed at ~200 - and this was over the course of 120 miles - and the max temp while idling was about 132 at night and 147 now that the sun is up.

That brings me to today, Saturday the 30th, sitting at a rest stop off southbound 95 in South Carolina where I stayed the night, wondering if it's worth going back to South Florida to have Ish take another look at it.

Before offering further speculations of my own, may I please throw myself on the mercy of my PriusChat elders and plead for guidance?

 

I don't think so. The first was a 2014, IIRC. Looking back at my chats with Ish, he doesn't say the year on it, only that it was salvaged from a crashed car.

 

So, if I follow what you're saying, the most recent motor installed on the 14th already had some problem (HG or otherwise), as indicated by the continued gurgling? Not to get too deep in the weeds, but how? Is someone selling Ish bad motors but it doesn't show up because it's too warm in South Florida for the metal to contract and open the leaks?

And, in any event, the remedy is another motor (#4!)? Mercy! He did me real right by doing the 2nd replacement (and seems like a good guy, generally), but I don't even want to think about going to him to say something about needing a third motor!

Maybe I'm just not built for the gen 3.

Even though it's partially disassembled for the sake of "camper-izing" it, I'm having vivid fantasies of telling him to take the car and whatever money covers the difference and just give me an 06-09 in good working order!

 

So, you're saying I should stay the course with my gen 3, and see about Ish honoring the warranty with a third replacement?

But if these motor problems are this frequent on the gen 3, why shouldn't I just take this as my sign to bail?

 

Ok, but for the cost of a Gen 2, I'd be lucky to find a RAV1.

 

I appreciate your sympathy, and I paid by Zelle.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Completely rational or not, I'm feeling pretty burned out on the Gen 3, and the one I have in particular. I had problems come up with my Gen 2, sure, but nothing like this. Thinking about going back to a Gen 2 is the only thing that feels like hope right now, outside of the support I'm receiving here, and - let me reiterate - really appreciate!

So, beyond that, it seems the consensus is that I should be done with Ish - three strikes and he's out? It would save me yet another trip to Florida, but IDK how likely I am to get any money back. Then again, losing everything spent so far is still better than chasing bad money with good, I suppose.

But if I'm trying to avoid a trip back to Florida, is there someone y'all recommend who is closer to Raleigh, NC?

Otherwise, here's an '07 with clean title for $3K right down the way:

 

It's not the miles so much as the idle time. Although, having said that, I'm also thinking about picking up more DoorDashing.

In any event, I'm glad to see we're in agreement on the increase in reliability. Of course, if you know of a reliable option for $3k and a gallon of gas for every 45 miles or 6 hours, you've got my full attention!

Regardless, I appreciate the well wishes