Hi folks, So my 2002 Prius went kaput today. As far as I can tell, I threw a rod and blew a piston. The severed rod and piston head came pummeling out of the engine and hit the ground, then the undercarriage, then spun out the back of the car into the highway. I retrieved these parts (see photo) from the road. Anywho. I'm looking to get advice about the following, possibly mutually exclusive options: 1) where to buy a used/rebuilt Gen I Prius gas engine; 2) who to trust to install this engine when I purchase it; 3) how much is reasonable to expect to pay this person; 4) how difficult it would be to learn to install the engine (or rebuild my current one...??) myself; 5) where I would go to find resources on installing/rebuilding a Gen I engine myself. Bob Wilson, I'm hoping you will weigh in on this one. I'm also just interested to see what folks will say about this topic, given that most folks are confused by the idea of having to replace a Prius engine in the first place. (Here's a hint about why this incident might have occurred: I was low on oil--the light was coming off and on--AND I had driven over a pretty roughly graded forest service road in a rural area. Ever heard of "washboarding"? That's what it felt and sounded like. The engine sounded pretty different the next morning! Guess I knocked something loose...) Thanks! Scott
Sorry, here's a URL of the photo of the piston head that blew out. The rod, and piston itself also came out. (I just didn't take a photo of them...) (aych tee tee pee)://fullersfield(dot)files(dot)wordpress(dot)com/2011/08/prius-piston-head(dot)jpg
Here's the photo for you: I was wondering how on earth you blew a Toyota engine so early. When the car says low oil, it means it. $5 worth of oil just cost you a complete engine you can find engines on eBay, at junkyards, that sort of thing. It is usually cosmetic damage that "totals" a car. It looks like $250 to $450 is the going rate right now: Crate Engine | eBay $340: 01 02 03 PRIUS ENGINE 1.5L | eBay I would not consider this a DIY project unless you are competent with vehicles to begin with. I am not as intimately familiar with the GenI as the GenII and GenIII so I am not sure if the engine/MG1/MG2 are all one "unit" or are different and put together, or how that works. But for the price it might work. FYI, when my Subaru needed a head gasket at 315K miles, it was $500 for a used engine and $1400 to install it with a mechanic I trust. I sold it to the scrapyard for $125 and that was that.
Definitely get a salvage pull. Drop the engine and transmission together. See posts at Art's Automotive for ideas: Prius 1st gen - Replacing Transaxle
It's not my photo, it is just web-ized from the text posted. Under X posts you can't post links/urls/photos so I just made it viewable for others.
Don't bother wasting your time rebuilding a Prius engine.....just get a salvage pull.....these engines rarely fail therefore no demand so junkyards sell them cheap...You can get an entire engine for $300-$600 and you'll have spare throttle bottle, ignition coils, etc for future use. Gen1 isn't that hard, once you remove the inverter on top and subframe below (with electric steering rack), dropping the engine/tranny together is not much different than an Echo/Yaris....main difference is weight of Prius tranny...it weighs more than the engine so you need a strong jack to lower it. Find a mechanic with Echo/Yaris experience to help you. If they are uncomfortable about it being a Hybrid, tell them now is a good time to learn! Once you pull the HV orange plug in the trunk and unhook 12V battery ground it is near impossible to hurt yourself with electricity working on a Prius.
