My Prius is down 4 quarts of oil 9000 miles after oil change

Canadian coolant change interval (both, no differentiation, engine vs inverter circuit) is 160K km's or 10 years, whichever comes first. For us, by 10 year, we'll be lucking to have 100K km's. Playing by the rules, 10 years would still be coolant change time, and timely to do the EGR cooler too I think. Plus the intake manifold and all. That'd be it for the car's lifetime, I'd think.

Are those videos up? (really appreciate!!) There was something posted in NutsAboutBolts thread, but it wasn't working??

Just for giggles I emailed nearby dealership: the Canadian list price for the cooler (wait for it...): $596. And best price: $499. Just nuts!

Ebay has them (used) for $35 (US) apiece, shipping to my house for $26 (US), and about $8 (Can) for duty. All in, in Canadian dollars: $91.57.

TOYOTA LEXUS EGR VALVE COOLER ASSY FACTORY USED 25601-37010 2ZRFXE | eBay

Of course they will have some internal carbon, but I've got, erhm: 3 years to get that cleaned.

And an E8 socket. Is that the one size used? I'm kinda thinking to buy a single socket.

Even simpler (and cheap!) if you don't mind a day or two downtime: clean the one that's in there? Could anyone hazard an estimate, how long that would take? Would sealing it up, half-full of solvent, and giving it a good shake up every few hours do it? How long? Good solvent?

 

Interesting link, testing various cleaners on a EGR cooler:

We bench-test diesel EGR Cooler cleaning solutions

Purple Power leads the pack.

 

there is a bleeding valve in 2010. inconvenient to access (next to firewall). i think it's deleted in 2011+?

the most bizarre coolant bleeding situation is in my V6 RAV4. the factory manual is silent on necessity of bleeding or even existence of bleeding valve. I replaced coolant by the book and no heat. only on youtube someone posted where the bleeder is (it was next to water pump).

 

very good price. i paid about $100 for mine (+EGR valve), but low mile from a recent car with a revised EGR valve design.

 

Ask and you shall receive:

Below are the videos @m.wynn and I put together from Saturday(in no particular order):

Mike is your narrator and star of the videos. I am on the camera and my old man (Jeff) you'll hear from time to time.

Enjoy!

 

That is a great price . I paid $100 for the cooler and valve a couple of years ago. No shipping since I picked it up from the salvage yard .

Cheap insurance .

 

Important to note. When cleaning the egr cooler, valve, pipe. That the intake plenum should be removed and cleaned as well. There are 4 small holes at the base of the intake runners that were completely clogged from carbon buildup. I'm sorry for not having pics of everything when it was clogged, my hands and gloves where so greasy from the disassembly that I did not want to touch my phone.
Got to play with hydraulic lifters today, they were completely seized. I soaked them in pb blast and used a crescent wrench to work them loose. Prius was running rough when I picked it up but with a clogged egr, blown head gasket on cylinder number 1, and intake valves not seating on cylinder 1 and 2 there to many things going on.

 

Those inlet ports are a design flaw and IMO should be on the upper side of the manifold and not as a bottom entry point. Given there is oil that passes trough there, it will gum up as you found.

Thanks for the pics so far.

Keep us updated on your progress.

 

Some pics from clean up work on my 2010, 140k miles ERG valve and cooler pulled from the car for the first time this past Saturday. My cooler was not completely clogged. If I had to guess a level I'd say 50% or a tad more. The car does not burn any detectable amount of oil. I used 2 cans of Brakleen to clean up the valve and cooler.

EGR valve plunger as viewed from cooler end

View with plunger open


View from EGR pipe into EGR valve pipe

View of cooler from Exhaust manifold end, pretty clean..


View of cooler from EGR valve end, not as clean

Cleaned up plunger


Cleaned up cooler view from valve end

Cleaned up cooler, view from exhaust manifold end



t-stat

 

Can you tell me please how you cleaned it? Did you use a steel brush on a drill? The brake cleaning fluid alone didn't just dissolve it, did it?

Did you drain your cooking system or just clamp the hoses? I know there are cooling hoses on the EGR cooler, and I see you also pulled the thermostat.

 

Every time I would think about cleaning the carbon out of the EGR cooler I would be thinking about how I'd need to put some sort of plugs in all those pipes, to keep the cleaner from flowing out. Then finally, an epiphany: those pipe are the coolant circuit, on the other side of the interface.

The only openings requiring blocking are the two ends: maybe a plate or bit of plywood with a couple of holes to match the flange holes, and a flap of rubber (say old inner tube), clamped to the end with bolts. Fill the cooler maybe 2/3 full with solvent, seal the top end similarly, then let it soak. Shake it up every 15 minutes or so.

Purple Power looks to be a very effective cleaner, link in my post up the page.

 

Glad you had an insight. It is a single pass exchanger with a process and cooling side. Both are separated from one another, unless one side is compromised.

One option in addition might be carb cleaner, as it is should be compatible with metals. The cooler is welded, so I wouldn't get too aggressive with choices.

I had a coworker use his industrial air compressor (up to 120 psi) and there are still visible deposits remaining on the fins. So I'll be doing the carb cleaner route soon.

Sounds like @Rebound might be going down the path soon. So maybe we can get together and use a spare amongst us Bay Area folks.

 

Simply held the cooler vertically and sprayed the Brakleen full blast all over the corrugations. Turned it end for end a few times. Finished it off with a quick shot of compressed air. Remember, I believe Ray reports using only compressed air... You can peek up thru the cooler with a good flashlight and see when you're there.

For the valve, I sprayed in from the side of the plunger pin and let it soak for a bit before depressing the plunger to let it out. Then sprayed around the plunger head and wiped that area with a paper towel. Spent about 20 minutes total. These things aren't the nightmare to get clean like you may read about with the diesel guys.

You'll see when/if you do yours, no biggie to get valve and cooler flowing like nearly new. I'd guess my cleaned up, 140k miles units are every bit as clean as the 18k miles salvage was.

 

Certainly many ways to go after this, but in the end, a solvent of your choice and a little time is about as complicated as it gets. There just isn't anything to it.

 

I know that there are new gaskets to buy when removing the intake manifold, but are there consumable parts to replace (gaskets or bolts) when removing the EGR and cooler?

 

Gaskets.

 

Here's a list of gaskets for the entire EGR circuit job:

Never mind that mess, see Ray's post #118

 

Or if you like pdf's.

Total spend was under $40.

 

Some of the gaskets are metal. Stickler though I am, I'd be inclined to cheap out and reuse them, unless they show damage.

 

While it more than likely would be fine, all it takes is the gasket between the exhaust manifold and egr cooler to not seat well and a dash code is thrown. Then the replacement / troubleshooting process begins.

I come from the chemical industry and in the past we used to "reuse" components. Times and philosophies change.

If @Rebound wants to attempt this (and it is sounding more and more like it ), he can save on the cooler and valve cost as I happen to have one just lying around available for use . So the cost of the valve and cooler can be diverted to the gaskets.

You'll come around .