Blown head gasket confirmed...advice needed

Last month I looked up prices online (not that I need one), and one sales database covering the whole country had around four Gen 3 Prius engines (with free shipping in 48 states?) with only 20K miles on them for about $2K like your local salvage yard. At that mileage, you don't really have to worry about maintenance. They would have just needed one oil change, and likely got it, since that's basically a new car. Yes, ask about a warranty.

 

check Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

LKQ is a reputable multi-billion dollar company with 40,000 employees, and listed on stock exchange...Not only do they not lie about miles, they will run the carfax over phone (at least with me the rep did)...

LKQ Corporation: NASDAQ:LKQ quotes & news - Google Finance

I'm sure that in your area there are a handful of other reputable junkyards but you probably won't know about them...I use these places a lot and there are 2 or 3 in my area that are good and the rest are average to possibly scamming (making up miles)...or at the very least extremely ghetto and poorly run.

The VIN is always going to show a crash on a used junkyard motor...That's how it got there...Lots of flood and salvage titles. In fact, if it doesn't have any major crash on the carfax then RUN AWAY LOL...Probably had bad motor and that's how it ended up at the dealer auction!!

It's hilarious when I call and ask for VIN from a random yard and they say they will call you back and they don't....Probably because they made up the miles!!!

 

I can never get myself to trust the mileage on used engines, it's just numbers tossed around. But if you get a working engine for $2150, I guess that's a pretty good deal

 

I used a "head gasket repair" liquid before, and it actually worked ok. I would say the car lasted another year and half. Did it again and got another year out of it. I'm sure it was horrible for the engine, but I was at a point in life where the car running was all that mattered. If your going to eventually replace the engine anyway, I'd give it a shot. What have you got to loose? If you keep driving it like it is, your going to kill the engine anyway.

Has anyone on here done their own head gasket?

 

I'd be willing to try and assist if you want to try and do the head gasket. I'm only a couple hours away from you. I probably have all the necessary tools.

 

It was "metallic block seal". You had to start with a completely cold engine, add product, and then run till the engine was fully heated up. Then you drained the engine and let it sit overnight to "dry". Put coolant back in and away you go. I think I dropped the upper radiator hose to get coolant level down far enough to add the product, and it went in through the same hose, it was a radiator that didn't have a cap. I didn't want to put it into the plastic tank.

 

My mechanic would put it in for $400 including fluids! But I'm in Michigan.

(My brother actually lives in Montgomery by the way!)

 

If a mechanic would charge $400, we should be able to do it in an afternoon.

 

The Prius has regular gasoline engine and normal head and head gasket. It's definitely a DIY project for several hours, weekend at most. Two are the dangerous things that can be messed up (I've changed a few head gaskets, two on my own cars and several on friends' cars) - adjusting the timing and tightening the head. Usually there are timing kits available, which contains a metal plate to lock the camshafts and a few bolts or bits to lock tensioners and crankshaft. But instead of buying, everything can be made from scrap parts. The tightening must be done in strict order to prevent the head from cracking and to press the gasket well. Usually the pattern is like X (top left -> bottom right, etc), but this must be checked for every engine. Also the tightening force also is very important, usually there are 3 steps for tightening - usually first two is tight by force (Nm or ft/lb) and the last one is by degrees.

The head and the block will be good to be measured for bending and if there is even a slight curve, their surfaces must be grinded. New head bolts is a good practice, but I never used new ones

I would definitely do a head gasket change if the engine is fine. A head gasket as a replacement part would be around $50 I suppose.

 

Sound like you know your way around a wrench. I've done a few, as well as timing chains and belts. I was worried the first time I did a dual DOHC engine, but it really wasn't a big deal. Most of the time at the shop we worked at we just zip tied the gears together. Seemed to work.....although I'm sure someone will chime in and tell me how stupid that was.

 

And here is another "trick" to do it - mark the belt/chain and the shafts and then place the belt/chain back to the marks on the sprockets. The marks from the old belt or chain can be copied to a new one (if the old one needs replacing) and this way this trick can be used to replace the timing kit. This won't work only if the engine has internal balancing shafts, connected to the crankshaft with other belt, chain or gears. For example, such engine is the old 2.4L Mitsubishi.

 

This has nothing to do with a Prius, but I blew a head gasket on my 64 Dodge Dart while stationed in Germany in the late 60's. Head gaskets were hard to get for American cars so I poured in a can of gasket fix into the radiator and let the engine warm up and circulate it. After a few minutes the engine stopped leaking water into the oil. I ordered a new gasket and installed it about a month later. When I pulled the heads, the leak was on the right bank of the V8. The product where the leak was looked amazingly like the original gasket and looked like it would have worked for a long time. Of course I installed the new gasket and sold the car when I shipped out back to the states. Other than the blown gasket, it was a great car.

 

well done, great labor price!

 

Glad you're back on the road!

 

Toyota's timing chains have brightly-colored links built right into them at the right places, to match marks ground into the sprockets. Nice touch, that.

-Chap