Prius Replacement Engine Minor Mysteries

Donor is a rollover Prius with 115k miles, was running a driving (quite surprising since I don't think that there is a single body panel that doesn't have significant damage). Using Mini VCI/Techstream compression tested at 123-125psi. (2007 290k recipient car tests at 90psi on all cylinders same technique so I have some confidence in the results). Two minor mysteries.

First is that the engine is covered in grime. There does not seem to be a specific source although the timing chain cover has bee speculated as being a possibility. It seems to be more or less uniformly covering the engine.

Second is that the plugs look a little coated and generally abused for such a low mileage. I realize that the replacement schedule is 120k but I've seen plugs with twice that that don't look as bad.

Any speculation or ideas? Anything I should be concerned about before putting it in the recipient?

 

Nope, that's the donor. I pulled an engine out of a 1995 Sidekick. There was enough oil and grime that you couldn't tell where the engine ended and the transmissions started, but that was trashed in all kinds of ways.

Factory spec on compression is 99-128psi. So testing at 125psi suggests that the engine is not entirely useless.

 

More concerning is whether they were filling it up weekly (without a funnel).

 

Possible. The major combination meter failures, if I recall correctly, were 2004,2005 timeframe, donor is a 2007. I'm sure that failures are not unknown in that timeframe but I don't think that they were all that common. Title lists the mileage as actual miles so it would both have to have been switched and misrepresented to Gieco. A quick check of the VIN doesn't show up a discrepancy.

I didn't buy it direct from Geico, it went through someone who took the pack. They might also have changed the plugs although I doubt that they coated the engine in crud.

They're also trying to sell a Prius with ~170k (presumably the one they put the pack into).

 

Rather depends on what state you are in. I plan to pick-off and sell the parts with a rapid ROI (display, inverter, combination meter, refurbished pack, etc.) which will make the car basically free. Someone has suggested the AC compressor and the brake accumulator. Any other suggestions. There aren't a whole lot of easy-to-remove high value parts on a Prius. I'm not willing to spend time pulling $20 parts.

 

I've bought 3 salvage Prius's and not one of them has had a 12v battery that would hold a charge. I can pull any air vents that are not crushed (that may be zero).

I doubt that the hatch handle/trim made it in one piece. I don't recommend rolling a Prius but I would say that it looks as though the car did a good, if sacrificial, job of protecting the occupants. The dirt and plants that are attached (mostly to the underside) of the car suggest that it was rolled at speed, possibly across a freeway median.