I'm a longtime 2008 Prius owner and I'm thinking about jumping up to a 2010. First off should I? And second in my research I've come across people having issues with leaking n blown head gaskets?
Howdy, E. Welcome! I just (was forced) jumped from a '05 to a 2'10. Don't know if I would again. But just spent the day doing maint. stuff. So am a lil frustrated in general. Doing Uber and I have a courier biz. Love and I mean love the added power. That alone makes the jump worth it. Really. Ya hit the power (warp drive) button and it's a whole different animal. My only real complaints are my car burns about half a qt of oil every 1,000 or so miles. (I've yet to do the math proper but around that. And she's just a bit smaller inside. Not a lot but is annoying when trying to fit 8 tires or 4 fat folks with luggage that ya notice. Changing my vote. Still worth upgrading IMVHO. What are the miles on both cars, your speaking of? And be sure to check oil dip stick for yellowish, gunky liquid. And of course have it checked out by a mechanic. At the very least and just what I do. Take perspective car to AutoZone or any place and see if any codes come up. Not as exacting as a dealership and only an indicator if a bunch of codes come up. Dealer checkup would be best but costly. Just my 27 cents. Inflation ,dont'cha know. snork
welcome! oil burning, and head gasket are the two major issues over 100k. see @danlatu 's threads on egr service and oil catch can. 2008 is rock solid, how many miles on her?
yeah, probably a good time to move up, but if your budget is limited, you might be better off with a lower mile 2008 or 9.
I have had a 2006 and I jumped to a 2010 and never regretted it. I’ve done 110,000 in 2 years in my 2010, it’s now got 153,000 on the clock. It doesn’t use of lose oil but I have got into quite a strict routine. Change/clean the EGR cooler every 50-70,000 miles, the general thinking it that once this clogs up it causes the problems that blow the HG. Search egr cooler to see how easy it is to clean, an afternoon if you are even half decent with the spanner’s will see it clean and keep the engine running sweet 2010 Gen 3
Here is the thread on the cause of HG failure What is the chief cause of head gasket failure on the gen 3 https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=1171&share_tid=188551&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpriuschat%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fthreads%2FWhat-is-the-chief-cause-of-head-gasket-failure-on-the-gen-3%2E188551%2F&share_type=t 2010 Gen 3
Maybe get a lower mileage Gen2 if you can find one? Gen2's don't have EGR and therefore you won't have to deal with potential EGR problems. If you are not a do-it-yourself'er this might be a good way to go due to the complexity of removing the EGR components and cleaning them. Note that GEN2's do have a belt that needs to be changed periodically but this is FAR easier than EGR cleaning. As an owner of a 2010 Prius that consumes oil, I'd suggest to steer clear of 2010's..especially ones with high mileage. 2010's *seem* to have a higher incidence of oil consumption. On the other hand....there are many with no problems at all. The jury is still out on what actually causes this oil consumption...many theories exist ( just search on 'oil consumption')!
Gen 3 has the EGR, which is starting to look a dog-in-the-manger, requiring a cleaning every 100K miles or so. Could be it's issues are due at least in part to PCV circuit dumping crankcase swill into the intake manifold? OTOH, it has hydraulic valve adjustment, where the 2nd gen has VERY labourious shim style, if adjustment is ever needed. Our 2010 with 73K kms is not consuming any oil, which I find kinda surprising, comparing to our parade of Honda's over the years. No problems to date, I have done the EGR cleaning and installed Oil Catch Can in PCV circuit.
Drive your gen2 100k more and think about it. You will have to replace the battery but it will continue getting great mileage and be reliable.
