Chilly Bay Area nights and an engine rattle at starts

I don't think you should throw any more money at this if you already have a bad head gasket it wouldn't really matter what amount of cleaning you doing now

I would probably test for a bad head gasket before I continue with anything else

 

Your mechanic should be able to do a test for bad gasket. Based on your misfire codes and your coolant being halfway down from full it may seem to indicate the head gasket might be bad.

There are products in the marketplace that you can put in your oil to stop the head gasket leak and for prolong use of your car. But you have to identify the problem before you can give it any medicine

 

Well let him know if there's a bad head gasket later, he can fix it for free

Mechanics also don't like people telling them what to do if they are the professionals

 

Maybe others can reply on this thread to give their opinion on whether your mechanic can fix your problem

If I were the mechanic I would hate for someone to tell me how to do my job

 

No, I'm saying that with a car that old and worth so little, you are basically playing with house money. Every month that it continues to move (and that could be years) is a car payment that remains in your pocket!

 

I guess I'm just a light sleeper.

Potential buyer: "So what's wrong with it?"
Your response is.......???

Sure, you could just lie or decline to respond, but the way I look at things, that's a human being on the other side of the transaction who is working hard for their money, same as me. No way I'm gonna stick them with a car with three tires in the grave.

Now if you wanna sell it to CarMax, then all bets are off!!

 

The response is "it has 200k miles and now has a misfire". Many DIYers or even dealers won't think there's anything wrong with a Prius at 200k miles, just some minor issues. So you can let them figure it out. Honesty is not bad on a car with 200k miles, no matter how you sugar coat it, it won't get much more money.

 

labor rates when you help out

 

Monitor the levels and see if there is loss of coolant.

Bring it by the Lafayette meetup next weekend and we’ll take a look.

If you really need a look this weekend, I’m in Fairfield but that may take some convincing of my wife.

But willing to help.

 

Another option also is to hit up @leeb18c as he has done the head gasket swap with the engine still In The car.

Winston is the man.

 

Engine got the rattles this week also. Temps finally dipped to lower 20s here and got grill blocking done. Engine rattles for about 1 second on initial cold soak start up with hood open and eye on engine. Fun stuff.

 

Sounds like a plan .

You’ll have @leeb18c there so bring your questions and potential level changes.

I’ll send a PM over the weekend with details about the meet up.

 

Rxgolfer, your pics show a shot of the inverter coolant reservoir. In no way am I trying to insult you but I want to verify you understand the engine coolant reservoir is the larger tank on the passenger fender. Ray's advice to mark the current level with a sharpie to give you an easy reference to check daily for level drop is something I would do.

Despite a few of us somewhat questioning your mechanic's diagnostic approach, he seems to be a capable wrench spinner, having whipped the EGR valve and cooler off with the windshield wiper tray in place. The valve and cooler need to be cleaned thoroughly as do the pipe and the intake manifold. This can be done with Brakleen quick and dirty style, or slow and completely type-A, ala @Mendel Leisk (this statement made with love, of course!) using a variety of less aggressive cleaners. The statement that there is "water in the EGR" needs to be expanded upon; water meaning engine coolant?.. from a blown valve cooler jacket?.. from another source?.. condensation in the pipe and/or valve because the cooler and the IM are so plugged there is no air flow to the valve and pipe?... The intake manifold needs to be pulled and the EGR ports meticulously cleared. There is a long, large diameter EGR port running the length of the IM, which is the continuation of the EGR pipe for reference. Then there is a small diameter EGR port running the length of all 4 intake ports. You'll see them plainly when you sight the intake ports. These all need to be cleaned free of blockage. Both @Mendel Leisk and @NutzAboutBolts have excellent tutorials posted of this process and there is a ton of great info in @danlatu 's blown head gasket thread: Blown Head gasket rebuild....@297k | PriusChat. While the intake manifold is off, replace the PCV valve with a new Toyota OEM part. Also, if the parts that have already been thrown at the car are not OEM, my head would fly off. But that's just me...

If the car isn't burning coolant with a failed head gasket, complete blockage of the EGR path would likely be the cause of your misfires. Our "rule out the head gasket" tendency is simply born from experience around here. No reason to clean the EGR if you're just going to scrap the engine... Typically by the time a turd gen Prius is misfiring, it's already burning coolant. But it is the clogging of the EGR circuit which leads to the head gasket failure, and there has been a report or 2 of no coolant burn and EGR circuit cleaning remedying the misfire(s). This would be best case scenario for you. Also, as JC pointed out, there have been a few reports of "head gasket sealer in a bottle" buying some owners several thousand more miles before the the engine grenades. The EGR circuit can be cleaned for the cost of 3 or 4 cans of Brakleen and a gallon of Toyota Super Long Life coolant. All gaskets can be re-used if care is taken. There is no point in replacing EGR valve or cooler unless there is physical damage to either.

So if you determine your head gasket is ok, or if you determine it's blown but you want to rebuild this engine vs sourcing a donor, this cleaning project is front and center.