ok so maybe I should’ve done more research before I bought my gen 3. 2012 with 86k for $9600. One owner, mantence done every 5k and still looks brand new. The egr head gasket thing really has me concerned, though. Is it really as simple as installing the OCC? I’m looking for any advice, up and to going ahead and selling it right away but I’d really like to avoid that, as I financed the car and would be taking a loss on resell more than likely. I drive rideshare and am going to put 40k a year on the car on avaerge. I owned a gen 2 that I got up to 278k before and thanks to these forums I was able to do a lot of the work and diagnosis of problems myself so I’m relatively confident in my abilities but the egr full clean seems a little out of my league. I don’t mind spending the $600 or so to have it cleaned and serviced if it’s as simple as that. But with my line of work, my margins are pretty slim so I won’t have a ton of money sitting around to keep fixing this car if I start to have major problems in the first year of ownership. My 2007 rarely had any issues until my third year of ownership (2016) I’ve obviously been reading a lot here about my new car but these things really have me concerned now. I’d appreciate any advice, taking in to account all of the factors I’ve listed here. Preferably I would like to do all the general maintence myself, and could pay for the egr cleaning once a year or so and that wouldnt be a problem. I would like to avoid the occ for various reason, mainly passing emissions and it also gives me pause simply because it doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution, even though I really appreciate the level of knowledge and skill of those involved in developing it. Sorry to ramble, I just need a really reliable car and my last Prius was just that and now I’m worried that thinking the newer one would be even better may have been misinformed thinking.
do everything you can, and save for a used engine. who knows, there are plenty of high mileage gen 3's with no head gasket issue.
Not very comforting lol. Is there any info on how much the car is driven in relation to this? I always felt like I got to 268k on the traction battery in my 07 because it got driven so much. Also specifically looking for info I can pin down on wether regular egr maintence is at least as reliable as the occ. thanks.
just the reports her. 100k seems to be the magic number. but there has to be a reason why some are horrible, and some are fine. it's frustrating, but it has to be how they are driven, maintained, or even built.
I’m about to buy a 2013 but I’ve hesitated because of the same worries. It’s really frustrating. I was going to get the EGR cleaned as soon as I got it home.... but it’s still a gamble.
I guess I just want to know that if I can mitigate the risk effectively, is the rest of the car more reliable than the last gen.
Same here. Haven’t gotten a solid answer yet. I just simply wanted to know if I even should buy a 2013 or not.
[QUOTE="insaner, post: 2686477, member: 119705" Is it really as simple as installing the OCC? I’m looking for any advice, up and to going ahead and selling it right away but I’d really like to avoid that, as I financed the car and would be taking a loss on resell more than likely. I would like to avoid the occ for various reason, mainly passing emissions and it also gives me pause simply because it doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution,... Sorry to ramble, I just need a really reliable car and my last Prius was just that and now I’m worried that thinking the newer one would be even better may have been misinformed thinking.[/QUOTE] I knew about this problem prior to buying my prius also- the EGR cleaning, but it was the trade off that I have to do in exchange to save at the pump. I'm paranoid also, but a willing to DIY paranoid. Definitely a valid concern you have about the OCC, that it won't pass visual state inspections. The average person won't be DIY'ing an OCC and/or afford vehicle down time so that's why I don't recommend the prius for anyone who ask, don't want to send my friends down that path or situation. Toyota won't own up to this manufacture defect, Toyota needs a permanent fix for this. Next car to buy in the future will be a Honda Hybrid. But do give kudos for priuschat users here for finding work arounds and bandaids to delay Toyota's EGR defect.
