So my 2010 Prius III blew a hole in the engine last night...

I'll try it...
I gotta point out that car was being driven on the freeway when the hard knocking noise and smoke were apparent. Car made it home on electric mode, low oil pressure message came on. When I got home, I had to recharge my HV battery because it was already low (did this with a regular car battery charger at an 8 amp charge hooked onto the 12v battery.) This made it possible for me to put the car up on a dolly and take it to the mechanic.

 

189,000 miles? I have 152,000 and this scares me a little. I believe I keep mine maintained but, maybe anything can happen.

My buddy, with a 2010 Prius 2, came close to destroying his engine when he installed the oil filter O-ring incorrectly (up against the flange instead of the groove) which allowed oil to be pushed out of the filter area. He saw the smoke trail while on the highway and pulled over immediately.

Enough of my stories, . . . if you had to identify a cause, what would you attribute this failure to? Maybe frequent, hard acceleration?, driving very high speeds (over 80+mph)?, infrequent oil changes? never changed the coolant? or it just blew up from the head gasket failure? I guess I'm looking for why the early head gasket failure. I think a lot of people would be interested. Thank you and best wishes to get her back on the road.

 

These Toyota engines are almost bullet proof. They will go a very long time running as long as you don't skimp on maintenance and use good quality oil. I attribute my engine failure due to a known head gasket failing. My Prius was using up about a quart of water every two weeks. (Early sign of likely head gasket failure). I could have fixed it for half the price my final bill was. ( Mechanic charged me $340.00 for the engine swap 1k for a used enine off eBay and about $100 in oil, antifreeze, plugs and fel pro gaskets. ) I have also successfully used Bars head gasket repair additive in other cars like BMWs. Anyhow, don't sweat it...these cars are awesome. I get many compliments on mine.

 

did you replace your engine yourself?

 

did you do the swap yourself???

 

my new engine is being delivered this week and I need all the info i can get to do a successful swap.

 

Here's some guidance info. Front of the car will come off and an engine hoist would be very helpful:

Engine removal diy advice is it possible?


Take some pics and keep us posted.

 

I was going to but it only takes a day for a professional

 

may be easier taking engine and trans out together that's how most do it on this site. Comes out the bottom of the car. But then have to disconnect inner cv joints.
No matter what when u change the engine dump the trans fluid too. Your under there and wth engine out it's really easy to get to the fill bolt.

 

Somehow my mechanic took it out without disturbing the transmission or ac lines

 

Nah, I had to sit this one out....
Mechanic said that he removed a lower cross member and the electric water pump. He disconnected the exhaust and intake manifold and removed the engine from the top. He said that some wiring connections were time consuming but nothing major. All in all, I think $340.00 bucks saved me headaches doing it myself...lol

 

Yeah, same here...although I gotta add that after the swap was completed, my ac now is delayed sometimes and ac and fans kick on after a while. I usually turn the power off and restart it and works again.

 

Where are you located? I was able to source a used low milage engine for the prius, but need to find a mechanic. Im located in Socal.

 

How much did you source it for and at what mileage?

MI 5s ?

 

I got the engine off Ebay with 51k miles. Came complete with all accessories. This particular seller even gave 60 days warranty on the engine. Still going strong, I have put 30k miles already since the swap.

 

My ac compressor had a bad connector at the compressor. Had same symptoms as yours...I bought a used part off Ebay and replaced it myself...super easy!

 

Nah, that would be way over my expertise..lol

 

The mechanic that did it had never worked on hybrids. He just saw that he didn't need to mess with the hybrid side (transmission area) and did the job very quickly. Engine came off from the top without dropping transmission.

 

Man this scares me! I currently have 150K miles, all fluids are good at the moment. I do mostly highway driving. Should I be worried? how hard is it to change the head gasket?? I do around 800 miles a week.

 

That's a heck of a deal on the replacement labor and you should be good to go for many more miles. Did you find out why the original engine blew, was it really the head gasket and not out of oil can't figure how a head gasket would make it throw a rod? It would take a major break in the gasket to put enough coolant on top of the piston to cause a hydro lock and break a rod at running speed..