Is this a money pit, or a keeper?

If you haven’t already found them, try LKQ for a used engine. It’s a national chain deal.

Also there is car-part.com, which is a search engine for lots of smalltime junkyards. Their search engine is excellent but the actual recyclers selling the parts are the usual spectrum of good to bad, so apply instincts.

 

One thing to remember this car will need a New Traction Battery in the next year or two...... (most likely)
and if you get a new engine make sure the complete EGR System is cleaned valve and exhaust cooler system.
Probably better put in a new engine water pump and inverter coolant pump also if your going to keep it.

 

All that really needs doing is cleaning, but that is labour intensive, lots of hours, the dealership service department is likely clueless about the techniques, and the best they will offer is parts replacement with new The EGR cooler and valve are around $250 apiece (new) and a new intake manifold also about that amount. Labour shouldn't be bad, really nothing if it's done in conjunction with an engine swap.

Still, with a little knowledge and patience, it's a virtually free DIY to clean those parts. Some info:

The simplest way to see where you're at, is to check the degree of carbon build up in the EGR pipe, a stainless steel connecting pipe between the EGR valve and intake manifold. Watch @NutzAboutBolts video #16 here:

Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

Two or three other videos linked there too, for the full cleaning of the intake manifold, full EGR clean, and Oil Catch Can install.

Good thread:

EGR & Intake Manifold Clean Results | PriusChat

Another:

Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock! | PriusChat

Some tools worth having:

E8 Torx socket (mandatory)
E6 Torx socket (optional, but good to have, to remove the throttle body studs from intake manifold)
3/8" ratchet wrench, regular and long handle, flex head, you can never have enough (or 1/2 plus reducer)
1/4" ratchet wrench, or 3/8" to 1/4" reducer
Ratchet extensions: you can never have enough
Long needle nose piers, straight and bent tip
Ratcheting 12mm box wrench (optional, but makes disconnection of the EGR cooler from exhaust easier)
Torque wrench (3/8" and 1/4" both good to have)
Floor jack and safety stands (or ramps): basically some method to raise front, if you need to take underpanel off, which you may need to, both for access and to recover dropped items.

 

OK, here’s my take on that. Please keep in mind you’re just reading some relatively subjective opinions by one guy on the Internet.

Every buyer has different attitudes and perspectives. Some won’t notice or care about the engine replacement. So the simple fact that it will have been replaced isn’t significant to the pricing of the car.

If I add the data point that the engine was replaced yesterday? That reduces the value in my mind, because in a buyer’s position I would want to know that the repair was at least initially successful. Generally speaking if an engine transplant goes a few weeks/1500 miles, it’s going to stay good (given appropriate maintenance) for the remaining expected life of the car.

Assuming that you don’t want to deceive the buyer but want the car gone fast, you could list it without detailing the repair. Don’t hide it, answer truthfully when potential buyers ask… but you might be surprised by how many people don’t even ask. The used car market is on fire lately, prices are up and it’s especially overheated in the sub-$10k range. This means that you can put a relatively high price on yours.

Personally I like bargaining. I’d price it high and strike on a buyer offering within 70%. They’ll feel like they’re saving a pile and that momentum can carry the whole deal.

Your more general question about hybrids? My opinion (strictly from a financial standpoint) is that hybrids are only worthwhile when gasoline is expensive, and that right now gas is too cheap for a hybrid to save you any money.

New ones are wonderful and reliable- we really enjoy ours, but with fuel so cheap we’ll never earn back the extra cost vs. a similar gas car. A 4-year old hybrid might be cheap enough to make the math work, and wouldn’t be much risk in terms of expensive repairs. A 10-year old hybrid will be cheaper still, but is more likely to present significant repair costs.

The big problem is that those 4 and 10 year olds aren’t cheaper-enough due to the overheated used car market.

 

Your experience is clearly in lottery ticket territory. Buy a hybrid and the gas engine blows up. Yep, that’s odd. Now, from other details you’ve shared I suspect that this particular car was substantially abused prior to your ownership, and I think selling it is the right move.

You could truthfully say that you bought it with a bad engine and then paid to fix it up before selling it. Lots of people do that. You don’t need to tell anyone that you didn’t actually profit off of the deal, or that you hadn’t planned it this way.

Our other car is an old Hyundai Accent. Driven the right way, I can get 45MPG out of that car; not a lot worse than our Prius. The difference is that I can go get another one for about $2k. It’s not as nice as our Prius, but incredibly cheap to operate.

 

Excellent Post......!

 

Likely spell-check gone awry, but I like it: wack 'em like a bell.

 

Just make sure the car has any recalls up to date...........

 

I'm kind of curious about all the comments on a 2014 Prius V with 150,000 miles being a money pit in the short future.

Are the third-generation engines really that bad?

I had heard the other way around that they were pretty good engines.

I've got a 2008 with 311000 on it and it runs flawlessly.

I'd be curious to find out on her engine what the hell went wrong with it to threw a rod.

And I also want to know how is it that if there was something bad enough mechanically to throw a rod that the dealer didn't hear a problem or detect a problem when they did their check over the vehicle.
Seems to me there would be some liability on them they inspected the vehicle and said it was fine and then it blew up. I realize it's not the dealer that you bought it from but I would think there'd be some responsibility on the inspection results.

I agree with the rest of you however that if I came across a car with all of those codes I would probably have run away. Especially if j was NOT mechanically minded...
Those codes are there for a reason and who the hell knows what it is.

Good luck to the OP...

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Maybe this event had something to do with (probable) disregard of the engine oil level by the previous owner. After the red light flashed, threw some oil in but the damage had already ocurred.
These 1.8 engines do consume some oil past 75k, mine @ 130k miles I have to add 0,5 liter between 9k miles service.

 

make sure you get the egr circuit cleaned on the new one. all the best!

 

Yikes..................