$4400 for head gasket and 150k service -- too high?

hard to say without competitive pricing. i would also ask about low mile salvage engine.

see what dealers want too.

 

Around here you could get a rebuilt engine for that price, installed. Some shops will do a head gasket and machined head for $2,000. A 150,000 mile service is an oil change and rotate tires. Either way get someone who uses a decent automotive machine shop.

If you don't want a repeat head gasket problem, get a rebuilt engine, preferably starting with another lower mile engine that may not be as carboned up or overheated. All 1.8L hybrid engines from 2010 - mid 2014 are flawed in multiple ways. A rebuild with new pistons and rings starts you with essentially a 2015 engine from a reliability standpoint.

 

Use repairpal.com to verify prices in your area. That price seems to be $1K too high. Also make sure they clean out your entire EGR system or replace it.

Good Luck..

 

Yeah, be sure to have the Exhaust Gas Recirculation system and intake manifold thorougly cleaned, or you'll be blowing another head gasket soon enough. More info in my signature.

 

Out here in PNW a headgasket on a Gen3 Prius is between $1500 & $1900... Your mechanic's price is awful. Don't pay them a penny! It's time to move on from them just like your main contact at this place did.

 

For third party mechanic shop? I remember when timing chain cover leaks started cropping up, and a US dealership charged $1700, for a reseal.

 

Maybe mostly 2nd gen? Third gen head gasket's reliably fail around 200K miles. Typically those are "religiously" dealership serviced, and EGR never touched.

Point him to first link in my signature.

 

The earlier generation Prii from twenty years ago never had head gasket problems. 2010-2014 do but he is embarrassed he did not recognize the symptoms. The cold start rattles are unique to these cars plus they don't routinely leak coolant into the oil or lose compression. It sounds like he has not done head gaskets on these cars. He has not torn down an egr and found it full of carbon. He does not know about the bad rings in the 2010-14. Find someone who does know these things. Plus a shop who has done many will have better prices.

 

Any Gen 3 or v with over 100k miles that comes through our shop for sale, gets an EGR clean-out. (We're prepping one now that has half a million miles on it. ) We're convinced that there's a definite connection between clogged EGR systems and blown head gaskets. Plus, the Gen 3 HG isn't particularly robust. Here's what a clogged and a cleaned EGR cooler look like when you look into the end of it.


If you hold the cooler at just the right angle to the light, you should be able to look right through it. The one in the top picture is totally clogged. It's also necessary to clean the tube, the valve, and the intake manifold.

We probably replace about one HG a week or thereabouts.

 

^ I’d do this; cleaning the EGR only does not “undo” a head gasket failure.

But do clean it, there's a cautionary tale here:

Headgasket replaced and failed shortly after? Do anything different next time? | PriusChat

 

Once your shaking a head gasket is waiting...

 

@Mendel Leisk and @rjparker are right. Cleaning the EGR circuit won't fix the head gasket. You need a new HG. But, if you don't clean the EGR circuit (all of it), you'll need another HG very soon. Don't forget that it took quite a few tens of thousands of miles to plug it it up. This time, it'll take zero miles to plug it up. It's like the horse and the barn door.

 

Another thing to consider is I have some friends who got a blown head gasket diagnosis and retired the Prius to an around town vehicle and no more long road trips and after 3 years the symptoms are still barely noticeable. Plan is to do their headgasket for them soon as the engine starts running really rough when started up and we still aren't their yet, so in meantime I'm fixing all the other little things.

And there's limits to this as a bad head gasket that's ignored for too long can destroy dampener/transmission.

 

Worse than that is a hole in the block.

 

Complete low mileage take out engine and trans installed in car price of engine and trans and install in Efland NC 65 days ago. 1966 US dollars.

 

Is that a hybrid shop there in Efland? Will they do other repairs on a Prius? I'm familiar with the area, my parents lived in Mebane.