Rebuild Engine/Cat or Replace the Whole Car?

I have done exactly this, replaced engine and cat and do not regret it at all.

I would rather keep the car I already paid for and just keep it running than buy a newer car and have a car note and full coverage insurance I have to pay.

You can sell it for more with the new parts than lose money on it with the bad parts.

 

Sell and buy a $65,000 EV, I’m just saying a member here would say

 

Remember at 12 years old, many parts need replacement on the car. After you put in the $6000, you have the HV battery to worry about, brake actuator to worry about, suspension, electronics, exterior/interior condition, and brakes etc. So you'll just have to take all that into consideration.

 

I went with same type of engine, so if I was to sell it there would be no questions.

Got it from hybridpit.com you can use my code "azusa" to save on the engine.

All has been pretty normal since and its been a year and about 20kish miles later

If your HV battery goes out just use the projectlithium link on my profile to get yourself the best battery a prius can have.

The cat was CARB legal Magnaflow.

This prius glides like butter and Im getting summer mpgs right now with the help of a short ram intake I just got.

 

I’m trying to understand why the engine needs replacement; the code is exclusively catalytic converter related?

because the Cat’s problems are due to runaway oil consumption??

 

If you've got 120 $140,000 on the car you're heading into head gasket repair territory rather than do head gasket repairing on an open deck engine to me it would be smarter to replace with JDM and get lower mileage engine and a transmission I could have done my engine transmission and the catalytic converter here where I live for about $3,600 comfortably with some money to spare The engine and transmission were only like 1350 The catalytic converter even if I paid retail from the dealer would have put me at what $3,600 bucks or so this is not installed it was 800 to put the engine and transmission in and I would have put the catalytic converter on myself in the shop or in my yard for all I care I do realize you're paying retail and may not be able to do any of this yourself or you haven't shopped very hard or.

 

And I thought mechanics are the ones we avoid And we DIY because they recommend out if the blue parts and services.

 

On a Gen 3 I just look at the miles If it's above 140 you're in a danger area of the head gasket leaking even minute amounts can be catastrophic rather than spending $3,000 or so to fix that nonsense head gaskets every seal you can see EGR reaming and cleaning you could just replace the whole engine and the transmission with like same with about less than a third of the mileage for I don't know last year it was about $1,300 I don't know I don't think any of this stuff is doubled over that time matter of fact I think my engine went up about $200 since then the last time I spoke to the JDM people this stuff isn't new so they can't raise their prices because of supply chain issues etc etc they can only go up when shipping container movement goes up or shipping prices which some of the JDM companies probably own their own shipping setup so.

 

Are any of the people here on list old enough or remember a company called ATK that opened in the '80s?

 

True.

 

Replace car.

While a repair like that is certainly possible, I think you're just too likely to hit another expensive system failure (air conditioning, brakes, ???) before another 100k elapses afterward.

Might as well take advantage of modern safety and further improved economy, and call it an investment in your marriage.

 

No with cars like these that are reasonably well made to begin with like the Gen 2 I'll always take the repair. The Gen 3 made this a little more of an uneasy decision to make but even with the Gen 3 other than the engine head gasket problem the brakes and the AC are easy to deal with with JDM parts too most people here discussing costs are discussing what it cost to drop it off at the dealer I get that but we here don't ever do that so we don't have those problems and costs

 

I know you can bet safely on 10 years with a fresh rebuilt engine and new legal cat.

When the battery quits or when you want to have a better prius than others get a lithium battery from projectlithium.

 

If your aim is to get another 100k out of the car, I would just fix everything as it comes up. You have a lower mileage engine and you've already done the head gasket, I would just leave that item alone. Just replace the catalytic converter.

If you did the head gasket yourself, you're more than capable to do an EGR circuit cleaning. That will take 5 hours on a weekend.

$6000 is a lot to just throw at a car that's already running in pretty decent condition. I would use the $6000 and spread out the repairs as they come up. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones that won't even have to spend that amount of money to reach another 100k

 

It has just occurred to me that you are still under CA emissions warranty for the p0420 catalytic converter issue. The car is covered by a 15 year/150k miles warranty for emissions in CA.

So that catalytic problem is free if you bring it to a dealer (although they will not have a catalytic to give you at this time)

 

What are this problems with your current engine?