Head Gasket blown - replace or get a different car?

And not punctuations and mispelling?

 

I don't know what universe but if a customer says to a dealership that they don't want to pay for a new assembly or blah blah blah depending upon the part it is possible I guess I wouldn't think so personally but I wouldn't say it would be out of this world especially possibly with an engine assembly if somebody could locally get a low mileage takeout that got rear-ended or something and sitting in the local salvage rather than ordering it through my dealer network and paying gosh knows what yeah it's a stretch I guess but service managers and customers do strange things.

 

Am I missing something?

 

This is just a bad practice by the dealers that do it. Who knows the history of said engine pulled out of said wreck in a junk yard. It may have an undisclosed oil burning or HG issue already and they are just setting you up to fail almost immediately. You better get a damn good warranty in writing from them and make sure replacement includes "if it overheats" or "burns oil" in the fine print. Toyota needs to man up to their mistakes with this pandemic of head gasket failures and poor design of piston rings and replace with a brand new engine. I know the official part number for the loaded short block, so they can easily do this.

 

Exactly that's why I don't advocate any of that nonsense get a low mileage takeout from the JDM market take your best shot by center sections from Toyota of this engine for what $1,82,400 I'm not sure That's the part that causes all the hoopla The head you can get remanufactured anywhere and the pan lower section is just trim

 

Probably in honour of Tombuck2, the master of the run-on sentence, punctuation (and sometimes coherence) takes a back seat.

 

To the original post, rebuilt motor is the best solution due to new rings and pistons. I'm lucky I purchased a 2015. They came with the new and improved pistons and rings.

 

Hi all- I am in the same boat, 2013 with 165,000 miles. I got a ridiculous quote from the dealer for a rebuilt engine. If I did not want to repair, where/ who would you all recommend selling it to? Its a great car, other than this issue, so I don't want to scrap it. But, our new EV is on the way, and this made the decision of which vehicle to keep and sell much easier. Thanks in advance.

 

I have a 2010 Prius and just recently replaced the head gasket myself at 149,000 miles. This is a common issue for this car at this age. This is not an "easy" project as it requires removing a lot of parts to gain access to the gasket and a good amount of mechanical confidence, skill and tools. This is a labor/time intensive project which is reflected in the cost. Cost of parts are nominal, about $200-300 depending on quality. If you are seeking to fix the car for a longer period of ownership when you have the head off to replace the gasket you then have an opportunity to perform other vital maintenance. These would include cleaning the intake manifold, cleaning the ERG, replacing the PCV, doing a piston soak and servicing the head (new valve stem seals, grinding or lapping the valves). Much of this extra maintenance is associated with the bad piston rings in the 2010-2014 Gen 3 engines creating a cascading array of issues from oil burning. Chances are all these extras are not included in the quote you got but this is what is needed to get your engine closer to a "new" condition. If you are burning an excessive amount of oil (e.g. 1 qt per 1000 miles) then you most likely need this maintenance.

Others have suggested doing an engine swap. This may be more cost effective but will you know the condition of the replacement? There's no point in putting in a used engine with the same defects. I would not install anything other than a 2015 Gen 3 engine since this is when they finally fixed the faulty piston rings. There have been others that have had a Gen 4 engine installed replacing the Gen 3 engine. If you can find a good Gen 4 replacement in your local area then I think that is the ideal solution since it will likely have fewer miles and none of the oil burning defect of the early Gen 3 engines and results in more power too.

If you are burning oil at a high rate then fixing this problem with any of the above suggestions will help you avoid a costly replacement of your catalytic converter. After doing the above fixes to my Gen 3 engine I managed to reduce my oil burning rate but still get a lot of crud in my catch can.

Factoring into all of this will be how much longer will your battery last before needing repair or replacement. All batteries fail eventually so its just a matter of time and degree. Your first signs of failure may be fixable with a module replacement or two or three but eventually the whole pack will need replacement. You may have many more years and miles before having to face this so don't let it spook you . . . just put it into your cost calculation for long term ownership consideration on top of your head gasket problem.

 

A new short block, in conjunction with head gasket replacement and a machine shop refurb of the head, will also give you a like-new engine? A little pricier, but not bad: short blocks are under $2K USD.

According to The Car Care Nut (YouTuber) there’s no chance of low tension piston rings on the blocks for sale.

just curious: if doing both the head and block refurb, would it be preferable to lift both out together or one at a time? Maybe depending on your equipment?

 

Why you pickin on me?

I know, it's your brand.... ( who has 'signatures' like that? Only you....)

Besides, I can't afford a tesla, you?
Besides, I have a 259 mile range EV that cost me <25% of that tesla amount.
And it does everything the tesla does, just slower...

 

OK, Pal,
On this we agree!

Anymore I just see his posts as TL THTR, Too Long, Too Hard To Read.

So I skip all his posts. I just don't have the time to decipher them.

BTW, it's 'misspelling'.

 

What's the story on the Bolt battery pack being replaced prior to 100k? What are the expectations for the new pack in terms of miles and age?

 

Here's one 'perspective'.

Add a bottle of Blue Devil head gasket goop to the engine coolant reservoir and sell it.
Mumms the word.... It may continue to to drive fine for a long time.

Mine, with Blue Devil was fine for months until I took it back to the Rockies where the engine is using full power to get up the mountains.
It wasn't that bad. We got the 'Hot' light but it didn't lose any coolant.
We drove it back home and continued using it with no problems, until it found a new happy owner.
Partly toyota is to blame for making a chitty head gasket system in this engine, no?

You could always give a percentage of the sale price to a charity of you choice to sooth your soul, if you believe that stufff!

 

The Safety Recall gives any Bolt owner a new battery pack regardless of miles on the car. I'm not sure what you're asking here.

gm's 'expectation' for the new pack is a new warranty for 8yrs / 100k miles, so there's that!
Mine was replaced when the car was at ~93k miles, so now I have no worries until 193k miles, then I'm on my own.

I couldn't be happier with the way this recall was handled!
Has there ever been a better recall?

 

Ah, man…

 

OK, so,
What Would Mendel Do?

Pay the $4750 price the dealer asked?
Sell the car as is?
Drive it on its very last trip to the crusher bc it doesn't make financial sense to repair such a car?

She asked for a perspective. I presented one.
Am I going to HayL or is toyota for such a crappy design that requires these decisions?

 

Whenever I hear advice like this I always hope that karma pays a visit

 

What I did yesterday was take everyone off my ignore list. I'll revisit that.

 

What would you do?

karma is make pretend, like other spiritual things.