Looking for advice on 2012 Prius V ownership at high KM

I know what you mean - I would like a Rav4 hybrid, but the availability is still limited and cost is way more than I'd want to pay. I have a sequoia as well, but the V covers 98% of what we need.

Re: your foreman's question - I have another response above. I went through a little bit of an epic last year trying to get mine sorted out. At the end of the day, I'm glad I did it and love the car. Don't be so quick to throw this away, it's a different car market now and even if you have to spend a few grand to get your V in top working order again, that's nothing in the scope of things. Would you rather have $1-3k a year in maintenance costs and no payment, or a $8k in payments so you can have a warranty? Easy decision from my pov

 

Mine had about 206k miles on it when I the cleaning. The stuff I’d read at the time didn’t actually mention cleaning the EGR or cooler. Now I feel stupid. I’ll have to do those soon. If I did it right, I’m including a before and after of where the EGR pipe connects to the intake manifold. Crazy what can build up in 200k.

 

The cooler is the real choke point and clogs completely in many cases.


Don't feel stupid. Dealer master mechanics and Toyota corp themselves do not advocate cleaning as a head gasket preventative measure or for anything else unless it codes. Which it will if the cooler is clogged. Even then a good engine will run fine. In fact the egr valve routinely shuts off flow at low speed engine operation and wide open throttle. The real issue is the gen3 engine design which was reengineered for gen4.

5k mile oil changes from day one when new or after a rebuild which includes updated pistons and rings is good advice.

Cleaning egr coolers diy is probably worth doing; paying a dealer $800 to $1000 preemptively may not be a good value on a high mile oem engine that is not burning oil.