Head Gasket Advice

Picture of the car Is the car in poor conditions? Has the ABS pump accumulator main part been dealt with over $1,000? So you're at just the head gasket you've never done anything to the brakes like the accumulator pump the big part not pads and rotors? So then you're at the very beginning of the expensive things that go on this model. I have two of these my 13 persona rather than spend money on shops and mechanics labor time doing things I bought a Japan domestic market engine for about $1,200 14 ship to my door while I was at it I also got the same mileage same company transmission so I would have a low mileage transmission and engine to bolt together dropping my car which had about 200 plus thousand miles on it that all cost in one shot. Engine transmission installed in the car plus fluids etc was right around $2,180 now if you can rebuild your head gasket rebuild your engine and all that for around that price then go for it but the open deck design of the 2ZZ engine is not one that I would want to be spending money on machine work and the local mechanic work in my area as that stuff is very costly putting an engine from another market in my car where they know what they're doing generally they don't tear up things in the Asian market like we do here until it's time to here it's very hard to find qualified people to do the work correctly and then when you do it is very expensive here in the West things to keep in mind. So as you see by looking on this list people are paying $8,000 and things like this for engines in 2010 to 2015 Prius completely ridiculous That's another whole car without the problems from almost any maker depending upon how new you want .

 

Do the head gasket.

Plugs and coils is a waste of time and money. EGR and intake manifold cleaning is good, but about 100k too late. How’d it look btw?

some info in my signature; on a phone turn it landscape to see signature.

 

I didn't see "Time Machine" or 'rectractive oil changes/checks' in the poll menu, so I didn't vote.

First of all, I'd quantify "Not Worth Much" before proceeding.
My company (Big Bell) went through a hybrid dalliance in the 2010's and both of my usta-cars (2010's G3s) are still in service with their original head gaskets.
You've been keeping up with current events, right?
I'm sure you're already looped in on the fact that used cars are not worth 'not much.'

You also have a nearly No-Lose situation:
A 15-year-old who is technical, clever and a budding gearhead who wants access to a near 15-year old car a year from now, and a demonstrated ability to perform basic maintenance.
You might even have the place to do the work and the kid certainly has the time.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

SO.....
Let the kid tackle the head gasket replacement OR sell the car, priced accordingly and with full disclosures - maybe even on this forum and put THAT money aside on another project car.

Either way, DO NOT drive the car until it's repaired!
Water does NOT compress very much!
TRUST ME!!!!
The 'SS' in my handle designates me as a submariner, and some people from a company in the PNW just did the theory-to-practice on that.

There's only one way to fix the problem with your G3, and you're most of the way there already.
You fixed the CAUSE of the head gasket failure, now all you have to do is replace the gasket itself!
There are extensive Yoo-Tube videos on HG replacements in addition to the EGR and TB cleaning that you've already done together.

You're tee'd up perfectly for a guaranteed shot at instilling in your 15-year-old clever budding gearhead some ownership in the car ownership experience.

Frankly I do not see much of a downside here.

 

Number 4 for sure... The knowledge and experience your kid will gain is way more important than how you manage your family's fleet. Especially because if he gets good at this stuff he can manage the fleet for you and save you big money over time. Of course the kid has to watch lots of videos and learn this stuff thoroughly and still be interested otherwise you risk having a car that got taken apart but never put back together.

 

I agree, do the HG and let the kid do it (even if it gets screwed up, and you have to do a do over, the experience will be more than worth it).

Regarding the EGR cleaning: check out what The Car Care Nut has to say about that (YouTube). You might benefit greatly from his advice.

 

He doesn’t clean anything, and recommends parts replacement only??

 

His reasons are interesting. FWTW

 

No…after all this you can task him to change the headgasket on your other Prius because that is what you’ll need.

A headgasket job isnt super duper expensive…unless you do what I did and change everything out while the car is dissected. But a proper headgasket job clears your car for another 100k miles of driving, please let your kid do it. Once he changes the headgasket he’ll be the car’s master.

 

My 2¢:

Also show the 15 year old gearhead the actual repair manual

Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat

and how to tell that apart from all the advice on youtube etc.

 

Hell yeah!!

 

As the kids say these days... POGGERS!

 

That's Great! I hope it is all working properly and will so for 2-300,000 miles!!!