Longtime lurker, second-time poster. Original owner of a 2014 Prius v (Three). Recently, I started experiencing misfiring. When it first happened last fall, I took it to a local repair shop. They diagnosed a problem with the spark plugs and replaced them. Problem solved. It started happening again in late January—the dreaded cold-start rattle (but I didn't know what it meant at the time). The check engine light came on, then went out two days later. After a couple days of the check engine light being off (and a 550 mile road trip), the check engine light came back on. Took it back to the shop. This time, it was a blown head gasket. They wanted over $4000 for the repair. I asked them to look into replacing the engine—over $7000. Time to sell the car, I thought. Some sleuthing here taught me just what I was looking at. As many people know, the Gen3 engine in the 2014 Prius v is prone to blowing the head gasket at around 150k miles; mine was at 147k miles. Sleuthed some more on YouTube, where I discovered a Gasket Masters video on blown head gaskets. Lucky me, I live relatively close to one of Gasket Masters' shops. I took the car in, and five hours later, paid $2150 for the head gasket replacement. The work comes with a one-year, unlimited mileage warranty. I'm glad I didn't have to dump the car—new cars are expensive! Since I replaced the hybrid battery recently (under warranty), this car should be road-worthy for at least a few more years. Or should I be expecting another problem to pop up in the near future?
Misdiagnosed? To improve the odds, clean the EGR system, including intake manifold. Repeat every 50k miles. more info in my signature. On a phone turn it landscape to see signature.
Brake booster for $2500 is a frequent high mile repair along with excessive oil burning due to poorly designed rings.
Clean the EGR system right away. DIY is by far the most effective method. There are a few shops* around the States that'll do this properly, for a decent price (say $600~800), but they are few and far between. And Toyota doesn't care, is hoping the issue will blow over. I see a tiresome parade here, 3rd gen Prius (and Prius v), with blown head gaskets and carbon-clogged EGR's. There's also been one instance reported, where head gasket was replaced, EGR left untouched, and 20K later another blown head gasket occured. * Maybe just 2 competent EGR cleaning shops, one in Florida, the other in LA. The latter might be worth your while: Maybe check this thread, but I don't think much has changed: Professional EGR Cleaning Resources | PriusChat
Incredibly helpful comment, as always! I am not a DIY guy, but I really appreciate the suggestion about HybridPit. I'll call them and figure out a time to go to LA and back. Not my favorite kind of road trip, but doable. I might let my local dealership clean the intake manifold if I can't swing a trip to the HybridPit in the immediate future.
Often reported here: dealerships won’t stoop to cleaning, just replace. Which is kind of crazy; cleaning the intake manifold is not hard. The removal/install as well is quite straightforward. They “might” swap in a precleaned salvage IM if you can find/clean one. the intake manifold cleaning is a relatively easy DIY.
It’s all about time and labor. Dealerships are on a tight schedule so cleaning the EGR system including the intake is very time consuming and profitability is the number one priority. iPhone ?
