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Cracked open our 2015 today (lots of pics)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Andy Pants, Mar 14, 2024.

  1. Andy Pants

    Andy Pants New Member

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    A little background: my wife just got a new Rav4 hybrid so I took her 2015 Prius Four with 173k miles. Up until now it has been dealer maintained, oil changes @ 10k, both coolant flushes done once, spark plugs @ 120k. Other than that nothing has been replaced or cleaned up until now. The car has never been out of eco mode and pretty much all highway miles.
    I came to this forum because we had the engine misfire about 4-5 times intermittently in the morning over the last 6-8 months and I wanted to find out what was wrong.
    After finding out about the head gasket issues the first thing I did was get the spark plugs out, pressurize the coolant and get a borescope down each cylinder. Luckily the head gasket is fine for now, no leaks and cylinders look great! That was a huge relief!
    Next I took the intake off and the inside was coated with oil, with a small puddle under the throttle body. I didn't think it looked too bad compared to some of the pictures and descriptions I've seen online. The intake ports were also relatively clean. Egr tube had some deposits but wasn't close to blocked. The egr valve and cooler looked gross though. I didn't get the cooler out quite yet, hopefully tomorrow. I will also be swapping out the waterpump and t-stat and changing the coolant, cvt fluid and oil.
    I feel like I got pretty lucky with none of this being done before and the head gasket being ok. Maybe a testament to the updated pistons and rings on the 2015? I attached pictures to see what everyone thinks.
    I also wanted to say thank you to everyone on these forums! Without all this great info I probably would have just kept driving it until the head gasket or waterpump blew. I will post more once I get more done.
    20240313_185754.jpg 20240313_185721.jpg 20240313_185628.jpg 20240313_185621.jpg 20240313_185616.jpg 20240313_185605.jpg 20240313_185851.jpg 20240313_222631.jpg 20240313_222720.jpg
     
  2. Khezekiah

    Khezekiah New Member

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    While you have the intake off, it is easy and inexpensive to replace the PCV valve.
    You could consider an oil catch can to help stop a lot of that oil from getting to your intake.
    I had great results cleaning my egr cooler with oven cleaner, suggested by @ASRDogman
     
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  3. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    All those valves look clean! Mine where nasty!
    With all the highway driving it will likely be a long time before head gasket time.
    I went 301,000 miles before mine went. 85% of my driving is highway mileage.

    Usually the knocking in the mornings is from it being hot when you park and it's cooler outside
    so you get the condensation. I got it 2 days in a row, but my coolant level is just below where
    I set it. I knew it would go down slightly after driving it some but it's leveled off and has been steady.

    Like Khezekiah said, change the pcv valve, it's $10, and get a Toyota one. And replace all the gaskets!
    It's really not worth the risk of using the old ones and have a possible leak. All together they are about
    $20-30.
     
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  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    +1 - although I was chastised for mentioning the oven cleaner instead of something like Simple Green.
    YMMV

    Consider lowering your OCI to 5K, and ++ on the Oil Catch Can.
     
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  5. Andy Pants

    Andy Pants New Member

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    I did change the pcv valve and all the gaskets as well right away! That Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner worked amazing, didn't even need to pressure wash it to get it squeaky clean.

    Another thing that surprised me was the original waterpump looked flawless, still replaced it though since I took it out. I changed the cvt fluid as well and the old fluid was totally black, so that was well overdue for sure!

    I will definitely be doing 5k oil changes from now on, as well as all the other maintenance recommended in this forum, I would love to see how many more miles and years we can get out of the old girl! I plan on adding an oil catch can soon as well, always had them on my forced induction vehicles but never knew they were relevant for the Prius.
     
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  6. Georgina Rudkus

    Georgina Rudkus Senior Member

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    Don't forget changing the ICE coolant. There is some who believe that degraded coolant affects the rubber in the head gasket adversely.
     
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  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    It's tricky getting usable pictures of the EGR cooler interior;you need to override auto exposure. Anyway tried bumping it up; looks to have been quite occluded, for significant time. That would mean restricted flow, and cooling ability.

    image.jpeg

    Doesn't hurt to be optimistic about the head gasket, but I wouldn't start the party just yet: research sources for the gasket kit, head bolts and the double-hex driver. Some info in my signature (on a phone turn it landscape to see signatures). Check the engine coolant reservoir level frequently, too.
     
    #7 Mendel Leisk, Mar 16, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2024
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  8. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    DANG!
    If you can get this car from getting Wisconsin-winter skin and bone cancer, you might have a half million mile car!!

    The only thing I didn't see is where you bore-scoped the cylinders. ;)
    The one advantage to the car being "dealer maintained" is that they likely used OEM plugs if you had them changed on schedule - which means (I think) you're good to 240 for those.
     
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  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Have you opened the valve to check for a rut through the rotor-stop "ski jump"? You want no sign of a rut.

    This one shows the start of a rut:

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Andy Pants

    Andy Pants New Member

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    @Mendel Leisk I haven't started to party but I am relieved that it didn't need to be replaced immediately. It is something I am planning for though and already got the double hex bit for it.

    @ChapmanF I actually just replaced the egr valve with a new oem one so didn't bother inspecting the old one closely, but that is very good info for the future!

    @ETC(SS) As of right now it actually looks really good underneath with minimal rust for wisconsin standards. This summer I think I'm going to apply something like that rust bonding paint to any steel underneath. Im hoping we can at least double the miles on it.

    @Georgina Rudkus I replaced both the ICE coolant and the inverter coolant right away since I had it all apart and on the lift.
     
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  11. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Before you spray it on, make sure you clean off all the dirt and grim.
    Or you'll be inviting rust...

    As of right now it actually looks really good underneath with minimal rust for wisconsin standards. This summer I think I'm going to apply something like that rust bonding paint to any steel underneath. Im hoping we can at least double the miles on it.
     
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  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    A couple of times I’ve “addressed” the underside of our ‘10. One weekend I’ll raise one end; another weekend the other, break it up. The rear seems most rust-prone, due to kicked up road salt I think. I’ll raise and safety-stand one end, take off wheels, leaf-blow and brush any grit or loose rust. Remove some of the plastic “protection” panels. Then I applied boiled linseed oil, with foam brushes, rags, tooth brushes. Any bolts/screws removed I’ll soak with oil before reinstalling.

    Prius rust what’s your experience ? | PriusChat
     
    #12 Mendel Leisk, Mar 17, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2024
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  13. Andy Pants

    Andy Pants New Member

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    @ASRDogman @Mendel Leisk As always thank you for the tips! I've never heard of using linseed oil before so I will definitely be looking into that!
     
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