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My JDM Engine Swap Begins

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Cheapjeep2, Apr 11, 2024.

  1. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    Afternoon,

    Some of you know I've had cooling issues and narrowed it down to a head gasket, after lots of research and checking locally, no one would touch it so I, like many, am going the JDM route.

    My JDM engine arrived today. I'll be sharing and posting pictures as I begin this. Not too worried about this as I have swapped Jeep engines, rebuilt transfer cases and done just about everything else. But wanted to start a thread for my own experience after reading several other JDM swap posts. It'll be a few weeks before I begin in earnest but thought I would share here.

    Current Prius is Gen 3 2010 with 240k miles on it.

    Here is my JDM engine...
     

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    Danno5060 likes this.
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    This will be nothing to you this is a drop in bam fasten the bolts and you're out of here It's that quick It's really not a lot to this I don't know how much plastic is already missing from your car and whatnot so there's always that but this will go very quickly in your driveway and a shop and your garage Georgia this time of year is a nice area to be outside in the driveway or even in the grass That's how I am here in South East USA myself wonderful time of year a few weeks from now you'll be wishing for this weather so I don't know if you're not starting an Ernst for a few weeks oh boy it'll be in the hundreds but still about a 1-day affair especially coming from straight six Jeeps and whatnot this will be like a breeze.
     
  3. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    Cheers, I appreciate it. It looks pretty straight forward. Here is a pic from several years ago with my Jeep.
     

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  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Oh for God's sakes you are good to go Just I guess making the time or whatever but you're in good shape got a good place to work all of that and you can take your time and sit in the chair and drink coffee and work.
     
  5. daley

    daley Junior Member

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    I wish mine had gone smoothly, still can’t get the thing running right.
     
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Where are you with yours what's happened Gen 4 Gen 3 to Gen 3
     
  7. daley

    daley Junior Member

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    I bought a gen 3 jdm from Charlotte NC, and I cannot get it to run.

    It will fire up but shakes/knocks horrendously.

    Engine looks great, I’ve had camera inside the cylinders, walls look great, piston tops look great, intake valves all cleaned.

    I put it all together with new plugs, and I;ve tried swapping all the sensors from my old engine which worked, I’ve cleaned egr and triple checked all the electrical and vacuum hoses, nothing seems to be out of place or disconnected but I cannot get it to run for love nor money.

    I have spark, I have fuel, it will run but misfiring and making noise.

    I am just about stumped as to what to do next.
     
  8. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Do you have a myriad of codes to go along with all the misfires and the nonsense going on We had a lot of this going on too and we found rusted coils and all that kind of crap We know our engine sat on the dock and it got wet with salt spray a few times things like that we can tell It looks great but you could just tell coils were rusted we changed them out for the ones that we had in the engine that messed up so all that stuff was good and fine We swapped all that over even the plugs weren't but a day or two old at 10 hours on it maybe and that straighten most everything out as far as the missing in the rough running then we had the electrical problem with the battery and once that was sorted thing ran like gangbusters for 90 or 120 days and then boom back to the rattling
     
  9. daley

    daley Junior Member

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    Yes I changed over almost everything from my old engine, still no dice and I’m getting lost as to where to look next, I guess Ill go over all the wiring harness and connections again.

    Do you know how far the throttle body should be opening? Im only seeing it move a very small fraction. I’ve tried two of them and both move the same.
     
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    We could not get the JDM throttle body to work at all I couldn't get it mixed up because it's the only one that won't work My 13 persona was in really good shape every part on the car was nice been well taken care of It just internal combustion temperature went up due to EGR clogging I guess and took out the head gasket or however all that works It's not a very nice system I do know that The two z z engine non Atkinson in Corollas does very well better than some of the other engines actually.
     
  11. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Valve timing is critical You can see the bottom mark with the front seal removed behind the pulley and the valve cover off of course You can see the marks up top I think every 9 times they line back up.
     
  12. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    The question is Daley’s engine really an unmolested JDM engine that has never had its timing cover off or is it a US salvage engine with issues? Given your experience and a few others the integrity of some JDM sellers might be less than ideal.
     
  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    There is always that risk that is a fact but generally the real JDM importers have some skin in the game and generally won't screw you over like this now these big sellers on the marketplace that claim all of this and that well they're buying from people like the real JDM suppliers and then doing I'm not sure what but whatever they can to turn a buck and that can get ugly really quickly actually. So I try to buy from the guys that are players in this game for a while and are still in business they own these little you know what places as our president called them one whole place is all across the country but that's what they do.
     
  14. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    So I got started in earnest today, everything is ready to come out except removing the motor mount, all the tranny bolts are loose but holy geez the top tranny bolt under the EGR cooler is a big pain to get to, almost no way to get torque it, but after laying on top of the engine and trying every combination of wrench I had I got it.

    Any issues with the surface of the clutch being a bit rusty?

    Also, anyone know what size Fuel Disconnect tool I need? LIke all JDMs they just cut the fuel line.
    Edit: looks like i need the Lisle 39210 disconnect tool
     

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    #14 Cheapjeep2, Apr 22, 2024
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2024
  15. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I don't know what size the fuel disconnect tool is but I have a whole rack of the Lisle branded quick disconnect tools minor colored plastic I also have some older metal ones that are quite old and there's a size that does the evap and the fuel lines on the Toyota's I do believe
     
  16. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    Got the old one out and the new one back in, it was a total hassle to get it aligned back up and get in. The front of the car is on ramps, I had to end up jacking the back of the car up to level things out to align everything. Probably another day or two of wrenching. unnamed (2).jpg unnamed (4).jpg
     
    Mendel Leisk, C-in-DC and ASRDogman like this.
  17. C-in-DC

    C-in-DC Member

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    If you got a laser level and a small ratchet strap it’s easy to align.
     
  18. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You mean aligning the engine and transmission so you can put the bolts in well I didn't know it was that bad I don't know it needs it might be easier to undo the strut tops and pick the chassis up and push it back and work everything while it's sitting on the subframe just a thought I haven't had to do this My buddy changed the one in my persona It only took him about 4 hours and he's in a makeshift shop out in the country.
     
  19. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    Yea not that easy, laser level and ratchet strap may have worked but still the difference the line-up the pins to seat into the tranny was a big too far to get the shift. Any way it worked in the end.

    Tombutkt2 - yea, no lift here but working on it about 4 hours a day as I am able, should be wrapped up shortly
     
  20. Cheapjeep2

    Cheapjeep2 New Member

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    All Done, and running smooth. Fired right up, purged the cooling system of air and took for a test drive around the block and let it set in maintenance mode for an hour, all systems seem good. Waiting for one connector to come tomorrow for a cooling hose and then I test drive on the freeway!. WOOT Thanks all