I just bought a 2011 Prius with a hole in the block and am looking for an engine to replace it with. I'm highly considering a 4th gen swap, but am unsure what year range I need to look for. From my understanding, 4th gen refers to 2016-2021 Prii, but information I've seen on here suggests that I should look for a 2016-2017 engine for my 3rd gen. Can someone please clarify for me what year engine I should be looking for? Thanks in advance.
Make friends with this dude who's near you: https://www.instagram.com/skimmilkhybrid/ He's realizing that JDM used engines have quality control issues. So buy one from a local wrecker or hire him to build you one of his custom engines which is a Gen3 rebuild with Gen 4 cams, pistons and connecting rods...
Reevaluate your situation very carefully again If you're a computer person a spreadsheet guy and number crunch or and all that well you may find out that this is a game you do not want to play look at your car carefully look at other cars online similar to yours used similar to yours and look carefully if there's some in your area take a look like I say if you don't have some money that you can afford to lose this may not be a thing for you in any sort of way I'm looking at the location and all of that when I say this I mean if this is something that you really want to do because you do then not much anybody's going to say can help I've only been bitten by this once and once it will only be I've been with Toyota for 47 years of driving You only get one chance to burn me only one Chevrolet or General motors has never been able to get me because I've never driven their mess The generation 3 was my fault My mistake Toyota has never done me any wrong and I didn't do my due diligence I allowed girl power it's 5 minutes of fame and that's what it brought to me. My girlfriend really wanted this persona I told her it looked like something that was made to be thrown out yesterday but I like it it's so cute and it's black cherry colored and well the rest is history and in the trash it is not worth my personal time and personally I don't see this is a viable car this is like a throwaway thing to me That's a personal issue Just be careful hopefully you have a bicycle a scooter another car etc and this is just something to play with this is serious dependable transportation that you need to survive well you're barking up the wrong tree almost for sure.
Thanks for the contact. I'll look him up and see what advice he might have. I'm a DIY guy, so unless he's insanely cheap, I won't have anyone else do the work for me. I've actually used JDM before, with good success. But JDM or not, it would still be helpful to know what years of Gen 4 are appropriate for a swap into a Gen 3. Thanks for the reply, but I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you suggesting I stay away from Gen 3? Are you warning me against JDM? Are you telling me I should reconsider trying to get a $500 Prius on the road after an engine failure?
If you've only got $500 in it you can afford to spend $2,500 and piss around easily You won't lose anything If the cars are reasonable shape you could make out pretty well can't see it from here but a lot of these things have lots of problems. JDM is not a problem I've been buying JDM since ATK in the '80s yeah I know. So I've been putting in engines that didn't come in American Toyotas for a long time and had a great time messing with all that stuff generation 3 for us was unhappy experience and that was that I hope it's much better for you.
They will all bolt up It's a 2Z FXE regardless there's a few hose routing changes things like that but none of the generation 4s are the same as the threes the EGR passageways have changed gotten smaller I think etc and so on but they'll all bolt up to the transmission and drop in the car no question about it so that's not going to really affect the year model so much some of the other engines had coolant take offs that aren't used or not needed in the generation 3 You can read about how some people have gotten around this now others have suggested to get around it and so on pick your poison methodology and roll with it see what happens.
Consider getting a third Gen short block. Brand new from Toyota they’re under two grand USD. They will have the updated pistons and rings, sim to Gen 4. And be 100% compatible, whereas with a Gen 4 engine you will be doing a lot of “adjustments”. Gen 4 salvage engines have pros and cons. There’s been subsequent overheat reports, for one.
