Hello all, longtime reader, first-time poster. I have a 2011 Prius with 156k miles facing some potentially heavy repairs. I've listed them all, with complete service history below. For those of you who've seen a lot of these, I'm seeking advice whether to repair or invest in a newer prius / older Toyota (I don't have much $ to spare right now). I can probably do brakes and suspension myself, but I'm not sure whether it's worth stacking a bunch more miles on this car or if I'm just going to keep having problems. I know 2011 isn't the best year. Thanks so much for your advice! Upcoming Repairs: Brake Booster / Actuator (seems to be gradually failing since 150k, but unsure) Front Suspension (totally shot) Full Brake replacement EGR valve seems to needs cleaning Hybrid Battery getting lower.. Also need new tires... Complete service history (w/ regular oil and tire rotations): 150k - cat converter replaced 11/23 - new 12v 141k - sway bar links 130k - new head gasket, spark plugs, egr cooler 103k - wheel hub, bearing, passenger 100k - spark plugs 90k - hybrid inverter (under warranty) 68k - purchased at 15.1k 7/4
Cat changed 6k miles ago… is the engine an oil burner? What does the body, paint and interior look like?
Honestly , I’m being a bit dramatic. It was around 50% the last time I checked Dr Prius. Just thinking long term I guess.
I get oil changed every 5-6k and the engine oil issue has never been raised with me. I know it’s common on some of these. Cat was stolen that’s why it was replaced.
Unless it is actually setting a code, your drive battery is likely good for another 100k miles. Another question for you, why do you think your EGR needs to be cleaned? Have you or your mechanic seen any indication that the EGR is clogged?
Also why do you think the brake booster is failing? What does "suspension shot" mean? What do you mean by full brake replacement? To answer your question much more details are needed. As far as a financial decision you'd also need to include details about how much you drive, how much you might spend on a new car, mpg of said car, how do you use your car, etc. I'm not saying you have to answer those here, but you need to factor them in. With a head gasket already having been done it's definitely in contention for being a keeper especially if you have DIY ability. My HV battery was rated 50% by Dr. Prius 6 years ago. Pure conjecture by me, but I'd think there's more cars making it to 250k+ with the original HV battery than with the original brake booster system or head gasket.
You need 5 posts before you are realtime around here. Plus if you use iOS you need to refresh at least once everytime you do anything including looking for alerts, edits or recent activity. Otherwise the system here does not update even after hours.
New EGR cooler at 130k though. In my limited experience the EGR valve itself doesn't typically get clogged. It might be worth checking the EGR runners on the intake, but it's still worth asking "why?". There's a decent chance they were cleaned when doing the head gasket.
My engine shook quite a bit the other day upon a cold start. Only had that happen before the head gasket blew. It's been fine since, but made me wonder if the EGR needs cleaning.
Cold start shakes are only associated with the EGR in that people think that the clogged EGR is the cause of the blown head gasket, which is the cause of the shakes. There's other scenarios that cause the cold start shakes as well. I personally wouldn't put too much stake in that diagnosis. What about the other stuff?
I suspect the shakes are near-invariably due to some sorta liquid in the combustion chamber, either drawn in through the PCV and/or EGR feeds, or coolant getting past the head gasket. The former seemed to be a consequence of just running the engine a few seconds, the day previous.
