fix you a head gasket

3rd gen Prius

Check engine light saying piston 3 misfire

Whenever it is cold, it will jerk the engine bay with the misfire, it sporadically comes on and off

has been driven with this issue for 20k miles

Will eat about a quart of oil per month

you open the injector to clean it, and you see oil in that chamber

Is this 100% a blown head gasket?

Suspicion: head gasket is blown and oil is leaking into that chamber

242k mile, has overheated once and completely shut off due to failed water pump at about 170k miles

the part you are fixing to order:



Part number: 11115-37062

This part number only include the head gasket

There is another kit for about $200 that has many extras,

Should you get just head gasket for $58 or get the whole kit for $200?

The job is scheduled for the next 1-3 weeks depending on timing since you are using the car daily

go now look for the part number for that kit and see which way your fixing to go

OEM Toyota 2010 - 2015 Prius Cylinder Head Gasket Set 04112-37254 Genuine NEW | eBay

kit from Japan 210 dollar

part number: 04112-37254

get just the gasket or the whole kit?

The only part of the install you are concerned while watching YouTube clip:

you have to take off the camshaft/timing chain/tensioner to do this task

You saw how they mark their timing at 2 o clock, but you'll be documenting it for this thread once you do the task in couple week

Goal: get all the detail figure out, then do the surgery in one shot so the car is not down for too long

update: it could not be the head gasket

Read some of this forum and mendel signature, also watched this video:

in this video, they talk about symptoms exactly I am having

They talk about EGR valve and PCV port problems, they get clogged and oil somehow get into the intake

I still do not understand the point of EGR valve and th PCV valve, read up on them and comprehend them

the issues that indicate it is not head gasket:

When you go full throttle, no shaking/misfire, but

when you drive flow of traffic, there is shaking

In the video, he discuss this being a symptom of bad egr/pcv valves

Why does it have the EGR valve? In the video, he puts a spatula blocking the whole system, and the car works fine

New plan: first clean the EGR valve and the pcv valves, then see if that help

Can we go without these systems? What is the point of them?

Try to research these two questions in the meantime while data is coming in

update: now you understand why our engine is eating its oil, unbelievable

in this clip, you get your exact answer as to how the prius engine can eat its own oil if EGR valve clogged

if throttle is at 0, and your egr valve is clogged, now the engine is starving for air

the vacuum will pull oil from the PCV valve from the bottom of engine into the intake manifold

wow

yes, now that new data come in, adjust your plan:

Clean you out that EGR system and that should solve your engine eating its oil

 

you've had enough of the misfire/shaking

fix it already, today is the day



you point: this is the valve that get clogged and suffocate your japanese engine

open everything up, let your engine breath so you can glide across your realm



take you out whatever in your way



up close of inside egr valve, filled with carbon



ton of accumulation on your egr pipe

maybe dissassemble the whole valve, go tinker with it



i show you what you fixing to do

this plastic manifold is filled with sut/carbon since,

your engine has been breathing exhaust gas for a quarter million mile, and

tons and tons of idling where only exhaust is going into your engine

keep dissassembling, take you out more harnesses, take you out your intake manifold



look inside your intake manifold, filled with gunk



trying to take out the plastic manifold, started taking off lines,

one of them filled with coolant, splash coolant into your eyes

suspicion: there is a coolant line going to the intake manifold that maybe cool down the exhaust coming back into your engine

plan: get you some files and part cleaner, go you into your engine cleaning out the gunk breaking it down with part cleaner, hit everything with compress air

plastic manifold complex: leave it as it is, clean it using the same protocol outlined



clean you out your intake with:

use paint brush to apply generous part cleaner, go in there with your file, hit the entire area with compress air

tried to put it back together, put back the harnesses to see if she would run,

no, "check hybrid system", tinker with it more tomorrow

you ponder: if all the harnesses are connected, and the pipe that puts exhaust back into your intake is not connected, does the car know not to run?

pretty sure you had all the harnesses connected but the computer would not let the engine turn on

This setup is fundamentally flawed, you wonder if the old Prius has a simpler setup

do not touch this engine bay without gloves, it seem like they make so much sharp plastic all over the place just to intentionally not let you fix it

This job so far is making you not like this generation prius, and want to look into older prius to see their design

 

Make sure all harness proper, see if you can run car without egr pipe



make sure all harness plug in fully, try to run the engine without egr pipe, if it dont run,

clean out your egr pipe and maybe take off the whole egr housing and clean that

then put it all back together and see if engine will run

how does it know if the egr pipe is install or not?



show you what you did:

put your egr pipe into a pool of part cleaner, then run you a metal pipe cleaner and rid you of all the carbon, hit with compress air



your egr pipe is ready to go another quarter million



then your egr housing was FILL with carbon, get you pipe cleaner, douse the area with paint brush part cleaner, hit you that area hard with compress air non stop



put back your new egr pipe, the bolts to get this in are so tight,

your hand would be pulverize if you dont have on glove

with it half put back together but all harness plug in,

your japanese engine roar to life with ZERO shake,

purring just like it come out the japanese factory

wow



then engine shut off because all these random code

woah: your japanese robotic hybrid is way smarter than you think, it know when its egr pipe is install even if all the harness plug in

unbelieveable, go now rig everything back up proper, erase the code somehow with your chinese gadget,

then see if you can get it to drive and not have engine fault

while you go back and reassemble your japanese robot complex, ask you

please someone show us how to get around the egr pipe for experimental purpose,

how can we tell the computer not to care about the egr and just run the engine?

update: it will turn the engine on, the engine purr properly, then it shut engine off after 20 second

the possible culprit code:

U0100, lost connection with ecm pcm A

look you through that internet, figure out what their talking about

woah, those flimsy sharp harness, if one of them get loose, you could be stranded who knows where having to deal with this, and

it makes servicing the car harder, leading to the thought,

there has to be a way to simply rig your overcomplicated japanese robot,

to override its ability to shut down your properly functioning engine,

go now search about that code on the internet,

hopefully someone spill the sauce on how to overide the system to use the car

woah, check out what you come across on that internet

he put a paper clip in the 4th top, and 5th bottom of your OBD port, then

he go into the fuse box and take out your big white wire, then

he hit the brake 10 time,

and all the code are gone

is this a troll or for real?



woah, look you through the comment on that video, everyone of them is:

"I was stranded on the hwy and you saved me, bless you and your family"

from every angle of the world, this little trick saving tons of people

articulate what he does:

There are different thing he is doing, the paperclip and the removal of white wire in the fusebox

paperclip: that might have something to do with resetting ABS fault

white wire removal: you are resetting your hybrid system to check all its pathway are proper

hopefully, the white wire trick should work to get your prius at least able to be used

notice you last time you try to run your engine:

after it shut off from the warning, you walk back to your hood, and you hear clicking of relay in your fuse box following a certain pattern, almost like a song

please y'all comment on what is happening:

where does that white wire go and why does it work for all those people?

What exactly is happening when you put a paperclip in those 2 obd port?

you do need to use the car so hopefully you get it work out

also for the help of million of people to keep their Prius running,

discuss we the way of how these system work, and experiment I and show picture until fix