2011 Prius Head Gasket Failure

I think the 5 post delay is to post links, pictures, and maybe your posts are delayed, until moderator reviews?

 

Right, there's a delay for a new member's first five posts so a moderator can confirm they're not spam.

The most confusion it causes is right after the first post gets approved; it's usually some "please help me with X" post, and then a bunch of people reply with questions, and the poor OP is answering the questions, but nobody sees the answers until the moderator approves the additional posts.

 

No EGR gas is flowing whatsoever through these ports prior to cleaning on car w 225k. Other car has used engine w unk miles and was pretty clean. Going to do another one later this week. Wonder what I will find?

 

what guarantee the replacement motor doesnt have a head gasket problem?

 

Most of your pics are meaningless, except for that view down the intake manifold ports.
Are you saying if you try to flow air into the EGR valve port nothing flows from the small egr ports at the ports that meet the head?

 

@douglasjre: With EGR cooler orifice pics, you need to either get a point light source shining right in, or somehow override the camera's auto-exposure, which is providing a very balanced exposure, of the shiny metal exterior.

 

EGR ports 2 and 3 were clogged shut on this example

 

If I had to do a hg job on a 190k car and intend to keep the car I'd recommend short blocking it

 

Just had the HG on my 2011 replaced at 192K. Happened very suddenly, no issues and then one morning at a stoplight I started getting multiple cylinder misfires and the engine started trying to vibrate out of its mount. Got it back home, coolant was low for the first time in years and decided to get it towed straight to gasket masters having been familiar with the defect. To add insult to injury I had cleaned out the EGR circuit about three years ago and installed an oil catch can, but that didn't seem to help. It did get a little colder in my area than normal the day it happened, I wonder if the block contracted a bit and allowed some coolant to seep into the gasket and steam it apart, just a hunch. $2500 + tax, new head gasket, new spark plugs, new pcv, cleaned EGR circuit, cleaned throttle body, new coolant and oil + 1 year warranty. Seems good as new so far, with the cost I'll need to drive it for another year or two for it to make sense.

 

What was the miles when you did that cleaning? Intake manifold EGR passages cleaned as well?

 

Cleaned it all up at 155,000. Everything was spitshined including the manifold passages, throttle body, sensors, I spent a solid day on the EGR cooler w/ a power washer until it ran clear. I errored on the side of overcleaning because I didn't want to ever have to do it again over the life of the Prius. It was much easier for me to spend time cleaning than trying to get the rear EGR bolts off and on. I think that the factory head gasket is just faulty and maybe you can help it a bit with a clean EGR/manifold but it's just a time bomb due to the insufficient coating and tight proximity to the coolant passages. Interestingly, before the multi-cylinder misfire it was only throwing a code for cylinder 3 so I think that's where the seepage began and it just expanded the entire head from there. I should also note that this engine has never burned oil either so I don't think the piston rings had anything to do with it. Perhaps the EGR/manifold cleaning is more important for the oil burning issue since it seems like it is very important to keep the rings clean.

In any case I removed the OCC.

 

Hey Mendal, do you have a link to the full manual somewhere? Thanks for all posts and info! I've been reading for a week and gathering pieces.

Do you recall the part number for the gasket kit and the head bolts? Did your gasket kit come with the oil filter and water pump gaskets? I've called three dealerships near me and each one has given me different parts numbers and costs for the head bolts from $3.50 to $11. Lol... I think I need 4111-37316 for the gasket kit and 90910-a2011 for the head bolts. Digging around to verify before I put an order in this weekend.

 

Last link in my signature is the full engine section. That'll likely do for your head gasket. (on a phone turn it landscape to see signatures)

Attached TSB has gasket kit and head bolt part no's. Revised pistons/rings p/n's as well, if you get into that. IIRC water pump comes with new gasket.

 

Do we have people here who can attest to successfully avoiding head gasket failure by changing coolant and cleaning the EGR passages? Perhaps you can tell us how many miles you've gone now with your original head gasket? And tell us how you think you've hung on for so long? Maybe you're not a person who hr
Heat Cycles the engine or some variation like that?

 

@ASRDogman ?

 

His failed. Thermal cycles are inherent in this design but are worse in city driving with the ac on.

 

At about 330k miles. I’ve asked a few times when he did the first EGR cleaning but he hasn’t disclosed.

 

And it still burns oil and will need a complete rebuild or engine if he keeps it much longer. In reality an engine earlier to solve the oil burning would have prevented the unscheduled head gasket repair.