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Engine Failure

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by plotter59, Jul 23, 2009.

  1. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    Purchased a 2008 at a auto salvage auction and with damaged to the front. Prius started after charging battery and I had only ran it briefly so I could load it on a car tote, it ran great. After rebuilding the front end with everything needed ahead of the engine including radiator and condensor I proceded to fill with coolant with bleeder valve open on top of radiator. after filling with coolant started the engine and continued to fill with coolant. Once filled and the engine started to run very rough then it would begin to smooth out. A few days later after a return from vacation thought it was time to test drive and drove for about one mile, the engine began to run rough and the exhaust is blowing an enormus amount of white smoke. Took my prius to dealership and codes that came up were: P0300, P0304, P1118 and P1150. Toyota dealer said cracked head or block which they claim I could have done myself by filling coolant without scan tool. my understanding is that some of the codes will show up after a collision regardless of engine damage. Also forgot to mention that pressure in radiator increases rapidly after engine has run for short time. I have torn the engine down and taken the head off and cant see any cracks but there is some carbon build up on the top of 3 & 4 cylinder. I spoke with someone that has torn down 130 wrecked prius and rebuilt several and never had this happen. My next option is to move on and replace the engine with a used one but my concern is did this happen by someone driving the vehicle after it was wrecked for a long period of time without coolant or did I do something wrong to create this mess and maybe it will happen again with the next engine. Sorry about the long thread but in desperate need of help.
     
    #1 plotter59, Jul 23, 2009
  2. bestmapman

    bestmapman 04, 07 ,08, 09, 10, 16, 21 Prime

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    You may want to contact Steve Woodruff at autobeyours.com . He charges for parts and instructions, but he is the most knowledgable person on the Prius I know.
     
    #2 bestmapman, Jul 23, 2009
  3. brick

    brick Active Member

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    You don't have to have a crack for those symptoms. A warped head is a much more likely consequence of overheating, and nearly impossible to eyeball. Get a GOOD straight edge and lay it across mating surface. If there is a gap in the middle, even a very small one, you probably found the problem. If that's the case you have two options. One, if the warpage is very slight (as defined by Toyota) you can have a machine shop mill the surface flat. Advantage: not too expensive. Disadvantage: milling the head increases compression, so only a very small reduction can be tolerated. Option 2 is replace the head. A good low-mileage used part would be my choice.
     
    #3 brick, Jul 23, 2009
  4. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    I have emailed and spoke to Steve, and he also had a hard time beliving the engine was damaged.
     
    #4 plotter59, Jul 23, 2009
  5. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    I did check with straight edge and looks good but maybe it is so slight or could it be coming from a valve guide. Also can this be a manifold problem? I also thought the hoses were switched but the only hoses removed were the heat tank and radiator hoses and I cant see how they can be switched due to size and shape all looks good. Where can a person find a diagram that shows hose routing. I have a serve manual but a 3 year made the drawings. Thank You!
     
    #5 plotter59, Jul 23, 2009
  6. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    DTC P1118 and P1150 relate to the engine coolant heat recovery system. Did the canister or pump (located next to the driver's side front fender) suffer damage and if so did you repair this?

    DTC P0300 and P0304 show a random misfire and misfire for cyl. 4. If you see white smoke that is good evidence that coolant is leaking into a combustion chamber. If you only drove one mile then I doubt that your engine coolant change technique was responsible for the overheating problem.

    Regarding the coolant heat recovery system, even dealer service techs have been known to incorrectly hook up the hoses, so that area would bear close examination. If you don't have the Toyota repair docs I suggest you download them at techinfo.toyota.com which is a subscription website; and also refer to autoshop101.com for tech training info. The latter site is free of charge and will provide you with some theory of ops.

    It seems reasonable to replace the engine with a salvage one. Depending upon your odometer reading you may also want to replace the transaxle while you are at it since the labor effort will be the same and the cost of the salvage part will not add that much more to the total bill (especially when compared to the price of a new transaxle.)
     
    #6 Patrick Wong, Jul 23, 2009
  7. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    odometer is only 23,000 and the tank and pump were not damaged. The damage was mostly contained on the drivers front corner. The only reason i took the tank out was to prevent damage at the body shop during frame straightening. I will most likely pick up an engine this weekend. Since most of the removal work except block is almost done can the engine be replaced without removing the transaxle. Thanks Again!
     
    #7 plotter59, Jul 24, 2009
  8. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I forgot to mention that a cylinder leakdown test might pinpoint which cylinder is having trouble. Its hard to do a cylinder compression test on Prius without access to the Toyota diagnostic laptop to make MG1 spin the engine.

    The Toyota repair manual suggests removing the engine and transaxle as one assembly, then taking the two pieces apart. I think it would be pretty difficult to remove the engine by itself.
     
    #8 Patrick Wong, Jul 24, 2009
  9. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    You guys are great thanks for the info, will also try to figure out if I do have a problem with the water pump. Ordered an engine today for $570.00 shipped 34,000 miles.
    Thanks Again!
     
    #9 plotter59, Jul 24, 2009
  10. imwoody36

    imwoody36 the prius parts guy

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    I have several engines available, if anybody ever needs one in the future....let me know Steve Woodruff

    [email protected]
     
    #10 imwoody36, Jul 24, 2009
  11. brick

    brick Active Member

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    Have you checked with shims? Sliding shims between the straight edge and the cylinder head can be the only way to tell if you have slight warpage.

    One thing I forgot to ask...and something that can be very telling...was there oil in the coolant? Typically a problem with the cylinder head or a blown head gasket will result in oil and coolant mixing. If you don't see that, some of the other suggestions (hoses connected wrong, etc) might more likely.
     
    #11 brick, Jul 25, 2009
  12. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    Yes there was coolant in the oil.
     
    #12 plotter59, Aug 3, 2009
  13. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Sounds like the engine damage was pre-existing and you did nothing to provoke that.

    Have you gotten the new engine installed yet? Pls provide photos of your disassembly.
     
    #13 Patrick Wong, Aug 4, 2009
  14. plotter59

    plotter59 Junior Member

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    Engine is in and hope to have it running with in the next couple days. I did take several images of the tear down so that I had something to go back to on reassembly. With that said it has went together much faster than the tear down. I do have his fear in me of that first start up. Thanks
     
    #14 plotter59, Aug 4, 2009
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