2014-15 head gasket problems?

No, let's put that idea to bed before we give anyone the false idea that's true. We do offer free shipping on "parts" from the website over a certain threshold but we cannot absorb palletization fees and ground freight shipping costs. If anyone needs a quote however, they can e-mail the shop directly. Please consider shipping engines to commercial locations instead of your house, our carrier company will tack on at least another $120+ for residential and liftgate fees.

Cost of Engine= TBD
Shipping Lower 48 States= TBD
Materials & Handling Fee= $125 for all orders

 

There's so many more factors to why the head gaskets blow on these cars. That's a large piece of the puzzle indeed. Waterpump age, coolant changes, letting the car cycle in the morning to 104 degrees for the first shut down before taking off and gunning the engine down the road, plus some internal engine flaws we've seen (proprietary info) are more major pieces of the puzzle here.

My own theory is that the OEM gaskets start to seep a LONG time ahead of actually you hearing the rattle or seeing coolant loss in the reservoir. I'm talking several months or even a couple years of slow slow leakage a few drops at a time that doesn't cause a misfire until it's really bad or after hundreds and hundreds of hot/cold cycles. Most people have their radios turned up upon start up or are on the phone so they aren't fine tuned into their cars' needs or service issues. It is slightly monotonous reading and hearing people overthink these head gasket issues. It's not really rocket science, even though Chapman makes it seem so.

 

Elaborate on that risk factor, please? I've assumed gentle warm-up after a cold start before "gunning the engine" would minimize thermal stresses on the fragile head gasket. You seem to imply the opposite.
The system is apparently programmed to run the engine in warm-up mode for one minute (or slightly longer), regardless of ambient temperature, before it stops relying heavily on the battery for propulsion, and before the engine will stop when the car is not moving. Typically, I will let it warm up about the first half-minute in Park, then proceed only slowly on a levelish surface (conditions permitting) for the second half-minute, before asking modest power from the engine. Try to stay under ~1400 RPM for roughly the second minute.

 

You agreed with me and seem to be saying the same thing. "D" and driving very slow if you have a street you can do that is fine. Risk factors for head gasket blowing? It's not a matter of IF but WHEN, they were doomed by internal design right out of the factory. Really, there's too much over thinking going on but maybe it's because of the unknown but I assure you these issues are really cut and dry.

 

Hybridpit will ship engine to you.

 

It's not all that tedious or bad. When I replaced my engine with a JDM spec engine from the importers in New Jersey I bought the engine and the transmission so that what I put back in my car would be an engine and transmission with let's say under $70,000 mi I couldn't find anything under $100,000 in the United States. And that $100,000 mile engine in the United States they wanted $1,500 plus dollars for so for the 1550 I paid I got an engine and a transmission out of a low mileage takeout JDM spec car. Then when it was delivered to my door I didn't have time to do the install I have an electric engine hoist here on an A-frames kind of like a ganyard setup but just didn't have the time take the hood off take the wiper and it's related cowling and plastics off put all that in the trunk make sure the big orange plug is out of the HV battery and the 12 volt is undone maybe in the shop and on a charger and then from there you're working at the front of the car predominantly and you're only taking out the engine leaving the transmission in the car so you're going to unbolt the transmission the engine mounts related hosing if you're smart you'll undo the electric air conditioning compressor and lay it over to the side with its hoses connected and it's bracketry for said hoses undone laying over in the very front edge in the right corner of the car and when that's done and everything looks good loose you'll have your engine hoist attached and you'll pull it over towards the right side of the car and you'll see the flex plate sliding off of the transmission and a big gap starting to form and pretty much you're getting ready to start coming up out of there You need to watch some videos and what have you on the engine pulling procedure watch them well and carefully this is not a hard job it is just consuming and you have to be there to do it other than that none of this is very hard take your time don't be in any hurry you're not trying to do this in 4 hours like people who do this all day everyday take your time clean things while you have the engine out you can clean stuff down there that you can't see and get to when the engine's sitting in the car so this gives you time to observe see things and all of that take your time I can't emphasize that any harder if you get distracted and tired walk away from it nothing to that just do it and then continue later It is not a bad job If you're out in the heat in the Sun whatever make sure you have plenty to drink and take care of yourself like you're supposed to this is not a job where you're going to be getting cut and you know generally foul things happening to your hands and what have you It's not like that Make sure you drain the oil and fluids coolant and all of that so you're not having that stuff spill out as you angle the engine and lift it up and it's dumping all over the top of your transmission and on the ground and. So just look at a few videos You're family member looks at the videos y'all converse about it together etc not that big of a deal I promise. Just do it

 

Good video series by @Ragingfit here:

Swapping in a Gen 4 Prius' 2ZR Engine into the Prius v | PriusChat

it’s a 4th gen engine going into a Prius v, but largely the same process. One quibble; he slathers bolts with one of the slickest anti-seize available, but doesn’t reduce torque values.

starting a new thread for this just breaks up the narrative btw; ask mod(s) to merge? You can do this by hitting the report button on the first post.

 

Yeah the transplant process is largely the same.

 

I've seen a lot Gen-4-into-Gen-3 transplant threads sort of end up spinning on a few recurring issues involving overheating and also EGR flow out of spec, and especially the overheating issues don't seem to have a serious explanation anywhere yet.

 

i think you would be better off asking this question to the mechanic family member.

judging by your comments, they are going to do most of the work and give instructions.

 

Doomed? On our 2010 I'm keeping the intake and EGR cleaned, twin OCC's installed, will see how that goes.

Maybe moot point though: currently at 96K kms, and only putting on about 3k per annum. it'll take about forever before I'm into the danger zone.

 

You could easily have 16 hours taking your time goofing off in between whatever You're not in a job shop situation It's about an 8-hour job for a mechanic that gets on it and doesn't really have to do a lot of stopping that's to take engine or engine and trans out and then my guy usually puts the transmission and engine is together and drops that assembly into the car adds up the drive axles and the other bits cowling and what have you and then usually I come and get it running I don't let my guy doing the swap have to mess with the orange plug and all that he's not really well versed in that and doesn't want to get shocked and burn up anything and all that stuff but he will do it I just prefer him not to

 

Low mileage annual, be that as it may...there are still internal "things" that will cause it to happen eventually no matter how much maintenance you do sadly.

 

Yeah, the head gaskets may all be "doomed," but some apparently don't fail until 300k miles or so, and we don't hear much about the ones that don't fail. Obviously their life span varies a lot with conditions, including how the car is driven, how it's warmed up, maintenance practices, etc,, and perhaps even whether the EGR cooler is allowed to clog.

 

It's not the HG itself per se. There are none that haven't failed at least once or won't. I'd be willing to wager that. Anyone can say anything online and make the claims.

 

At the rate I’m putting on the miles we’ll both be gone, but @ASRDogman might be interested: he’s rounding on 300k miles IIRC, and still on original head gasket. I think he changed the water pump? He keeps the EGR clean.