Blown Head gasket rebuild....@297k

Three of the four cylinder valves are carbon-black on one side, and ash-white on the other side. I'm guessing the white side is exhaust??

And then one cylinder, everything is black, and it looks oil fouled. Maybe the piston rings failing on the cylinder??

Maybe @The Critic , @Raytheeagle , @Patrick Wong , @JC91006 , @Ragingfit , @cnc97, @danlatu (the Original Poster) can comment.

I'm thinking just button it up and go to salvage engine, if your budget is tight.

Rolls Royce would be have a machine shop go over the head thoroughly, rebuild it if possible, and use a brand-new short block. The latter may not be needed, but that one cylinder, the valves looking all oily?

 

I have 253,000 on mine..... I travel so I didn't want to worry about it.
Put on 59,000 in 20 months.

 

budget isnt the problem, problem is the cost vs worth is way out of balance in my opinion.
just for comparison, spent almost $1k on regular maintenance on my land cruiser, it was worth spending $1k for regular maintenance to me because cost vs the value was justified to me but thats just my opinion.

 

I have a 1993 Previa with 430,000 new radiator, water pump. 2002 Camry 315,000 timing belts water pump.... very small $$$ figures...
Prius was a different story.....at least it still runs buy key expensive parts. Filled up today... gas was $1.83

 

wow thats alot of miles. i dnt put anywhere near that many anymore. used to put 4k miles a month but that was way back uptill 2017. now it has been mostly grocery shopper for my parents.
thats why i am planning to fix it up as good as i can and then run it to the ground in however many years and sell to junkyard.

 

I would love to sell mine but to much $$$ installed and way to many miles..

 

I would love to sell mine but to much $$$ installed and way to many miles..

 

Yeah I can see that.

 

Apparently most people here say it's ok but if I remember correctly from automotive school cleaning the top of pistons comes with a danger of particles falling along side of pistons and cylinder walls. If anything gets into ring grooves there is possibility of ring failure.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

recent update about cleaning. I cleaned cylinder top with brake parts cleaner, they started flaking after 2 days and i could easily scraped them with shop rag and vacuum from top.
Started closing back up everything. Found document on timing of engine, followed it and all colored links matched for correct timing. put timing chain vibration dampener on side which has 2 screws and then wife kept interrupting me regarding kids and i kept going in and out of garage. well i buttoned up the whole engine by 2 in the morning and went to bed. next morning when i woke up i started doubting myself if i hand tightened those 2 bolts on chain tensioner dampener or torqued them, it kept bothering me and i decided to go back and open it back up and i did open back the chain cover, and i DID left it hand tightened, torqued it and again went through whole process of cleaning and repacking seal and close engine. took me extra 4 or 5 hours but atleast i made it right.
EGR cooler sitting in OXI clean for 7 days, took it out started pressure washing but still clogged. even 1700 psi pressure washer could not break a single path inside. i started going at it with wire and it was rock solid inside, after about an hour i could barely opened 3 of them. so i put the wire in drill and started drilling with the drill which helped me go through almost all of them and i soaked it back in fresh oxi solution. next morning i started with pressure washer but still could not loose all of carbon inside, so right now its sitting back in fresh oxi solution till tomorrow maybe. at this point plenty of water is flowing acress but i wanna make sure i clear all carbon so that will give me good 40 to 50k miles room before cleaning it up again.

ONE BIG MESSUP: while i was putting chain tensioner to the back of engine, one stud stripped while i was tightenig the bolt marked in the pic i attached. now half of that stud is still inside and other tightned at this moment. i have no skills or motivation to take the broken stud out, just by eyeballing it i can hope it will not leak oil there. the other option i am thinking is take it out and put liquid seal FPIG around it and tightened back up the one left.

 

I would try to remedy that broken bolt. Does it stick up above the surface at all?

I was watching a South Main Auto video where he's dealing with 4 such bolts: he places a nut over it and welds through the nut hole, fills it with weld, essentially putting a new head on the bolt.

Or drill and use a reverse thread extractor?

Very difficult to access though, round the back.

 

I think it helps if you put the nozzle right up against the passageways and just hold it there until it pushes the carbon out the other side. Start in the corner and literally hold it there until it happens, then slowly move on inch by inch, row by row. That's how I did mine. It took a while but eventually got it clean.

 

It will leak with just silicone on it. You must get it out or have it taken out.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

The broken stud is sticking out a little. I will try to move it with pliers or vise grip pliers maybe, the main issue is the reach angle is very odd and tough to reach from top or bottom. The clearance in the back is very tight that i dnt know if i will be able to use tap and reverse thread.


EGR cooler cleaning, i have tried to hold the pressure nozzle right up its nice person and kept there for good while but the sticky carbon wouldnt budge. I will look at it again here in couple of hours. The water i soaked it in yesterday looks black again so the carbon is dissolving but there is just so much buildup that its insane. This is total failure and disaster of toyota design.

 

The torque spec is just 9 ftlbs, which is not very tight and basically a little over hand tight, do u still think that liquid seal and one bolt wouldnt stand the pressure on other side? Having it torqued to 9 ftlbs means the pressure isnt that high inside , right?

 

I soaked mine in carb cleaner. Toyota really screwed up on that cooler. Your problems is why I tell people don't buy a 3rd Gen.
I feel for you.

 

As far as the EGR cooler goes, if you work from the EGR valve side, as opposed to the manifold side, it’s noticeably easier to clean in my opinion. I did soak mine in oxyclean and water for days while I was repairing my car though. That might have had an effect on it too.

 

When did the head break off, ie: when you first tried to remove it, or during reinstall? If the latter I think it would be very easy to get started, rotating out. If the former, not so much.

Maybe a right-angle drill attachement:

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/dewalt-right-angle-attachment/1000830237

Still, it will not be easy. It's hard to keep a drill bit centered when you can see and easily access. Centre-punch if possible, and take it slow.

 

OVEN CLEANER. It eats that stuff. Just keep spraying it in and let it foam.
Since the cooler is completely clogged, you will have to remove a layer at a time.
And that does take time.
Know anyone with a sand blaster? Or better, a glass beader?

 

well my cooler initially sat in oxi for almost 8 days or so then pressure washed drilled with wire went back to solution for 24 hrs then pressure washed and went back to oxi for 24 hrs then again pressure washed and went back to oxi water today again till tomorrow wen i will just put it back in after pressure washing one last time and call it good enough.
i think it just stacked rock solid over years/miles, eventually i probably would have to change it with new/refurb or keep cleaning every maybe 10k to 15k