Don't Buy a 3rd Gen Prius! - Blown headgasket at 233k

Another statistic here. Driving the Prius on a cool winter day when I start getting bad vibrations from a stop. I pull the codes and it's a misfire in cylinder 2. Pop the hood and coolant is running low.

This came not two weeks after dropping a boatload of cash on a new hybrid battery. I just came here to vent; it's a shame Toyota couldn't build this car to not blow HG's.

 

Headgaskets aren't a consumable item. I'd expect wear and tear items to break. 233k used to not be considered high for a Toyota, as evidenced by my 300k 4runner, 335k LX470, and 298k Sequoia. I suppose I should adjust (read: lower) my standards for the new breed of Toyota. Disappointed.

 

I'm the DIY type, but I don't trust rebuilt motors. Just going to pickup a wreck low mileage 2015 at auction and swap the entire drive train over - and then sell the thing. If I do the math on the cost of ownership for this car vs. a standard Corolla, I just don't see the value. Especially when you factor in HV batteries, EGR nonsense, and apparently the inevitable >250k blown HG.

It's my fault, I should reel in my expectations of what post 2010- Toyota is capable of. It's sad, as it diminishes the once tremendous amount of respect I had for the brand.

 

A battery is a consumable item though. I guess I just lose confidence knowing that a non-consumable item could fail at a relatively low (by my standards) mileage. I couldn't care less if it were ball joints, alternator, shocks, plugs, coils, etc -- as though are all completely consumable items.

 

Agreed, and I certainly don't wish to cause dissension among the ranks. I guess I've always put Toyota on a pedestal as the "INVINCIBLE Car Company" and my confidence just received a big slap in the face. That and I'm a little bummed, I really did enjoy driving the Prius, and am sad to have it sit on the side yard whilst the LS moves up to daily driver :/

On an unrelated note, while I wait for my ideal donor to come along at auction, what precautions should I take with the HV battery? Should I disconnect the orange safety plug?

 

Agreed completely. A blown HG should, IMO, only be a direct result of overheating which should only occur as a result of poor maintenance.

Apologies for the using the superlative "invincible", when what I meant was head and shoulders above the competition in terms of avoiding catastrophic disasters like these.

The car was never low on coolant (under my ownership) before the HG blew. From my understanding, that's typical failure mode for an interior gasket compromise. Coolant makes its way from the water jacket, through the gasket, and into the cylinder. It's this action that consumes the coolant.

Now, I would be much less frustrated if the car had overheated as a result of a leak that I had failed to correct and then ultimately blown a HG.

There's no hate coming from me. There is frustration and disappointment. And I respectfully disagree; I believe as consumers we should hold OEMs to higher standards, and we should be less tolerant of an OEM scaling back the level of "over-engineering" in an effort to move more cars. If this were a GM or Chrysler or (insert sub-par OEM here), then I would agree that 233k miles is a "good life". It's just that Toyota has set the bar so high in the past, that I've come to expect better.

 

Yes