Hi all, new Prius v owner

Ok guys..you are loitering/littering up my thread!

This thread is for *serious important stuff* only!

BTW - I am halfway thru the intake manifold project. Some of the dang tabs on the wire harness were tough to get off! All is good though..I got the thing out. I'm oxi-soaking the manifold now. Glad I did it...things were pretty darn dirty. EGR ports on the manifold were not fully clogged though...which is good news.

Oh and I used *wire* to tie up the throttle body...so no twine *or* zip ties.

 

Intake manifold cleaning and new PCV valve is complete. No issues but boy were thing dirty! Much more so that I anticipated. I had a bit of a scare when I started it up after completion - the car shuddered (misfired?) a bit but no warning lights or anything. The shuddering stopped after a few seconds and hasn't occurred again. Maybe things were 'settling in'.

Now for some pics.

Here is what the throttle body and the engine side of the intake looked like after pulling stuff off :



Not good...does this seem excessively dirty to anyone?

The PCV valve tube even had crud in it! Luckily, I had planned on replacing it anyway :


I did quite a few scrubbings and oxi-clean soakings. Seemed to be much more effective than brake cleaner.

NOTE: The third photo shows rinsing via the EGR tube and water coming out of the EGR circuit ports. Oxi-soaking and rinsing this way seems to be the best way to handle the EGR circuit. Otherwise, you are at risk of leaving the EGR passages dirty. ​

However, even after these soakings, the EGR passages still looked dirty..so I concentrated on them. Note the first photo is looking down the EGR passage with the metal EGR tube removed. I reattached the tube and poured oxi-clean solution down the tube until solution started running out of the EGR ports.

NOTE: If I can contribute any advice...be sure to take a good look at the smaller EGR passage circuit! If the main ports look clean it does NOT mean the EGR passages are clean. I hope nobody overlooked this. ​

It also took a heck of a long time to clean the ports on the engine side. This is the state I left them in..WAY better than before but not 'perfect' :



Here is final product..note that I could not get every last bit of baked-on carbon off. However, I don't think that will make any difference. Oh and I did install a new gasket.


Here is the new PCV valve and tube...and the manifold reinstalled :


And lastly...my wire job to tie up the throttle body. As discussed above...I did NOT disconnect the coolant hoses.


Gee I think that is enough for now. I will leave the EGR cooler and spark plugs for another weekend!

 

Hey guys...next piece of the puzzle to tackle are the spark plugs and EGR cooler. Figured I'd do both since the cowling looks like something I'd rather not do twice.

The nutzaboutboltz video on the EGR is fabulous..but it is hard to see some of the bolts they needed to remove. Also looks like you need to remove some of the posts with a Torx bit...correct?

Looks like I found the info I need in this thread..thanks in advance Mendel! ..any other advice?

EGR valve removal and cleaning | PriusChat

Also, if I do NOT drain any coolant...how much will leak out when I remove it? I have plenty of extra coolant so if not too much will be spilled..I'm thinking of taking the easy way out. Assuming I should pinch the coolant tubes shut before removing them...correct? I also seem to remember some mentioning to pinch off the tune at the reservoir to avoid excessive spillage.

Thanks all for your help! You guys are gurus...hopefully I will get to join your ranks one day!

 

I decided go 'go for it' this weekend. Got the spark plugs replaced and replaced the EGR cooler with my sparkling clean spare. Also did the front brakes! All of this took quite a long time as it was my first time doing any of this and didn't want to screw anything up.

Some things of note :

• Wiper and cowling removal was pretty much just busy work. I had invested in the curved set of needle nose pliers that the nutzaboutboltz crew have used on multiple occasions ( I used their Amazon link ). Invaluable to get at the tabs on those pesky wiring connectors.
• The cowling had crud blocking the drainage outlet on the passenger side. I promptly cleaned that out.

• The EGR was a pain to remove until 'figured out' the best way to remove that bottom bracket nut. You have to 'reach around' from the back left side. Yes, I had read this but it is always difficult until you actually do it.
• I did NOT drain any coolant while doing the EGR procedure. I just pinched the hoses off. Spilled a bit but no big deal.
• The EGR cooler was incredibly dirty. Lucky I had that spare! I have been cleaning the one I removed and finally have water flowing freely through it after muliple oxi-clean soaks. When I started it was only dripping water out the other end!

• The plugs looked decent..which is good news. I replaced with Denso Iridium TT plugs.

• The brakes were not in great shape. Rotors were pretty rusty and 'rust welded' on. Had to use the screw holes in the rotors to get them loose. Brake sliding pins were not sliding freely.
• Brakes are not rocket science but this was my first brake job so I took my time. I should be able to do the rear brakes in far less time.
• The zinc-plated rotors look great and hopefully will help with the rust situation.

Here are some pics :

Wipers and cowling removal :


Spark Plugs that were removed :


Dirty EGR components that were removed :


Cleaned up EGR components ( I used my cleaned spare cooler ) :


Trying to clean the removed EGR cooler ( BTW - a cheap rubber stopper assortment worked great ) :


Brake removal..note the rusty rotors :


New rotors ( zinc plated ) :



That's enough for one weekend!

Next up is rear brakes and oil catch can...and then I'm pretty much 'done'.

 

Yes the rotors were worse than I anticipated. With all of the other stuff I have worked on ( dirty battery compartment, dust everywhere, etc..) I think the conclusion is that this poor Prius was run in a very dirty environment. I'm slowly rectifying that though (hopefully).

I put gas in again last week and it still has trouble filling up ( one of my original posts above ). I did some research back then and it seemed to lead to a potential 'evap canister' problem :

Hi all, new Prius v owner | PriusChat

I guess this should be added to the to-do list. Has anyone ever dealt with or replaced a faulty evap canister? The post above mentioned 'cleaning the vent and tube' but I'm not even sure where to start. Being that the vehicle was run in a dirty environment, and the fact that there are no rear under panels on the Prius v, lead me to believe something may, in fact, be 'plugged'.

 

Yes..from what I can tell I don't think the brakes had been serviced at all ( it is a 2012 ) . Pads had quite a bit left on them but I replaced them anyways. Car has 129K now ( got it with 128K ).

I did a little research to confirm what I had read earlier regarding rear brakes on the Prius v (wagon). The biggest difference from the liftback is the fact that the Prius v (wagon) rear brakes are disc brakes (obviously) with a drum emergency brake. This appears to be a source of confusion when searching around here. In theory, doing the rear brakes on a Prius v (wagon) should be just about the same as the front brakes ( i.e. - no 'Disc Brake cube Piston Tool' needed ).

 

Here is a diagram of the Prius v (wagon) rear brakes and drum emergency brake (in red) :

 

Since I know that most of the regulars here have done brakes before...I have a question I forgot to ask above.

This involves the "Toyota Brake Shims". It looks to me like this includes an outermost chrome-plated shim ( the one you can see ) and an inner "anti squeal" shim. You can see what I mean via the link below...this set is supposed to fit my Prius v (wagon) :

Toyota Corolla, Rav4 04945-12111 Disc Brake Pad Shim | eBay

Here is a pic in case the link becomes defunct :


In my case these shims were in really rough shape...inner (black) shim was corroded and the outer (chrome) shim was not as bad but was starting to rust in a couple spots. I only reused the outer chrome shim when I did the brake job. Brakes seem to operate just fine without it but I do want to go back in there and do the proper thing ( once I know what that is ). I'm assuming the answer will be to use both shims.

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered the replacement shim set above and just want to know I am on the correct track? Also, a thin coat of anti-seize goes between the back of the pad and the shim..correct? That is how I have it now ( remember I am currently only using the outermost chrome shim ). When I get the new set...do I use anti-seize between both shims?

Thanks for your help! ( and go easy on me...this is my first brake job )!

 

Thx for the reply! That is exactly the info I was looking for and will use both Toyota shims when the new set arrives.

I will also follow your anti-seize procedure. Looks like I also forgot to use anti-seize on the piston front face and caliper 'fingers'. ( also BTW...I used the copper-based 3M anti seize ).

Looks like there are a lot of 'opinions' (or oversights) out there though. The odd thing is...most Prius brake job videos out there make absolutely no use of any Toyota shims. Strange... possibly they just overlooked this detail? Another reason may be that most aftermarket pads come with a metal backing 'shim'(?) already on them. Maybe they think the Toyota shims are unnecessary in that case?

 

Rear brakes are now 'done' ( well..at least functional ). As usual rust and dirt were a huge problem.

Here is the condition of one of the rotors and the 'mini drum parking brake' after I cracked the rotor off :


The other rear brake was in similar condition. Needless to say...I ordered a new parking brake kit. However, I was able to restore the current parking brake parts into somewhat serviceable shape by giving them an 'acid bath' in white vinegar. It worked surprisingly well! ( unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture ).

One of the calipers had a completely rusted out caliper pin/socket ( the caliper pin boot was compromised..which was obviously the cause of the problem ). Luckily, the auto parts store was able to 'overnight' a caliper pin kit and caliper boot kit for me. The caliper pin socket took quite a while to bring back to serviceable shape..but works fine now.


Here is the finished product ( for now ). I'll have to crack it back open again when I receive the 'mini drum' parking brake kit. While I'm in there I'm also going to redo the brake pad shims ( I also have a shim kit on the way ).


One odd scare when I started the car back up. I had done the proper procedure of disconnecting the 12V battery and then pumping the brakes before re-connecting the battery. However, when I started it up I was getting the ABS warning light. I pumped the brakes a few more times while the car was on...turned the car off...and turned it on again and everything was good. Pretty strange but it seems to be working great now.

I finally got around to snapping a couple photos of the Clazzio PVC seat covers I installed a few weeks ago. Very nice! However, the pics don't do them justice at all.


Next up is to do the rear shocks. I'm only doing them because they look super easy to replace. Literally a 30 minute job if you have access panels in the back ( which the Prius V does ).