Looking for advice on 2012 Prius V ownership at high KM

You heard right. Best solution is a quality rebuilt engine.

 

watch the coolant and oil levels frequently. have you cleaned the egr circuit?

 

Your lucky.....

 

it's never too late unless you're replacing the engine

 

Congratulations. You've had good value for the money you paid. Never fall in love with a car. Cars break and cost money to fix. And they keep breaking. Unless you are an expert Prius mechanic, or have a very close friend who is one, paying to fix problems will eat you alive. Prices are indeed insane. If you can, lease a new car, Prius or not. And sell your Prius into the insane market. The sooner you do it the more likely you are to avoid having to sell it with a known big problem. Good luck.

 

History repeats itself with gen3 engines. You have several choices:

1. Spend $800 for a dealer intake and egr cleanup or dig into it yourself. Not a simple job. Will not fix your early stage head gasket leak.

2. Change plugs, coils and maybe injectors when it starts throwing misfire codes. It does not seem to lose coolant and passes a coolant hydrocarbon test. The parts cannon is the common neighborhood mechanic reaction at this point. Not cheap, another $1,000 thrown at it. You get a month or longer reprieve before you realize this was a waste.

3. Continue waiting until the shudders are every week or so. Soon it will rattle at stop signs. Shortly after it is obvious - the coolant is low. It has been months and maybe $1800 after the first warning. The writing is on the wall. Now the repair is most likely a used engine. Some will just do the head gasket. In many cases it will fail in the near future because too much time has past. The dealer will recommend a rebuilt engine to eliminate bad rings and they will clean everything like new but the cost scares you. At this point, a rebuilt engine is the right answer for three or more years of ownership.

Or you find a quality shop now and have the engine torn down. The cylinder head is carefully inspected, cleaned and rebuilt by a machine shop. The quality repair shop installs a new gasket set. While they are doing it the egr cooler and intake manifold are thoroughly cleaned. The shop should have enough confidence to give you a year warranty. You don't get new rings so a trade within the next couple of years should be scheduled.

Or you trade now and punt the issue. Don't sell privately, let a dealer auction get it.

 

any prius (gen3) for sale has the HG issue..... many people out there buying used ones thinking they are getting a toy with great reliability but sady they might be getting one with the gasket already going bad.... stop leak in the car.... they just don't know it's a time bomb with a possible short fuse... huge deception on most of these being sold now..... get a ICE.............

 

It's possible to have a misfire without a headgasket leak. Is it consuming coolant? It's certainly worth cleaning your EGR and intake, and checking the condition of the spark plugs. Time for replacement if you have never replaced them before. If it does have a headgasket leak, call around to some independent shops and find one that is comfortable with the job. Its a very simple headgasket to change.

 

This can also be due to condensation buildup in the intake from what I have read. It frequently happens on cold mornings. My 2014 V with 100k miles does this sometimes, it's never more than a couple seconds. I have never had any coolant loss. I'm not convinced it's a head gasket issue but it is an unnerving sound.

 

Get on EGR and intake manifold cleaning right away “may” save it. See first 2 links in my signature. On a phone turn it landscape to see signature.

 

Keep a close eye on the coolant level..... I had 260,000 on mine and it never rattled until the HG problem.

 

it's always worth trying a tsb first, but since the problem is not repeatable, you won't know if it was effective or not.
i would still consider cleaning the egr circuit

 

A software tsb should only cost an hour's labor at most dealers. I think Toyota tried various software changes plus revised intake manifolds in an attempt to mitigate rattling. None seemed to work long term and rattling clearing quickly continued. With long durations between events. Only an egr stuck open has a chance of causing stumbling but typically not rattling.

186,000 miles is a good run without a head gasket on a 2012 v that builds up carbon excessively and usually burns oil. Even if the oil level looks good, excessive ring blowby can dilute the oil limiting measurement of loss. If oil consumption is obvious or coolant level has a "minor" drop, things are getting serious.

Even the inverter tsb was too little too late but at least Toyota is still covering most for 15 years. So a software fix for cold start rattling is an easy sell. Might as well try it.

 

Cough syrup for lung cancer?

 

Mine started rattling occasionally on cold starts this past winter. I cleaned the intake manifold, throttle body, EGR pipe (didn’t remove the valve), and replaced the PCV valve. Haven’t had any problems since. Good luck!

 

What’s the miles?

Regardless, better get on the EGR valve/cooler cleaning.

 

I can't speak to the throttle body, but I agree with this here and definitely go with the intake manifold, egr, and pcv valve based on my experience last year. I had a gasket leak on one cylinder, but the noise was actually from the intake manifold.

If you (op) don't have time to clean, just buy new ones from a toyota dealer online that sells them at wholesale (there's plenty where you can get it 30-50% off) and have your service shop swap them out in one shot. You've got your money's worth out of this car and new ones are crazy expensive with high interest rates, so what's a little $ for a car that's been so great?