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My car got overheat, Please give the opinion

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by niphonk98, Jul 30, 2016.

  1. niphonk98

    niphonk98 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    My car Gen.2 was 200K. I change the water pump and thermostat on 150K. The reason to change the parts because I think my car a lot of miles. The car run great no problems. Till last month my car had overheat on freeway at night time. The temperature up to 245 F have the red triangle on dash and thermometer icon on Navigation screen. Before overheat on same day on the daytime when I take off I heard sound water running in the engine. The day after I check the level coolant in the reservoir tank was full but in the radiator need to fill up the coolant. After that when I drove the car the coolant overflow form the reservoir all the time. I have to check and fill up the coolant in the radiator every morning. I been the many shop ask them about the symptom of my car. Some they told me water pump failure, some said thermostat failure open all the time or some told me head gasket leak. I check all the engine didn't see any leak but I saw coolant overflow from reservoir. In this case I need you guys opinion about this symptom. And How can I try to fix the problem?
     
    #1 niphonk98, Jul 30, 2016
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Check the engine compression. It is likely that you have a failed head gasket which is allowing pressure from the engine cylinders into the cooling system.

    Since the engine has overheated, and assuming you find the compression is below spec - if you want to keep the car your best bet would be to have a used engine installed.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Jul 30, 2016
  3. niphonk98

    niphonk98 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    You recommend to change the new used engine than fix the head gasket.
    Do you have an idea how much for the cost of parts and labor of new used engine?
    My car is over 200K. It's worth to invest another 2-3K?
     
    #3 niphonk98, Jul 30, 2016
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    check kbb in your area for value, and get a price for replacement engine to make an educated judgement as to whether it's worth keeping or selling.
    2008 is not that old, but with 200k, you're going to start running into more and more expensive issues.
     
    #4 bisco, Jul 30, 2016
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  5. bikes4u

    bikes4u Member

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    used engines are fairly cheap from what I've seen around 500. What was the reason the engine overheated?
     
    #5 bikes4u, Jul 30, 2016
  6. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Two
    The reason that I suggest replacing the engine is because both the block and the head are made of aluminum. Both likely will be warped after the engine has overheated. If you replace the head gasket without substantial machine shop work to level the head and block surfaces, the new gasket will leak. The cost of that machine shop work will certainly exceed the cost of a used engine which should be $500 or less.

    The large cost will be the labor effort to remove and replace the engine which could be $1,500 or more depending upon labor rates in your locale.

    It may not be worth while to put $2K+ into the car since other systems may fail in the near future, such as the traction battery, inverter, AC compressor, etc.

    If you are going to replace the engine I suggest you also replace the transaxle while you are at it as there should be no additional labor cost for that. Both the engine and transaxle are removed when the engine is swapped out.
     
    #6 Patrick Wong, Jul 31, 2016
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