The 2001 Prius that has a new engine....

A few questions before I can answer your two questions:

- How many miles were logged before the engine was replaced?

- What does "new" engine mean? Does this mean the replacement came out of a crate, shipped by the Toyota parts depot; or does this mean the replacement engine came from a salvage vehicle?

- If the latter, how many miles on the salvage engine?

Four reasons that I can think of regarding why a Prius might need a new engine:

1) Lack of maintenance i.e., regular engine oil/oil filter and air filter changes

2) Cooling system failure

3) Front-end accident damage

4) High odometer reading leading to the engine naturally wearing out.

No point in selling the car yet, until you see how it performs for you.

 

A couple of people (over the years) have reported Prius engine fails after total loss of engine oil. This would be low on the probability list though.

I dojn't think you should call it rolling turd though - sending bad vibes already.

 

There is also the possibility of a fatal, diesel fill-up. I think we've seen postings of two separate incidents.

With a used car, there are something you may want to consider doing early:

• check engine oil level - you want it "under" the "F" mark. There is a tendency to find our 1.5L engines overfilled and that leads to lower mileage and internal stress. The ideal level is ~3/4ths between "F" and "E" although at least at or under "F" works perfectly fine. Don't be afraid to open the oil drian plug, loose, to get the extra oil out into an aluminum catch pan.
• early transaxle oil change - get the transaxle pan gasket and Type T-IV, Toyota brand, oil(*). You'll want to raise the car enough to drain and drop the pan. Then carefully, wipe the pan clean including the magnet. This ensures you're good to go for 30,000 miles, our recommended change interval.
• check the tire wear - my personal preference is to measure the depth of each tread for all four tires and stuff it in the glove compartment. When you got to rotate the tires in the Fall, measure again to see what is happening to the wear.
• instrumentation - an OBD-I style scanner should be able to read the major codes but two important display metrics are: mass air flow and engine RPM. With just those two, you can 'drive efficient' and understand how that works. Also, if you get a major code, you can read it out and research it here or other Prius forums. The time to shop is before the need. Make sure you can return it if it doesn't work out. Your target price is in the $50 range. NOTE: the Sears OBD-I/OBD-II is tolerable, bottom of the barrel but not at $250!!!!

Consider getting a small, metric tool kit (sockets for oil changes,) screwdrivers, and an inexpensive, VOM. Along with a cheap, OBD-I scanner, you'll be 'road ready.'

Bob Wilson

* - I'm continuing to test Type WS in the NHW11 transaxle but won't have the initial test data until later this year.