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reliability

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by chronon, Apr 7, 2021.

  1. chronon

    chronon Active Member

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    Hello .. just wondering about the C .. heard 'dont get the gen 3 ' .. ESP the 1st 3 yrs of it ..

    is the C prone to the same issues as prius gen 3 ?

    thx
     
  2. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    What problems? As far as I know, most Gen-3's and C's don't have major problems up to now. Some Gen-3's consume some oil after 150k miles, give or take, if that is what you refer to. Another concern is EGR circuit clogging, but its relation with reliability is not established yet...
     
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Lol, you said they don't have any problems and then you accurately listed the vehicle's primary problems...
     
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  4. chronon

    chronon Active Member

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    SSOME oil consumption .. (*ie 1 qt per mounth or 1000 miles) is not bad .. not great but i think most would find that tollerable if that is what the consupmtion level is .. old corrollas have that reputation already ...

    I did hear about EGR clogs when the car doesnt get the full warm-up cycle .. and idont know how bad it makes the operation of the car ..

    i have heard about oil rings and pistons and cylinder heads and head gasket replacements .. those are the things concerning me ...
    and water cooling warpages ?

    I guess we can add Vibration issues is engine compartement as another problem:
     
    #4 chronon, Apr 7, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2021
  5. chronon

    chronon Active Member

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  6. topshot

    topshot Member

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    I've never read of inverter failure being an issue for Gen 3. I'd also say 2010-2012 rather than 2013. Nevertheless, the c doesn't have the EGR or headgasket issues. It seems the main complaints I've seen have been door locks and water in taillights.
     
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  7. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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  8. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    I bought a prius C with 150k miles no running
    It had a clogged egr and intake
    Suffered hydrolock cylinder 1 (head gasket failure) I replaced the engine
    Bad 12v battery
    Bad HV pack
    But to be honest since I am doing all this maintenance I can tell the prius C is well built and is really fun to drive I've had 2nd and 3rd Gen prius but this one is agile the 1NZ won a lot of awards to be honest is a interesting car if you do maintenance as soon as you buy you should be good.
     
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  9. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    Do you have a writeup or video showing how to clean the EGR?
     
  10. chronon

    chronon Active Member

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    a -small price to pay indeed for the exc. economy on the wallet at the pump !!!
     
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  11. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    I just uploaded a video on youtube, so you can take a look how I did it .
     
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  12. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    hahaha I forgot to mention I have both of those problems.
     
  13. PriusII&C

    PriusII&C Active Member

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    Is that your video? Nice. It would be even better if you could record how to take both the valve and cooler off.
     
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  14. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    Yes that's my prius I did that video today the cooler is a pain in the nice person to remove basically is easier if you remove the wiper assembly and the plastic cover, the egr cooler is attached to the exhaust and you have to loose some bolts to make it easier to remove,but to be honest when I cleaned the cooler a lot carbon came out.
     
  15. Sonic_TH

    Sonic_TH Active Member

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    How did the previous engine of your Prius C died?
     
  16. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    yes sir one I cleaned the water inside the intake manifold and inside the valves the car turned perfectly but it had a rod noise I found a new engine with 40k miles for $300 so I decided to go that way instead of fixing the old one with 160k miles
     
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  17. Sonic_TH

    Sonic_TH Active Member

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    160,000 miles is very low for a Toyota engine to fail, specially a Prius C engine. Was your car in a flood? since there was water in the intake manifold.
     
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  18. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    I think it suffered from hydrolocking due to a failed head gasket never taken care of, that's what I think but I wish I had time to open the engine and check what was goin on but this video was before I opened the intake to discover I had water in it


    and then this video is when I cleaned the water from the cylinder and intake
     
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  19. Sonic_TH

    Sonic_TH Active Member

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    That's weird, maybe the engine water pump failed, causing your engine to overheat and then destroy the head gasket? Well at least your Prius is running now, but replacing an engine is not easy nor cheap, and i think is something quite difficult to do, i would not feel the same with the car if such thing ever happens to mine
     
  20. kdfchannel

    kdfchannel Junior Member

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    I agree maybe that could be a reason the water pump. but I found the engine for $300 6 month warranty and 40 K miles salvaged car. yes is difficult to replace it but everything I considered to be a learning lesson, for sure somebody to fix the actual engine would be $500 + and I saved a lot just because I replaced it myself , I couldn't scape from somebody stealing my money a "technician" charged me $350 to fix the battery pack and back then I didn't know anything how to recondition de HV battery and he just replaced 2 modules without cycling balancing or whatever I put the battery back after few minutes I got the triangle again. so if some member watching this be careful orlando area fake technicians fixing batteries.
     
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