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Just purchased a 2009 Prius; why my coolant disappears?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by BrokePriusDriver, Aug 4, 2022.

  1. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    I'm more worried now that the sealant will clog the radiator or something, causing more repair costs, at least the garage I went to strongly advised against me doing so.

    I can hardly believe there is something wrong with this car if the coolant isn't disappearing, causing overheating; I've got 600 miles on it, and it drives perfectly fine.

    I've found people talking about some other offshoot to extend the life of the engine, like taking out the O rings and reducing the coolant pressure so it will leak less to the cylinder.



    The other alternative may be to disable the cylinder that leaks??
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    At this point, you really don't know the history behind this engine. It could have 400k miles, a junkyard engine, you don't really know with products from shady sellers. This could have been a flip, where they replaced a bad engine with another bad engine. I'm curious if it even has the right catalytic converter on the car. Is this from a shady dealership?
     
  3. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    Yes, it was a private party selling on behalf of somebody else, they resold from an auction, and the title jumped. We had to go to an officially licensed registration office to confirm the paperwork was done properly and pay sales taxes(!)

    I wouldn't buy this Prius if another seller responded to my message or if Pep boys didn't tell me all I need is the tire and serpentine belt replacement. But Pirus these days are very hard to find or very expensive.
     
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The red flag is always someone selling a car for someone else, and you never meet the someone else. And the bigger red flag is the transaction is completed at a location other than the selling party's home/business (like walmart or 7 eleven). Those transactions, you know there is something shady going on.
     
  5. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    Yes, I was extremely careful on this deal.. I insisted on having a licensed registration office to confirm the paperwork (that cost me $600+ extra because of sales tax), I got registration under my name before I gave cash. I even had pep boys did an inspection and had a one-hour test drive, but still...

    In retrospect, it did not sound quite right on the first cold start, but I was so used to driving a three-cylinder car that I didn't realize the vibration is a problem.
     
  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    you have to pay sales tax regardless of where you go, it's part of California taxing used cars. Well if the seller let you inspect the car at the place of your choosing, then I don't know if that was a shady transaction. You had the opportunity to drive it for an hour and have it inspected. So it just came down to bad luck that this happened and you didn't discover the problem
     
  7. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    It seems like these non-hybrid shops don't really know how to inspect Prius's engine.. It actually took me 3 visits complaining about disappearing coolant before they can find a blown head gasket. No wonder it passed inspection.
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    is the coolant ending up in your oil? when you pull the dipstick out, is it contaminated?
     
  9. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    No. I asked Sam Auto Hybrid, and they said hybrid works differently, and there wouldn't be milky oil in Prius even if it had a blown head gasket.
     
  10. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    I will keep everyone posted to see how far it can go with a blown head gasket.
    In the meantime, I still wonder what else you can do to extend its life besides topping off coolant.
     
  11. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Could there maybe a bad hose, hose clamp, whatever that can leak coolant from the radiator?
     
  12. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    The other shop, Mountain View Tire & Auto Service, did a pressure test and could not find a leak.
    Then their chemical tests revealed that the liquid had changed color.(as shown in the picture I posted earlier)
     
  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I miss the picture of the chemical tested it turn the piss yellow or green? You could try and run the zero pressure coolant that large trucks run basically your thermostat would be gone and your cap gets changed to a non-spring type and coolant flows all the time there's no thermostat no pressure behind the thermostat it's what they call the zero pressure cooling system I believe I can't remember the name of the manufacturer of the coolant it stinks badly. That would take some pressure off but if there's pressure getting into the coolant from the cylinder pumping then that pressure is just going to keep vacating the system zero pressure or not it's got to go somewhere you should be able to do better on a Yaris engine stuffed into your Prius got to talk to the Spanish guys in East LA something
     
  14. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Really?
    Why, exactly?
    IMHO that’s balloon juice.

    It’s possible that a very small coolant leak can occur with just the right kind of head gasket leak but…TRUST ME….small leaks usually do not STAY small.

    This is a self-solving problem.
    If you DO have a head gasket leak, it WILL eventually result in oil contamination and/or something called hydro-lock. (The Googles will explain.)

    In addition to your other pre-flights, you need to be checking your oil dipstick OFTEN.
    That might give you a little warning before things inside your engine start bending and breaking.

    Hopefully not at 0300, in a sketch neighborhood, with 4 pax.

    Good Luck!
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    hybrid pit
     
  16. BrokePriusDriver

    BrokePriusDriver New Member

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    I found EVANS Cooling Systems EC53001 High Performance Waterless Engine Coolant, which seems to be the one you were talking about.

    Not sure how to install it tho. Do you just flush and refill?
     
  17. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    However, if you're selling a car the safest place to do so is in the parking lot of the bank of the person buying it. That way there's lots of cameras around and you can see the payment get withdrawn.