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Head Gasket Replacement Story

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Bayside_Skier, Mar 5, 2024.

  1. Bayside_Skier

    Bayside_Skier New Member

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    Longtime lurker, second-time poster. Original owner of a 2014 Prius v (Three).

    Recently, I started experiencing misfiring. When it first happened last fall, I took it to a local repair shop. They diagnosed a problem with the spark plugs and replaced them. Problem solved.

    It started happening again in late January—the dreaded cold-start rattle (but I didn't know what it meant at the time). The check engine light came on, then went out two days later. After a couple days of the check engine light being off (and a 550 mile road trip), the check engine light came back on. Took it back to the shop. This time, it was a blown head gasket. They wanted over $4000 for the repair. I asked them to look into replacing the engine—over $7000. Time to sell the car, I thought.

    Some sleuthing here taught me just what I was looking at. As many people know, the Gen3 engine in the 2014 Prius v is prone to blowing the head gasket at around 150k miles; mine was at 147k miles. Sleuthed some more on YouTube, where I discovered a Gasket Masters video on blown head gaskets.

    Lucky me, I live relatively close to one of Gasket Masters' shops. I took the car in, and five hours later, paid $2150 for the head gasket replacement. The work comes with a one-year, unlimited mileage warranty.

    I'm glad I didn't have to dump the car—new cars are expensive! Since I replaced the hybrid battery recently (under warranty), this car should be road-worthy for at least a few more years. Or should I be expecting another problem to pop up in the near future?
     
    #1 Bayside_Skier, Mar 5, 2024
    Tim Jones likes this.
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Touring
    Misdiagnosed?
    To improve the odds, clean the EGR system, including intake manifold. Repeat every 50k miles.

    more info in my signature. On a phone turn it landscape to see signature.
     
    #2 Mendel Leisk, Mar 5, 2024
    Bayside_Skier and Tim Jones like this.
  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Brake booster for $2500 is a frequent high mile repair along with excessive oil burning due to poorly designed rings.
     
    #3 rjparker, Mar 5, 2024
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  4. Bayside_Skier

    Bayside_Skier New Member

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    #4 Bayside_Skier, Mar 6, 2024
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Clean the EGR system right away. DIY is by far the most effective method. There are a few shops* around the States that'll do this properly, for a decent price (say $600~800), but they are few and far between. And Toyota doesn't care, is hoping the issue will blow over.

    I see a tiresome parade here, 3rd gen Prius (and Prius v), with blown head gaskets and carbon-clogged EGR's. There's also been one instance reported, where head gasket was replaced, EGR left untouched, and 20K later another blown head gasket occured.

    * Maybe just 2 competent EGR cleaning shops, one in Florida, the other in LA. The latter might be worth your while:

    upload_2024-3-6_6-58-15.png

    Maybe check this thread, but I don't think much has changed:

    Professional EGR Cleaning Resources | PriusChat
     
    #5 Mendel Leisk, Mar 6, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2024
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  6. Bayside_Skier

    Bayside_Skier New Member

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    Incredibly helpful comment, as always!

    I am not a DIY guy, but I really appreciate the suggestion about HybridPit. I'll call them and figure out a time to go to LA and back. Not my favorite kind of road trip, but doable.

    I might let my local dealership clean the intake manifold if I can't swing a trip to the HybridPit in the immediate future.
     
    #6 Bayside_Skier, Mar 9, 2024
    RightOnTime likes this.
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Often reported here: dealerships won’t stoop to cleaning, just replace. Which is kind of crazy; cleaning the intake manifold is not hard. The removal/install as well is quite straightforward. They “might” swap in a precleaned salvage IM if you can find/clean one.

    the intake manifold cleaning is a relatively easy DIY.
     
    #7 Mendel Leisk, Mar 10, 2024
    RightOnTime likes this.
  8. RightOnTime

    RightOnTime Senior Member

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    It’s all about time and labor. Dealerships are on a tight schedule so cleaning the EGR system including the intake is very time consuming and profitability is the number one priority.


    iPhone ?
     
    #8 RightOnTime, Mar 10, 2024
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