Head Gasket Replacement Shop Recommendations- San Francisco Bay Area

I hope fellow Prius owners that learn about their Prius having a leaking head gasket, and also have the OCD desire to know exactly what this means and what to expect to get it repaired will find the descriptions of my learning process, and subsequent pictures from the head gasket repair process to be helpful.

I am very grateful for being pointed to an absolutely amazing and affordable shop (Gasket Masters in Manteca, CA). Thank you all here at Prius Chat, especially @rjparker and @Mendel Leisk , for your diagnostics, knowledge and kindness in helping forum members like here! You all are unsung heroes, in my mind. While I don’t have the knowledge of the professional mechanics and Prius enthusiasts on this wonderful community’s forum, I enjoy hopefully adding some value by learning as I go and sharing the minutia of my learning process. For many, my posts are definitely TLDR and usually TMI! But hey, if there is one or two other ADHD/OCD types on this site like me (I suspect so, LOL ;o), I hope my TMI obsession helps someone here on this great community.

Gasket Masters in Manteca removed the head and both the block and head had no warp, Yeah! The water pump's plastic covered magnet was cracket, so they replaced the WP with an Aisin PN WPT-190, $352 (Aisin makes the Toyota WP, so this is the same exact pump), the Thermostat (Water Inlet Sub-Assy w/ thermostat PN 16031-37010 $70), PCV Valve (AutoPart Internat'l PN 1901-480235 $8), 2 Gal. Zerex 50/50 Coolant $12 ea., Fel-Pro HG PN 26515PT $52, 4 Denso Plugs, $12 ea., Toyota Oil Filter PN 04152-YZZA6 $6.
Labor- 'Head Gasket & Water Pump' 15.85 Hrs, $1,659 (that's only $105/ hour! They did not list a charge for the synthetic oil installed. Tax $50. Out the door price, $2,270. I am VERY pleased with that price. Ectatic, really!

Gasket Masters is the only shop I have ever encountered that not only does not mark up the prices of parts they install, but actually seem to charge the price they pay, sometimes lower than retail parts stores, due to the volume they buy I guess. EX. I paid $18 for Denso plugs at O'Reilly's. RockAuto lists $10.39. They charged me $12! Can't beat that. Their Labor rate is $105/ hr. That low surprised me too. )

Now for the FUN part, Pictures: To not put too many pics in one post, I'll attach (8) to this post. [3 of the head Gskt, 3 of my head, 2 of my block]. The next post #43 will show (8) more pics of various parts removed/ replaced. The third post #44 will show pics of what you do NOT want to see! A Prius V's not good result of a bent rod. (

 

Here are pictures of my carbon'ed up EGR Cooler, PCV Valve, Spark Plugs, Thermostat, Water Pump w/ cracked magnet.

 

A Prius V was in the repair bay when I pulled up for my Friday morning 9:00am diagnostic.

My HG repair did end up running into Saturday, because the poor guy’s Prius V, after tear down, Cyl 1 had a bent rod! Not the result you want to hear. ( That guy had to opt for the $3,250 refurbished engine option. Not a JDM swap, but swapping in a Refurbished engine (checked-out block, with a rebuilt head installed on it). Andres said his car had been maintained poorly. The pictures reflect that.

 

I think you are absolutely correct. The mechanic was looking at the ceramic under the electrode and said the tan color was from the coolant. But looking at the pictures again, I agree that the bottom of the plug that protrudes past the threads of the head of the plug 'next to' my circled plug looks steam cleaned! The plugs in the box, I do not believe, were in any particular order, BTW.

 

Dark Pink Coolant after HG replacement:
When the Gasket Masters called me on how I wanted to proceed, he said my original head was fine, but said if I opted for a rebuilt head, his test drive experience was those w/ a rebuilt head seemed a bit peppier. I did not care about the 'peppier part at all. I was more concerned about the old school thought ('60s cast iron V8s), that a rebuilt head on an older lower end would stress the old rings and cause it to burn oil, so I told him to use the original head. After researching that old school rule of thumb from cast iron V8s, I learned it is not really an issued on modern alum. head/block engines due to closer tolerances and better metallurgy for rings these days. When I called back 45 mins later, he was already 30 mins. into reinstalling the original head, that was that.

One thing that was initially of concern, was that as I drove away after picking up the car, I realized I had not looked under the hood. The coolant in the reservoir when I dropped it at the shop was bright pink, just like new, just like it comes out of the Zerex 50/50 jug. They used Zerex to refill the cooling system after the repair. So when I pulled over, maybe a half mile from the shop and looked under the hood and saw a much darker pink color in the reservoir, I was concerned. I called the shop. I forget exactly what they said, but they said it was nothing to be concerned about. Doing some Chat GPT reading, AI thought 1) the shop most likely does not flush the cooling system, but just add coolant to replace what drained during the repair. Chat said that the old coolant, being exposed to the air, oxidizes. Also, that small amounts of carbon, dirt, debris probably fell into the water jacket. Between oxidation of the old coolant and a bit of debris dislodged from the head's removal, could account for the discoloration of the coolant. Chat said it was not a concern, but at ≈ 500 miles after the HG job, to drain the block and radiator, close the two drains, fill the system with distilled water, run until reaches operating temp., let cool completely, drain again. Then fill with proper 50/50 coolant.

Coolant preference: Toyota brand 50/50 vs. Valvoline's Zerex 50/50 brand:
Do you have a strong preference for Toyota vs Zerex coolant? When I do this engine coolant flush 500 miles after the HG job, I will also do the Inverter Coolant system.

Original head in good condition vs installing a rebuilt head:
@rjparker , in your opinion, if they had installed a refurbished head, would that have been a better choice for the long term life of the engine? I would have gladly spent another $350 for the refurb. head. I am not concerned that I did not go with the refurb. head, just curious of the choice you might have made for this 2013 PIP w/ 214k miles. BTW, since Covid, my wife only has to commute her 75 mile round trip to work one day per week instead of 5/wk from 2013 thru march 2020. So, going forward, the car may go 12-15k mi. /year. We are very glad to have it back on the road and are looking forward to many more year of service.

Oil Catch Can- I forget why Gasket Masters said they do not install 'oil catch cans'. Is there some reason not to install one? I'll be looking into installing an OCC.
Thanks