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2010 Prius Blown Engine - What are my options?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Rocketboy235, Oct 7, 2017.

  1. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Try OxyClean solution, as thick as you can mix, with the hottest tap water you can muster. Just keep one end plugged, pour it in through the other end. Let sit an hour or two, dump, hot rinse water, repeat about five times.
     
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  2. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    I'll try the oxyclean! Would it help or not to boil the water?
     
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  3. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Boiling water will have a higher temp (unless you keep your water heater at a higher setting than 120-130 F), which would allow for more energy transfer to the cleaning solution.

    Good luck and keep us posted (y).
     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Boiling water is overkill imho, and might complicate things, be dangerous, damaging. Hot tap water was good enough, quite effective. Came out looking like new.

    I would use on the cooler only, which is stainless steel. The valve is mostly aluminum, which may react with the OxyClean.

    Kudos to @mjoo for this method btw.
     
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  5. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    purple power works best
     
  6. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Since the chemicals employed are the same, and the cooler sees temperatures close to boiling water (100 C) during normal operation, shouldn't be too much risk;).

    But if higher temperatures help displace the carbon deposits faster, there is an advantage :).

    I have a spare that I need to clean (it might get used in about a month at our next meetup:whistle:), so I'll give the boiling water a shot(y).
     
  7. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    You really should try the oxiclean. It beats PP. You can also use it on your laundry and dishes

    PP is poisonous. Handle it with gloves and outside where it's well ventilated. Even the vapors seek lipids and can circulate into your brain. There are no such concerns when using oxiclean.

    Pixel XL ?
     
    #27 mjoo, Oct 8, 2017
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2017
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    You can see it working, it starts foaming out of the top, with a crust of crud.
     
  9. Wrekless

    Wrekless Member

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    Look at danlatu's head gasket thread, I think it is stickied. He used a drill with a copper wire that is softer than the metal in the egr cooler to open the passageways. Then the cleaner can get in and do its job. He has pics and details in the thread.
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I tried a copper wire too, though I think it's gauge was just a touch too heavy, and there seem to be a lot of little tangs or something in the grillwork passages. At the outset I put it on a drill, but immediately sensed it was going to jam and torsion itself into two pieces, leave a broken remnant inside, so stuck to doing it by hand.

    I put a small loop on one end of the wire to act as a handle, and deburred the other end. Then just by hand worked the wire through. I found if it jammed, rotating it a bit would get it by the obstruction.

    Still, mine wasn't badly clogged, and I think the Oxy did the most of the cleaning. The wire might of helped though.
     
  11. Huinzol

    Huinzol Junior Member

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    The same thing happened to me today. After I press acceleration pedal something blown under the engine, I stopped immidiately and I saw plenty of oil under the car.
    The worst this is that I have cleaned everything and made all the replacements in the engine :(
     

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  12. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    Wow
    Where did the chunk of engine come from? I didn't see it in your other pictures.

    At what mileage did this happen?

    Pixel XL ?
     
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  13. amos

    amos Active Member

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    Yep
    Thats a real wow.
    this is toyota. Not AMC gremlin or ford pinto
     
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  14. SteveMucc

    SteveMucc Active Member

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    yup, sounds like you blew a piston rod. Engine is toast. Best bet if you want to keep the car is to buy a replacement a junk yard and throw that in.

    Had the same thing happen to me driving in England 25 years ago in my beater Nissan Micra (it was an ex-pat assignment, my wife got the good company car and I got the beater (didn't make sense to buy/lease a decent car when I was only going to be there for a year).

    I started to feel a vibration coming from the engine while doing 75 down the M4 (main superhighway connecting Bristol to London). I hovered my foot over the clutch and the moment it blew I immediately pressed the clutch. Coasted for a good 1/2 mile (downhill) until I managed to come across one of their emergency call boxes, pulled up right next to it, rolled down my window and called for help. Had the car towed straight to the junk yard.

    Felt a bit bad though, right after it blew I looked in the rear-view and saw a rather large stream of parts come off. turns out it knocked the alternator right off the engine which was a bit of a big piece to leave on the highway. Don't know if anyone else hit it or not as I was a bit busy at the time.
     
  15. Huinzol

    Huinzol Junior Member

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    IMG-68b7af5a2e2675e777037bc91085cfc2-V.jpg That's what happened. By the way am I banned or something? Couldn't access for forums, my account, tries from many browsers.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  16. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Not banned
    Just regular website flakiness here.
     
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  17. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Head gasket failed, cylinder filled with (uncompressible) coolant, broke piston arm or connections?
     
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  18. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    The car or the website? :(
     
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  19. Huinzol

    Huinzol Junior Member

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    The main reason why this happened is unknown, the speed was low, the road was clean and flat, sunny day, +8c (46.4F). It's good that it was in the city, no accident, no one was heart. Because I didn't found all the parts from the engine, so something I left on the road.
    As I said only about month ago I have changed the oil 5w-30, air filter, spark plugs, coolant G12 red. After this I was doing some inspection almost every day, the oil was just in the middle, it was clear and without signs of mixing with coolant or something. The coolant reservoir was without bubbles. Also I did diagnostics with Techstream, which was also ok. Absolutely no signs of any breakdown which is coming :)

    But to be honest as I mention before I had a blown Headgasket, the coolant was going inside the engine. The sound was terrible when engine started to work. So it was sure that I suppose to change the whole engine, not just the upper side. That was mistake, maybe the piston was cracked, it wasn't working as it should be. So I just killed the engine right now:)

    Engine is around 450Euros, 180Euros for job. But anyway I love my prius :) Hope to enjoy him after fixing for a long time, still many upgrades are waiting ;)
     
  20. Rocketboy235

    Rocketboy235 Junior Member

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    In case you guys were wondering what ever happened to my car for those who have been following (though it has been almost a year... you can check out here: Mysterious Hybrid System Light? | PriusChat)

    Apologize for necroposting in advance but just wanted to keep you guys in the loop.
     
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