2012 prius engine replacement

Sorry guys. I told yall I wasn't very good at documenting the work I do. Also I've only been able to work on this thing like 5 minutes a week it seems. Finally got this thing back together. The engine came out the bottom very easily and went back in pretty easy.. The only mistake I made was disconnecting the steering linkage closer to the engine.I just took the bolt out and assumed it would slide apart. I should have done it from on the inside. The shaft is telescoping and it would have been a breeze to separate. But instead when I dropped the cradle it didnt separate and it ripped the 2 telescoping halves apart ruining the shaft. I had to find another on eBay. I think I paid 60$. Also I noticed the heat recovery valve on the exhaust was cracked where the nipple was welded into the body. Looks like it took a hit. That explains the coolant loss I was experiencing. I figured it was a bad head gasket and water was going out the tail pipe(which it was in the form of vapor). luckily my neighbor is a tig welder. I assume it's 304 stainless. He' going to weld it up tomorrow. Once that bad boy is back on I can fill up the coolant and see if she fires up. I do have a concern. When building an engine they are pre-lubed for the initial start up so the bearings aren't dry for the second it takes for the oil to fill all of the passage ways. Well this isn't a newly built engine but it has been sitting for at least 6 months without oil in it. Is there enough residual oil for the start up? Is there a way to crank the motor without it firing to pump the oil? Am I overthinking this? I have alot of pictures I'll post some as soon as I get a chance.

 

Thanks chap. That's good to know. Helps make me a little less nervous for when I hit that button. I made sure my battery was fully charged before I started this project. It' been 6 months. Hopefully it still has enough charge.

 

That's what the engine looked like inside when I opened the valve cover. Had a lot of moisture where moisture shouldn't be. Also check out how scarred the camshaft is.

 

Aaron it was regularly run low on oil. The first time i seen the orange triangle of death was when I realized I had an oil consumption problem. The car is driven 100 miles a day and it didn't take long to get low again and sometimes we would forget about it and not realize until the triangle would start flashing in a turn. Hopefully we take better care of this brand new second hand engine.

 

Got the crack welded up. Hopefully I can install it today and see if she fires up.

 

Forgot to upload pic

 

She's alive!

 

Well she's running good. However I put new struts and its still making the same clunking noises as before.

 

I knew it was too good to be true. Now im getting a p0a80 code. The car runs awesome. Getting 47mpg(was getting 38-42 before engine swap),battery seems to be charging like it always has. The code has come up twice already. Once right when I got the car off the ramps and then on my 2nd trip in it. The first trip was about 50 miles. When the code occurred while going down the road I felt an instant power loss. Im guessing the computer does this? So I pulled over and cleared the code with my phone and it was back to normal. I drove home with no problems. My guess is the battery fizzled out while sitting for 6 months? I did read something about a bulletin saying something about the battery cooling fan getting dirty and restricting airflow causing the code. I think its a long shot. It wouldn't surprise me though. I live down a dirt road and with 4 kids the car is constantly dirty.

 

Going to do that tomorrow. And replace the rear shocks while I'm at it. I bought them with the struts.