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Head Gasket or Not?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Bozko81, Nov 16, 2018.

  1. Bozko81

    Bozko81 New Member

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    Hi all,

    So my wife and I just purchased a 2010 Prius and we are first time Prius owners. Unfortunately, we have not had a good experience thus far due to mechanical issues and are between a rock and a hard place so I am hoping for some advice if anyone has had similar issues to ours.

    We purchased from a used car lot as is with 199k miles on it. One owner vehicle, what appeared to be a clean CarFax etc. About 200 miles into owning the vehicle I turn it on one cold morning and it shakes pretty violently and check engine light comes on. I had felt it vibrate a little bit upon start up before this incident (with no check engine light) and read up to find this was somewhat normal with this Priuses. My bro n law and I went through coils and unplugged them one by one to find what we thought was the bad one and got a diagnostic at auto zone which stated there was a misfire on cylinder 3. Went back to salesman we bought. car from and he said he would cover mechanic labor on new ignition coils and plugs if I bought parts, which I did. Replaced all 4 coils and plugs. Car seemed fine for a few days, but began shaking upon start up even worse when engine kicked in. (This does not happen while driving, only when gas engine kicks in.) Brought it back to the shop that did work and they did a diagnostic which said misfire on 3 and 4 cylinder. In turn, they are saying its the head gasket that needs to be swapped.

    My big question is, how reliable is this info and is there a work around with any other things I have read on this forum. I've seen a lot of posts about the EGR, Fuel Injectors, Oil Catch, etc. I don't know if we should jump in head first to a head gasket swap without testing these other things first. Called Toyota dealership which had been on Carfax report for maintenance history to find that they had misfires during last service and had replaced manifold and manifold gasket as well along with some other misfire issues (This is really frustrating because when I previously called they said only a plug had been swapped out and didn't give details of everything else). We bought the car "As Is," so we are pretty screwed when it comes to any sort of litigation or warranty even though this is obviously fishy this all happened 200 miles after buying car. I am just trying to figure out the next best thing I can do as I don't want to spend 2k to have a new head gasket installed and still have issues. I tested one thing, by unplugging EGR cooler, but shaking was still there upon start up so I am assuming that is not the issue. I am not mechanically inclined at that big of a job nor do I own a heated garage and it is now winter here. Will the head gasket for sure solve our problem or should I trouble shoot with more minor elements first or do I trust the shop? I'm also seeing to just replace engine if head gasket is failing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
     
    #1 Bozko81, Nov 16, 2018
  2. xerox6135

    xerox6135 Member

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    The true way to really see if its the head gasket in my opinion is to pull the plugs . Get a bore scope and look into the cyclinder and see if you see coolant laying on top the pistons . If no coolant is seen pressure test the cooling system to a out 15lbs and look into each cyclinder one more time to check for coolant. I can almost guarantee its a leaking head gasket with the mileage you have on this vehicle. Parts are around $100.00 labor is the killer

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #2 xerox6135, Nov 16, 2018
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  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Do a leak-down test?

    Regarding the EGR, check the inside of the EGR pipe first. It's relatively easy to access, and will give you an idea of the condition of the rest. If it's never been cleaned, at 199K miles it's virtually guaranteed to be pretty clogged. Hope you resolve it.

    See @NutzAboutBolts video #16 here:

    Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

    If you clean the EGR, you really need to clean the intake manifold as well, it's the final leg of the EGR. And yeah, OCC.

    EGR & Intake Manifold Clean Results | PriusChat
    Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock! | PriusChat
     

    Attached Files:

    #3 Mendel Leisk, Nov 16, 2018
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  4. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    The head gasket may still be OK, but it won't stay OK unless you fix the underlying issue which is liquid entering the combustion chamber. If you pull the air filter and open the throttle plate, you'll probably see a big puddle down in the intake manifold. That's what the oil catch can is meant to prevent. Folks here have found that cleaning out the EGR circuit when it clogs helps with that and so does the oil catch can.

    A blown head gasket won't cause the shake just on start-up. It would always shake. And you'd see smoke in the exhaust as well as coolant in the oil.

    Even if you did have a bad head gasket, you wouldn't do much good replacing it if you don't fix what blew it out. I would first clean out the EGR circuit, and put in an oil catch can while you have it apart. Then see if it still shakes.
     
    #4 jerrymildred, Nov 17, 2018
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  5. Bozko81

    Bozko81 New Member

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    Thanks for all the pointers folks, much appreciated!

    I know for a fact the intake manifold and gasket were replaced very recently because of calling dealership on car fax report. They had done the work within the past 1000 miles, so I’m assuming I can write that off as resolved. As far as the EGR, I unplugged it and shaking still occurred on start up when engine fired up, so does that mean I can also rule out the EGR and assume it’s a larger problem? Could it be as simple as the fuel injectors? I’ll try to get a hold of a borescope and check that first and move onto an OCC before assuming it’s the worst case scenario. Wish I had a heated garage to do these checks myself but I don’t have that luxury at this time of year in MPLS. Again, I’ve seen people post on some other threads that an engine replacement is going to be a better option than head gasket in case it’s progressed beyond that. Thanks!
     
    #5 Bozko81, Nov 17, 2018
  6. srbright

    srbright Junior Member

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    2012 Prius V with 177k miles. I’ve babied this car and got the blown head gasket news. Rough idle and bad vibration at cold start and when gas engine came on from ev mode. After running it would go away. Check engine light. Dealer change plugs and kept getting misfire on same cylinder. They saw a hint of coolant. Mine was not low though so I thought had to be super small leak or gap in gasket. $35 can of “k seal ultimate head gasket repair” fixed mine!!!. Dealer quoted used engine 2500 or new 3500 plus labor at nearly 10k. Car KBB is around 6500. This stuff saved me $$$. Thought I’d share to hopefully help someone out. Nothing to lose to try it before dropping serious cash on repair or new engine.
     
    #6 srbright, Aug 11, 2019
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  7. GrGramps

    GrGramps Active Member

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    Srbight, That's great news! How many miles have you driven the car since the addition of the "K Seal"?
     
    #7 GrGramps, Aug 12, 2019
  8. Prius_Angie

    Prius_Angie Active Member

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    Please provide an update?
     
    #8 Prius_Angie, Feb 22, 2020
  9. Gasket masters

    Gasket masters New Member

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    ITS THE HEAD GASKET
     
    #9 Gasket masters, Oct 6, 2020
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  10. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    That's not how you diagnose coils. You have to move them around, and move the plugs, clear codes, see if issue moves. Check resistance in the could to spec and check compression next. Look at coolant level. Then pull plugs and pressurize the cooling system w test kit and crank motor. See if coolant sprays up. Also use a CO detector kit. Injectors never go bad on toyota but check anyway by moving them. You are not a mechanic. And head gasket leaks on this motor are rarely anywhere other than cyl 1 or 2. Take it to a qualified mechanic. I gotta warn you, if you're not a mechanic, this car is no place to start. And autozone code readers are not a diagnosis. You aren't going to like me for saying all this to you but it's true you'll blow a month of Sundays and still not have a definite diagnosis. Just take it to someone who is qualified. Because if you try this on your own, you'll agree with me later.... Even though you won't want to.

    Here's a head gasket leak from a prius job we did last week. We just put a 15 motor w 40k since it burns oil too. Look at those oil scraper rings. Packed solid
     

    Attached Files:

    #10 douglasjre, Dec 25, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2020
  11. DavidDavid

    DavidDavid Junior Member

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    https://youtu.be/Rfwg8STWJzM

    T    his is good video to tell if your head gasket is bad



    QUOTE="douglasjre, post: 3107756, member: 44731"]That's not how you diagnose coils. You have to move them around, and move the plugs, clear codes, see if issue moves. Check resistance in the could to spec and check compression next. Look at coolant level. Then pull plugs and pressurize the cooling system w test kit and crank motor. See if coolant sprays up. Also use a CO detector kit. Injectors never go bad on toyota but check anyway by moving them. You are not a mechanic. And head gasket leaks on this motor are rarely anywhere other than cyl 1 or 2. Take it to a qualified mechanic. I gotta warn you, if you're not a mechanic, this car is no place to start. And autozone code readers are not a diagnosis. You aren't going to like me for saying all this to you but it's true you'll blow a month of Sundays and still not have a definite diagnosis. Just take it to someone who is qualified. Because if you try this on your own, you'll agree with me later.... Even though you won't want to.

    Here's a head gasket leak from a prius job we did last week. We just put a 15 motor w 40k since it burns oil too. Look at those oil scraper rings. Packed solid[/QUOTE]
     
    #11 DavidDavid, Oct 11, 2022
    douglasjre likes this.
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