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Swapping in a Gen 4 Prius' 2ZR Engine into the Prius v

Discussion in 'Prius v Accessories and Modifications' started by Tideland Prius, Sep 28, 2018.

  1. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    I would love to get a plugin one
     
  2. RightOnTime

    RightOnTime Senior Member

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    Since our Shop has done so many of these transplants, I decided to piece together a harness that is plug and play to extend that dang water temperature plug sensor. If anyone is interested please contact me at: [email protected]

    IMG_8324.jpg

    $12 which includes free shipping in the United States
     
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  3. RightOnTime

    RightOnTime Senior Member

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    @Ragingfit You know i am giving you 5 sets for free, just email me with your address ;)
     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    It’s tempting, but there may be a problem, with 3rd gen ECU interacting with 4th gen EGR valve.
     
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  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It's not just the valve. Engine researchers were exploring the different chemical combustion effects of catalyzed EGR (taking the gas from after the cat, which changes its chemical makeup), and Toyota moved to that between Gen 3 and Gen 4. Taking the gas from after the converter also means its pressure is lower, and the Gen 4 cooler and other plumbing had to be proportionately upsized just to maintain a comparable flow capacity.

    Running the Gen 4 plumbing from the higher-pressure source of the Gen 3 takeoff at the manifold will result in too much EGR being delivered. I've read about various attempts to add restrictions and reduce the flow, but so far I have never read one that ends with "and now I am happy with the way the engine runs." The engine operates over a wide range of pressure deltas from the exhaust to the intake, and the EGR valve opening map programmed into the ECM has to take all that into account, which could be a reason there isn't going to be a simple fixed restriction that would do the trick. If it were an electronic circuit you could just pick the right size resistor to add and make it equivalent, but I don't think gas flow through restrictions versus pressure has a nice linear formula the way electronics has Ohm's law.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    If the engine problems are the head gasket and lower, I’d be inclined to just do a new (third gen) short block. They’re around $2k USD?

    Thats essentially what @cnc97 did, albeit pulled from a low miles 4th gen salvage engine.
     
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  7. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    Thanks for that info. I'll be installing the new engine today and tomorrow. Once running reliably, I will look into doing the solar charger.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  8. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    Wow. Thank you so much for this info. I read somewhere that using the 4 gen is possible, but more difficult. I'll stick with the 3 gen.

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  9. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    I'm trying to comprehend the different 4th gen engines. My first one from eBay has a standard twist on oil filter. My recent one from the junk yard has a canister. The 2nd one is from a 2016 prius. The first I thought was 2016, but may be 2017 and up. What years are the plug-ins and does that engine have better specs? There's a 2zr and a 2zr-fxe I believe. Maybe those are the different identifiers.

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  10. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    Hey everyone. Need help. Fired up the new install today and it idles so rough it's about to jump out of the engine bay. Got this from junk yard. 31k miles. 2016. Newbie mistake. Did not check oil level before filling with new oil. I changed the cartridge filter and maybe an ounce of oil came out so I nice person-u-me(d) the engine was dry. I put in about 3 quarts and fired her over. Immediately loud knocking and engine trying to jump out of bay. After some digging around, I saw the oil on the dip stick was black. I'm doing this on my slanted drive so I jacked it up and leveled it off. The amount of oil on the stick was twice what should be in there. Meaning same distance of the full, past the full dot. I know, confusing. I drained the oil, made another run to wally world for oil. Actually I sent the wife cause I had to stay and play stare down with this challenging car. Topped it off right at full and was excited for a smooth fire up and, whamo, the same surging engine. Trouble code is P0010, vvt soleloid. I installed the one from the old engine because the new engine one got cracked so I figured that was it. I never revved the engine and only ran it for a max of 10 secs. Could I have caused permanent damage? Any ideas? Calling in sick tomorrow so I can get this figured out. Any help is appreciated. 3rd gen egr cooler. Previous engine was still running, but barely. Blown head gasket. So I assume again, that the harness is good. Thanks in advance.

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  11. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    Yes! I actually made one also by taking the old temp sensor from the old motor and cutting the connector off the harness. Not as pretty as yours, but gets the job done. Great job.
     

    Attached Files:

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  12. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    Can anyone port how they moded the missing bolt to secure the airbox to the engine I have read a L braket. Can anyone post some pics? I just cam back from a trip to vegas and the car perforemd admirably. but the air box is making noise and needs to be secure.
    Thanks in advance.
     
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  13. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    What am I feeling here. So after a successful swap I am now constantly dealing with with what I call panic mode.
    If you have ever driven down the road and suddenly lost power your brain says Oh snap where can I safely park this car with now power and only the momentum I have. SO to elaborate when I drive I feel the transfer of power from engine to trans, on the freeway for a split second if feels like loss of power, speed never changes and then a split second the springs bounce back and power returns. is it just me or this engine OR is it a weak damper. I think my damper is weak due to the beating it got when I tried to diag the bad head gasket. or is it just how this goes with this engine swap that you can feel the loss of power as the damper springs catch up. I really think its the damper, sometimes when the engine starts I hear a slight clunk which I think is the engine over powering the springs as they are weak, they just dont have the cushion to handle the sudden start. In any case I plan on changing it this weekend and require me pulling the engine. Just wanted some thoughts on this before I go through his process.
     
  14. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Don't think I would pull the engine until something more definitive happens. It is likely to be a complete waste of time. Maybe you should grab another car and go test drive a few of the same gen. If you really want good advice, change your profile to the correct year (now shows a 2004) and be sure to note in your questions what you are running for an engine. Not everybody knows your story.
     
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  15. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    Ok made the changes sorry about that oversight. Now about test driving I dont think I will get a good sense of what is normal or not I can only go based on what my card did with the original engine where It was very smooth. unlike this one. that being said if I test drive other cars that have original engines I really wont be able to get a good sense of normal since gen 3's dont have gen4 engines, so hard to say I think. but thanks I appreciate the response.
     
  16. Ragingfit

    Ragingfit Active Member

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    Sweet !!!!
     
  17. Ragingfit

    Ragingfit Active Member

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    They sound terrible when you start 'em for the first time.
     
  18. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    Wow yours idol's really good mine does not idle like that when it's idling it sounds a little rough and it gets rougher when it starts to charge the battery any suggestions
     
  19. johnnychimpo

    johnnychimpo Active Member

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    So let me get this right the engine had no oil or had too much oil when you started it and is this correct you got it from the junkyard with 30,000 miles on it what did they think was wrong with it
     
  20. seeker311

    seeker311 Junior Member

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    So. I assumed the oil was drained. It was not. The car was rear ended. Brain fog and didn't check the oil before I filled her up. So, my fix, checked the spark gap, they were way too close. Opened them up a bit and fixed the issue. She's running smooth now, except I'm getting random hybrid cel. Dr prius shows 15% hybrid life left. Need new battery. Ugh, money pit.
    Still driving 2012 V. Driver her 4.5 hours, then on the way back, it had a melt down. Shut down like yours did. Got it to start backup and drove 4 hrs with whole dash lit up. I was uneasy the whole way home. Got home, checked cels and said the hybrid system was bad and battery needed replaced. I was driving hills and may e the hybrid batt got over worked. My fan works and is not dirty. I was also missing the fas shrouds. I got them from my local junk yard and hopefully that helps the cooling. My battery was bought used from vehicle with 100k miles. It came with the purchase of the car. I agree that you should not rip the motor. Mine also does that clanking too when I engage drive. I think it's normal? Or maybe the gen 3 damper springs are a bit weaker? because the gen 4 has only 3 springs I think and maybe they are stronger? Let us know what you decide. Till next time..

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.