How many miles on your Gen 3 and what Repairs / Maintenance have you done?

Bought with 40,000 miles on it so unlikely to have head gasket done.

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I used liquid molly pro engine flush, instructions are pour into oil and run on tickover for 10 mins (I always do 20 mins) then drain out and refill with fresh oil.
I use the same chemical for the piston soak, poured into Chambers neat and left alone while I went on holiday.
On return turned the engine over with spark plugs removed to expell any chemicals left in chambers( most will have drained down into oil pan) then refit plugs and run engine for 20 mins then do oil change.

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10,000 mile intervals and whatever oil is on offer that meets the right spec... Should gave also stated I have changed to 5w/30 oil

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EGR was scraped clean at 140,000 miles and manifold was also lightly cleaned... EGR cooler was cleaned with oven cleaner and jet wash..(1 hour job) but came out spotlessly clean.. Head gasket is original.

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What about certifications?

 

A little better after a little motorway run, going to see how this progresses

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Sorry lost me with that

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As far as I'm aware toyota require api sn spec oil so this should be suitable

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I agree. Piston soak ftw. Helped out my Prius and I tried it out on my honda string trimmer. Between cleaning the carbon off of the valves, valve seats, and rings, it seems to work well and very cheap. If anybody wants to try out a piston soak try e85.
I vote the pour it down the spark plug holes route before the actual engine flush. Crank it around a couple positions to get the valves, upper compression chamber etc...
Here is my over typed thread for reference:
Procedure at #36
Gen 3 Motor Issues - Piston Soak - Blowby Pressure | Page 2 | PriusChat

*Also I would add to clean the fuel injector tips. They get carbon buildup as well.

 

There are a lot of cars around now with low tension oil rings in them, this will work with most.

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Are you saying you use "e85 gasoline" as a Piston Soak solution?
[edit] Disregard. I read the linked thread.
But using a shop vac to suck out gasoline??? How does that work without an explosion???

1st, When you crank it over with the spark plugs removed aren't you spewing gasoline all over the engine compartment?
2nd, If you let it just soak past the rings so it theoretically cleans the rings, the ring lands and the oil control ring lands drain holes,,,
isn't this also cleaning all lubrication from the pistons and cylinder walls?
That first start up after this procedure must play Hel on those components because everything is dry.

I don't know what is left on the cylinder walls when a proper Piston Soak product is used...
But these products are all about dissolving the carbon crud that is on the rings and lands.

I have not performed a piston soak. My current '10 Gen3 has decent oil mileage.
But I have a friend that uses a Prius for work and racks up really high miles and he raved about the results of doing a Piston Soak.

 

Yeah it says not to do that but this is not the first time we've done it. But yeah keep some fire extinguishers around lol. I originally started using e85 because i wanted a cheap solvent/brake cleaner/ether starting fluid. E85 is 85% ethyl alcohol. It burns pretty clean and controlled compared to gasoline so pour some on a fire one time and see what you think. When i clean stuff up i just put the liquid in my fire starter can and use it to start bonfires etc... lol
Its just crazy how well it it melts varnished fuel. It is awesome. It melts sludge the same way as well.
Yes, Chevrolet is really the only one that has a tsb piston soak procedure but that is what they do they just let it squirt out. They just wipe it down afterwards and move on.

 

Everclear?

would be a waste though.

 

I thought a Piston Soak was a long process where a strong detergent slowly seeps past and through the rings to dissolve the carbon crud, especially on the oil control rings and their drain holes to the inside of the piston.

I didn't know some use it to clean the intake ports and valves. I never heard of cranking over the engine with the cleaning product pooled up on the pistons.

That's how my bud had it done. It can take days. Then he says the smoke is horrible for the first few minutes after start up.
Although, using any product like this would clean off the oil on the rings, pistons and cylinder walls.
That first start up must be hard on those components until oil gets back to where is should be....

 

Yeah its a solvent so the longer the better. The chevrolet process is naptha or some sort of mix and it says 2-3 hours max and then squirt it out. I did mine for 12-16 hours. I've seen on small engines and 4 cylinders it can be more than one thing. Sometimes carbon build on the valve stems reduces flow, or build up on the seats reduces sealing, build up on the compression chamber up top can make it ping on spec octane, apparently clogged fuel injectors makes gen 2 priuses have a start up knock etc.. It can do a lot. So when i say rotate its more or less to just put the crank in each position to get the solvent to touch every where and soak in. The cranking movement itself i don't think is that helpful.
So e85 is 1.99/gal right now so a "fifth" of it is around $0.40 lol. That some cheap clear son. Wouldn't recommend drinking too much though just a sip here and there to get you through the boredom of a piston soak...
I wish more professionals who do it for a living would try it, but most won't because of too much time involved and how to charge for it and if it doesn't work the customer doesn't want to gamble etc...

Also, I thought it would take longer but nah i guess not. It may be different on each machine. Give it a go.

 

I'm pretty sure the actual Piston Soak products are more than just naptha, or as you use, ethanol.
There are several brands of this type of product.
I question how long it takes for any product to slowly soak past the rings to get to the oil pan. Why would gm have a 'Max 2-3 hrs?
It's only touching the pistons and cylinders, on its way to the oil pan.
The idea is to loosen and dissolve the carbony crud from the rings, lands and drain holes.

Ethanol would/could evaporate quickly, no? I don't see how it works that great on dry carbon deposits, like exhaust valve stems.
Does anyone use it on an EGR cooler?

Either way, I don't have a horse in this race. So I'll shut up now.
My newest '10 w/124k miles appears to be getting ~7000 miles/qt. of oil mileage.
I'll be treating this one to ~5-7k mile oil changes. Maybe 10k if it's summer and there are lots of road trips.

We've been going on about this subject so long,,,, do you now get better oil mileage after using e85 as a Piston Soak detergent?

 

So you've never cleaned the EGR assembly?

Edit: Nevermind, I see you answered that question in a subsequent post.

 

@taxidriver50005 did you do the EGR cleaning yourself?

 

2010. Bought it at 94k, now 150k. No special interventions of any sort.

Used about a quart of oil every 5k when I got it. Oil changes are full synthetic on the severe-use 5k schedule (original owner did 10k, probably conventional oil). Seems to have arrested the consumption; it's about the same as it was.

Other failures:
•Toyota brand 12 volt battery, then another 12 volt battery 6 months later when that one failed. Toyota covered the cost under the battery's warranty.

•Wheel needed its edge sanded off when it started to corrode and slowly lose air in cold weather.

•Three minor exterior light bulbs.

•O2 sensor.

•New TPMS valve stem batteries; three of the four were exhausted.

•$5 push-to-switch lens for dome light broke.

It is worth mentioning that this was the most expensive year so far; the O2 sensor, 12 volt battery failures, and TPMS sensors all hit now. So, starting to age. It had to happen sometime.

Resale value footnote: Obviously the market is much of the reason for this, but the car is worth more now when I bought it. Even before the pandemic, this was true. I think Uber drivers discovered the Prius during our term of ownership.