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Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Dovely, Jun 12, 2023.

  1. Dovely

    Dovely New Member

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    I own a 2017 Toyota Prius touring IV
    Unfortunately at only 70k miles the engine blew up
    I didn't know what caused it initially but after Toyota investigated they
    told me their was no fluid in the reservoir. Just 24 hrs prior to this happening,
    I had taken my car to a former Valvoline, express type oil change drive thru svc center.
    The tech checked off that he checked the coolant and it was fine.
    So of course Toyota blamed me for letting it run w/no coolant in it.
    I had it towed to another shop that specializes in Toyotas. After investigating the problem he told me the
    engine is blown because no coolant in one of the reservoirs. This is the first time after owning this car for the last 6 years, was I made aware their are two coolant reservoirs' Its very likely that the tech at the oil change svc center didn't know about the two tanks either. He probably only checked one.
    Now what can I do with a 2017 Prius 70k miles & a blown engine.
     
    #1 Dovely, Jun 12, 2023
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You can put the blame back on Toyota for building such a crappy car. The car should not need any coolant if it didn't LEAK. I would ask Toyota to cover the repair, contact their corporate office for assistance
     
    #2 JC91006, Jun 13, 2023
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  3. FuelMiser

    FuelMiser Senior Member

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    This generation (2016-2022) is known to develop a coolant leak in the heat exchanger in the exhaust pipe. Beginning in this generation, the coolant is routed through the exhaust pipe to help it warm up faster. This leak is hard to notice because the coolant does not drip on the ground, but instead is burned up in the exhaust. This issue has been discussed, including the remedy from Toyota, on this Forum for quite some time; but, none of this helps you now.

    As far as what you can do now, (1) contact your insurance for any coverage, (2) contact any salvage yards or auctions (COPART.COM) that will take the car, (3) have your engine rebuilt, (4) investigate an engine swap with a rebuilt or salvage engine.
     
    #3 FuelMiser, Jun 13, 2023
    Doug McC likes this.
  4. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    This is one very good reason to avoid those fast lube places. And good luck with getting Toyota to cover damage to the vehicle because you failed to read the manual. You may have legal recourse concerning the lube joint.
     
    #4 Doug McC, Jun 13, 2023
  5. Dovely

    Dovely New Member

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    According to the previous post, reading the manual would not have told me how to fix a problem I didn't even know I had. The coolant had not leaked anywhere under my car or I would have noticed it. Secondly, their weren't any warning lights coming on. Lastly, the car never overheated. The coolant was just an item on the check list at the oil change place. I wasn't having any problems with the car as far as I knew and as far as the report the oil change company provided everything checked out ok.
    The next day the cars engine blows! I honestly don't see how I can be responsible for any negligence. I did everything I could have done as far as anyone other than maybe an ASE Certified Hybrid Mechanic could possibly see.
     
    #5 Dovely, Jun 13, 2023
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  6. Dovely

    Dovely New Member

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    #6 Dovely, Jun 13, 2023
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    there is only one reservoir for engine coolant. toyota is helping a lot of people with this repair cost because of the defect
     
    #7 bisco, Jun 13, 2023
  8. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    True, however in the Gen 4 (at least (I have no problem admitting that I don’t know that much about other Generations)), there are Two, (yep, count them, there are two), coolant reservoirs, that are readily visible, and for those ignorant of what they are Toyota publishes a manual to help them with that. However, they do have to read it to be enlightened.
    So the odds of them being on PriusChat diminishes by the moment.
     
    #8 Doug McC, Jun 13, 2023
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Well, no one should trust valvoline to check their fluid levels, or change their oil for that matter
     
    #9 bisco, Jun 13, 2023
  10. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    He didn’t trust Valvoline. Check the original post. Minor point but it goes to the reading ability point.
     
    #10 Doug McC, Jun 13, 2023
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    exactly
     
    #11 bisco, Jun 13, 2023
  12. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    :)
     
    #12 Doug McC, Jun 13, 2023
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Read it again, tech said he checked, op accepted the report
     
    #13 bisco, Jun 13, 2023
  14. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    The previous generation, Gen 3 (2010-2015), also routed coolant through an exhaust heat exchanger for faster warmup. Though its heat exchanger is at a different point along the pipe, and didn't seem to have this problem. It had clogging EGR coolers instead, also leading to engine damage.
     
    #14 fuzzy1, Jun 13, 2023
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  15. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Different how? Gen 3's is after both catalytic converters and before the resonator. Is that not where Gen 4's is?
     
    #15 ChapmanF, Jun 14, 2023
  16. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Oops, my bad. I somehow conflated this with where the EGR gas return is taken from, which was moved downstream.
     
    #16 fuzzy1, Jun 14, 2023
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    It’s not that they reinvented the wheel, it’s just a factory defect on some cars
     
    #17 bisco, Jun 14, 2023
  18. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Well, the Gen 3 and Gen 4 heat exchangers do look rather different. They seem to have a different supplier or just a different design. And somehow, the Gen 4 one seems to be much more prone to factory defects making it leak than the Gen 3 one was.
     
    #18 ChapmanF, Jun 14, 2023
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