Head Gasket Replacement Shop Recommendations- San Francisco Bay Area

I hope fellow Prius owners that learn about their Prius having a leaking head gasket, and also have the OCD desire to know exactly what this means and what to expect to get it repaired will find the descriptions of my learning process, and subsequent pictures from the head gasket repair process to be helpful.

I am very grateful for being pointed to an absolutely amazing and affordable shop (Gasket Masters in Manteca, CA). Thank you all here at Prius Chat, especially @rjparker and @Mendel Leisk , for your diagnostics, knowledge and kindness in helping forum members like here! You all are unsung heroes, in my mind. While I don’t have the knowledge of the professional mechanics and Prius enthusiasts on this wonderful community’s forum, I enjoy hopefully adding some value by learning as I go and sharing the minutia of my learning process. For many, my posts are definitely TLDR and usually TMI! But hey, if there is one or two other ADHD/OCD types on this site like me (I suspect so, LOL ;o), I hope my TMI obsession helps someone here on this great community.

Gasket Masters in Manteca removed the head and both the block and head had no warp, Yeah! The water pump's plastic covered magnet was cracket, so they replaced the WP with an Aisin PN WPT-190, $352 (Aisin makes the Toyota WP, so this is the same exact pump), the Thermostat (Water Inlet Sub-Assy w/ thermostat PN 16031-37010 $70), PCV Valve (AutoPart Internat'l PN 1901-480235 $8), 2 Gal. Zerex 50/50 Coolant $12 ea., Fel-Pro HG PN 26515PT $52, 4 Denso Plugs, $12 ea., Toyota Oil Filter PN 04152-YZZA6 $6.
Labor- 'Head Gasket & Water Pump' 15.85 Hrs, $1,659 (that's only $105/ hour! They did not list a charge for the synthetic oil installed. Tax $50. Out the door price, $2,270. I am VERY pleased with that price. Ectatic, really!

Gasket Masters is the only shop I have ever encountered that not only does not mark up the prices of parts they install, but actually seem to charge the price they pay, sometimes lower than retail parts stores, due to the volume they buy I guess. EX. I paid $18 for Denso plugs at O'Reilly's. RockAuto lists $10.39. They charged me $12! Can't beat that. Their Labor rate is $105/ hr. That low surprised me too. )

Now for the FUN part, Pictures: To not put too many pics in one post, I'll attach (8) to this post. [3 of the head Gskt, 3 of my head, 2 of my block]. The next post #43 will show (8) more pics of various parts removed/ replaced. The third post #44 will show pics of what you do NOT want to see! A Prius V's not good result of a bent rod. (

 

Here are pictures of my carbon'ed up EGR Cooler, PCV Valve, Spark Plugs, Thermostat, Water Pump w/ cracked magnet.

 

A Prius V was in the repair bay when I pulled up for my Friday morning 9:00am diagnostic.

My HG repair did end up running into Saturday, because the poor guy’s Prius V, after tear down, Cyl 1 had a bent rod! Not the result you want to hear. ( That guy had to opt for the $3,250 refurbished engine option. Not a JDM swap, but swapping in a Refurbished engine (checked-out block, with a rebuilt head installed on it). Andres said his car had been maintained poorly. The pictures reflect that.