Cost Effective Head Gasket Replacement?

Usually to not .

 

I am not sure I would classify my solution as cost effective but I bought a cylinder head gasket kit, new cylinder head bolts, and a timing chain kit from Rockauto. I was able to do the work myself so I saved a lot of labor costs. Total parts cost was less than $400. However, I was not really impressed with the Rockauto parts so if I was to do it again I would probably use a different source, or at least select different options (Rockauto has several).

 

I'd get the Toyota engine overhaul gasket kit (around $250 USD, includes head gasket), replacement Toyota head bolts (maybe $100 USD), the proper 10mm double-hex driver for the head bolts (several available on Amazon, for about $20 USD).

A thread with some gasket masters head gasket repairs: New head gasket replacement video from Gasket Masters | PriusChat

And @NutzAboutBolts 3-part series, replacing his head gasket, near the bottom here: Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

Thoroughly cleaned the full EGR system, including intake manifold, while you're at it. Top two links in my signature have info on that.

The last link in my signature is for the full engine section of the repair manual.

(on a phone turn it landscape to see signatures)

 

rock auto.... they suck!
I just had to replace the rear shocks, klm, from them. Only a year or so old.
WHAT A ROYAL PAIN to fill out the stupid form. You have to BUY them, then get a
return label, pack the old ones up and return them. And they charge you return postage!!!!
AND shipping, again!!!

When there part fails, the buyer should not have to pay to return it!
It tool about 10 days before they got here. About 3 days for them to receive the bad ones.
And about 2 weeks before they "approved" the refund!!!! It is almost impossible to get a person to talk too.

These should NOT have failed so soon. I believe they are cheap chinese copies, that's
why they failed so quickly. You just don't know what you will get from them anymore.

Supposedly, lifetime warranty. But when they fail again, and I know they will, they will not warranty
them. They just refund they money, after you return them. Again, paying for postage!!!

They have really failed as a company, It's very sad. I had bought several item from them years ago,
without an issue. Returns for defective item was free.

They are just not worth it any longer. It "may" cost a little more from autozone, or any other parts store,
but no shipping charges, returns are simple. You still have to pay for the new parts, but returning the old
part is simple and money refunded quickly.

For the head gasket kit, Toyota is the best place to get it. You KNOW it will work. If you
get the correct kit that is. Some replace the Toyota head gasket with felpro, up to you.

 

To the OP -- the first answer from Tombukt, may be the correct answer. In other words, if the engine is already using oil, has high mileage, then the blown head gasket is the death knell.... You are getter off getting a used JDM engine from Japan and having a shop install it, assuming you are not able to do so. There are videos, but it would require a lot of tools and experience you probably don't have (just statistically, not meant as a personal attack or presumption)

But, if the engine is not using oil, has low mileage then perhaps.

I just did the HG on 2014. I bought the Toyota HG kit with all the various gaskets from an online Toyota dealer. $207 But I also decided on the Felpro HG, $40. By the way, the NutzaboutBolts video suggests that there are some missing stuff that you should get in advance. But my kit had all the missing parts, so now I own some extra stuff!

It was a big job and I am reasonably experienced. The only tools I needed to buy were the 8mm eTorx socket to remove studs on the EGR (which I owned 4 years ago, but seem to have lost), and the 10mm triple square bit for the head bolts. IF, you have all the other tools already, it means you probably have enough knowledge to try this. If you buying or renting a whole lot of stuff, then maybe you should not....

I got the HeadBolt specs from another post, courtesy of Mendel, and since I also own a good set of calipers and micrometer, I checked my head bolts and they were within spec, so I re-used them. In my opinion, a set of OEM Toyota headbolts that are within spec are probably better than a hit or miss aftermarket set.

And I had a machine shop vacuum test my heads (tested good) so they did not do the seals. They then surfaced the head, with their fancy machine, took only 1-2 thousands off, but it made the head look perfect. And cleaned everything up. $195 for all that.

Nutz mentions that a couple of the bolts are "tricky". That is an understatement. My XL sized hands (can palm a basketball) made a couple bolts a real challenge.... Nutz also just takes off the timing pulley with his bare hands. Real world on a Prius that will not happen. BUT, just like disc brake rotors, the nice engineers in Japan put a couple M8x1.25 holes in there, and to get a stubborn pulley off, you thread two bolts in there and gradually, alternating bolts, you can pop it off.

If you do it, watch several videos, and take notes. Its much easier if you have the torque specs written down so that you don't have to take your gloves off and find that place in the video. Make sure you have space, optimally a table to lay out tools. Get a pad of sticky notes and sandwich bags and keep careful notes about where sets of bolts came from. Example: Bag with waterpump bolts-- My label said: "Waterpump bolts, two long towards back, 3 short front" Several days will likely go by between teardown and re-assembly. If you don't organize, you will regret it.

Possibly the hardest part was getting the timing chain cover back on without smearing RTV all over the place. If I had it to do again, I would go buy two more cheap, soft grade metric bolts (I think the 12mm head bolts are m10, but not sure) and CUT the heads off. Then you could thread those long studs into the engine block and use the two studs to line up the timing cover first, and then "ease" it onto the block. It has guide pins, but they are short. Hope this makes sense.

Some videos say replace the timing chain. I just followed Nutz's approach, but he used wire to hold tensioner in place, another video show that if you get it correctly in place it stays. I did not need the wire trick he used. Rest of his tricks all seemed to be excellent.

 

There's 2 kits I think: one is the engine overhaul kit, likely more complete, and the other, forget the precise name, something like cylinder head kit.