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2010 Prius 100,000 miles engine blew

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by ilovemy2010prius, Jul 5, 2022.

  1. ilovemy2010prius

    ilovemy2010prius New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2022
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    Location:
    Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hello, on Saturday I was getting on the freeway and heard a loud pop. My car started vibrating/shaking, I saw a "low engine oil pressure" light come on, and I noticed the back of my car was smoking white. I pulled over immediately and turned off the car. There was a giant trail of oil behind it too. Oil was pouring out from under the front of the car. I've never had anything like this happen before.

    I had it towed to the Toyota dealership I do my annual oil changes at. I read online where people had this happen because their oil pan/filter/plug fell out and oil poured out everywhere and caused damage. I didn't bring this up to the dealer, I just had them inspect it and no mention of oil was brought up. My car has never leaked or burned oil before. There really have been no problems with it since I bought it in 2017.

    They told me "#4 cylinder head gasket blew causing water into motor and exploded #4 cylinder put 2 holes in engine block." They said it would be $7,000 total to replace it. $4,000 for a used engine with A LOT more miles (150,000!) than my car currently has, and the rest is labor.

    I don't know what to do. That is a very expensive repair and I never thought my engine would explode with only 100,000 miles. Can someone please explain what exactly happened and why this happened? Any post I read has cars with more than double my miles needing their engine replaced...
     
    #1 ilovemy2010prius, Jul 5, 2022
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2022
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    8,055
    1,395
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    JDM engines Belleville NJ I think way better mileages and prices
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,662
    38,207
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    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Third gen (2010 through 2015 model years) introduced an Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system, which has proven very prone to carbon clogging, and head gasket failures follow. Toyota so far has paid lip service to the phenomena, downplaying the seriousness and frequency of the problem.

    here’s just one of countless threads here on the subject:

    What is the chief cause of head gasket failure on the gen 3 | PriusChat

    see first link in my signature regarding EGR.

    Try contacting Toyota USA. Your failure is exceptionally early; might carry some weight. There is a warranty extension, and even if you’re passed it’s limit, there may be under the table extensions; this is a black eye for Toyota.