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2011 with 280k miles, do the water pump?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by koukilights, May 18, 2023.

  1. koukilights

    koukilights Junior Member

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    I'm about to move 1500 miles into an apartment and won't have the space or tools to do repairs on my prius if anything were to break. Should I do my water pump and maybe even clean our my EGR while I have the space and tools to do so?

    So far it's been running great, 45mpg on the highway, no coolant consumption, oil level is still good between 5k mile change intervals. But I know that the water pumps on these go bad around 150k and I have no idea if I'm just 130k miles overdue for it to go bad or if it's been replaced once before in its life.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Yes do it now........You should read your own post, it's telling you to do it
     
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  3. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    A cat shield is needed
     
  4. koukilights

    koukilights Junior Member

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    Anything else I should do while I'm in there? I did spark plugs 20k miles ago, injectors around 10k miles ago. PCV valve 10k miles ago. Do I need new gaskets to do the EGR cooler? Or can they be reused?
     
  5. Pdaddy

    Pdaddy Member

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    Mine crapped out at 210 and its easy to do since its electric. Would be good opportunity to change the coolant as well. Cat anti theft plate is good investment!

    SM-G960U ?
     
  6. Pdaddy

    Pdaddy Member

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    Have you cleaned the EGR cooler before?

    SM-G960U ?
     
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  7. koukilights

    koukilights Junior Member

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    Never cleaned it before, I took the little elbow pipe off around 30k miles ago and it was dirty but not clogged, and I haven't had a CEL or anything like that. But I guess if the coolant is going to be drained for the water pump, may as well go in there and clean out the cooler too.
     
  8. koukilights

    koukilights Junior Member

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    At first I thought you just threw out a random comment, but the more I think about it the more that it makes sense. I'll be parking in the apartment parking lot or on the street so definitely don't want to wake up to a stolen cat. I'll get one on order and put it in when I'm doing the water pump.
     
  9. Pdaddy

    Pdaddy Member

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    My egr cooler was clogged all up and threw no codes I think around 180K. I ended up using a heavy duty coat hanger wire to run out all the holes. Hopefully yours will not be so bad.

    SM-G960U ?
     
  10. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    I used to live in an apt a year before the lock down, once the lock down began the cat thiefs came out in droves. I warned every Prius owners to get a cat shield and or find good shooting angles toward their Prius parking spot.
     
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  11. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    All the service you did less than 20k miles ago, you don't have to repeat them. If you are skilled enough, I would do all these services while you can DIY.

    1. Change brakes
    2. change struts (buy the complete unit so it's easy)
    3. change transaxle fluid
    4. change coolant if it's over 50k miles since your last replacement
    5. change water pump
    6. add a catalytic converter shield
    7. Clean EGR and intake manifold (get a new manifold gasket)

    That's about it, all in a days work!
     
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  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    How long have you had it? Could someone else have cleaned it, or rebuilt the engine? 280k miles without a blown head gasket is pretty astounding.
     
  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    We made 230 on the persona. Without issue and without any knowledge of the ZZ engine weakness. Had I known it might have been possible for it not to happen but I doubt it I seriously doubt it I think it's just inherent in the design. Now when I do the EGR stuff I have extra pieces and I send them out to my buddy shop who can tank them glass bead them whatever it takes to make them like new again so all the carbon and build up is literally blasted out of the tubes holes and ways when I'm handed back my intercooler or EGR cooler it looks brand new inside Nice gray color like it was when new.
     
  14. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    That pipe will not clog up. "IF" it did, they engine likely would not run, or run well.
    If you use oven cleaner and a pressure washer it will clean out fairly easily.
    Yes, get new gaskets. They are very inexpensive from Toyota.
    Do not use the oven cleaner on the aluminum parts! Only on the stainless steel cooler
    and that short pipe.

     
  15. MikeDee

    MikeDee Senior Member

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    Hmmm.... 280K miles without cleaning the EGR system and the head gasket isn't blown? More proof that the EGR system has nothing to do with head gasket life.

    IMO with that many miles, it will be like sticking a finger in the dike. So many systems/parts are approaching end of life. I wouldn't drive a vehicle with that many miles on it other than around town.
     
    #15 MikeDee, May 19, 2023
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I wouldn't rush to conclusions, without more info from OP; don't think he's first owner:

     
  17. MikeDee

    MikeDee Senior Member

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    Only a subset of Prius Chatters do EGR cleaning as a preventive maintenance. Dealers don't and Toyota is silent about it so my money is on that this vehicle never had the EGR system cleaned.
     
  18. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    It depends on how the car is driven. From reading on here, the head gaskets that go
    with less mileage are mostly city drivin. The ones with mostly highway miles go further.

    This weekend I changed my headgasket. 301,676 miles. I knew it start started leaking a
    few hundred miles earlier. So I caught it right after it went.
    85-90% of my driving and the previous owners driving was highway.
     
    #18 ASRDogman, May 19, 2023
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
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  19. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    You're saying your head gasket was leaking and you just changed it, right? That's a pretty good run.

    How many times had you cleaned the EGR?
     
  20. koukilights

    koukilights Junior Member

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    It is possible I suppose. I bought the car 3 years ago with 240k miles on it from a guy who flips cars. He didn't provide any work history paperwork or even the registered owner's information so there's no way for me to know.

    My only guess as to why people think a clogged EGR cooler could blow a head gasket would be that the ECU is expecting a smaller explosion in the cylinder due to expecting inert exhaust gas to be present instead of 100% fresh air, so it would inject fuel and ignition timing which would result in a bigger boom and more stress on the head gasket.

    That's true that it is a high mileage car, and I'm not thrilled to be taking it on a long trip, then having it as my sole daily driver with no where to work on it. But it's how it has to be. I have no clue the history of the battery pack either and I'm hoping it doesn't crap out on me when I'm out there for at least the next few years.
     
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