2014 diagnosis apparently just in

Keep the coolant topped up, but can’t say how long.
Could be quite a while if you’re lucky

 

Absolutely, I just hope mine doesn’t blow up until the market recovers

 

Once you start this rattling you're putting a load on the center section of the engine If it's done it enough times I wouldn't fix it I'd get an engine from another country from the JDM importers It's all here documented a bunch of times sure you can rebuild it absolutely put a head gasket on it and everything and then when it fails directly you have $4,000 in labor and parts and costs that are unrecoverable You can buy a whole engine for about $1,300 delivered to your door pay a local mechanic and very many markets down below the Mason-Dixon line about $800 to put it in now you have a 65,000 mi or so engine in your hundred plus thousand mile chassis I went ahead and got a transmission to go with it so both pieces are in this mileage range everything else on my chassis $250,000 but I know the two main parts that make up the system are pretty much low mileage so I should be good for a good while. With the rebuild I have no idea how it's going to go because unless these people are really good and look really close like they didn't on mine and I won't expect them to do on anyone else's because that's not how this game generally goes. Good luck

 

Found the problem- No coolant changes since initial ownership.

 

Prius Chat member @HelloMcFly travels from OKC and will come to you to install a new engine. Order you engine and have it delivered to your house. He arrives and replaces it within a day. Seek him out here if you want to go that route. With 286K miles and good service records you could try a EGR Cooler, Throttle body,intake manifold cleaning. That is the cheapest. Or buy all new parts listed $500 and a couple hours to install. Or $1,300 for a new stock engine. Or if you keep the car for another 10 years. Buy a rebuilt engine from The Hybrid Pit out in California for $2,600 and have that installed. They come with new Head Gasket, etc. etc. If I was going to keep the car I personally would do that. Sink another $4,000 and drive it for another 10 years.

 

Ah lifetime coolant fluid gotcha.

 

Toyota USA says (in the warranty and maintenance booklet, pdf available for download at Toyota Tech Info) for the engine* coolant:

100k miles or 10 years (whichever comes first)

immediately after the head gasket remedy, clean the EGR and intake manifold. See top two links in my signature.

* Toyota USA delays inverter coolant change to 150k or 15 years. FWIW, Toyota Canada says both at 100k or 10 years.

 

I’d take 70 $100 bills they he’s got and make one time payment on a Tesla 3.1

 

Yeah still thinking about that. Cash doesn't have to be a fistful of $100's; sounds a little melodramatic, not to mention a security risk.

 

Agreed. When I made one time payment on my Prius, I wrote a check. The dealership made a phone call to the bank branch to confirmed enough funds were able to back up the check prior to paperwork.

 

You think a Tesla whatever 3.1 or whatever you said is going to be a one-time payment and all those cars are having trouble all the time and leave on or whoever is squeezing back warranty as we speak or on a weekly basis or whatever things have really changed over there since I got bigger or more people bought them or or or. But I don't think that'll be a one-time anything I think that can have you paying a bit more actually especially with battery failures and who doesn't want to pay etc It's just not ready for prime time yet You going to have a hundred amp charger sitting out in your property ready to go I mean I know you can.? It's going to be a long time before gas or diesel goes anywhere a long time I don't care what any government says it's going to be a long time way past my time My daughter will be in pretty good shape until she's in her probably 50s 60s.

 

eek, i'm still on the original

 

our dealersprefer we finance over cash, much more profitable for them

 

Like supermodel signed to a modeling agency good shape? Or Instagram smartphone photos good shape?

 

You get a tesla too!!!

 

If you avoid hot weather and only drive it on short trips you can go years without it failing. But if you go too long with really rough running you can damage dampener in transmission.

And head gasket repair might not be ideal because Toyota screwed up big time with Gen3 engines because they used weak piston rings to improve MPG and at 258K you're probably already burning lots of oil per 1K miles.

So if you want to keep driving this car for another decade or longer you're gonna want to not bother with the headgasket and start searching for a low mileage Gen4 Prius Engine (2016-present) to install instead. This will be cheaper in the long run than doing head gasket and rings and having a constantly clogging EGR.

There's an Oklahoma guy on hear that can do this engine swap in a day in your driveway for $1600, which is far and away the best price you'll find anywhere.