299,999+ Mile Club

Thanks! We own great cars!!

 

Holy guacamole!

 

Im at 548,xxx right now.

 

That is impressive to say the least. I have 235k miles on my 2000 Echo and I can't imagine 2x that amount.

 

brownsnoutuk | PriusChat is on his second engine, so that does help push the miles on up there. When you look at the overall miles though it does show that the Prius is well built imo.

 

Hi all,
2006 GenII,500,000km,one owner(me)from new,Taxi,
Original HV Battery,
Transaxle oil change every 90,000km,
Use Genuine Toyota 5w30 every 15,000km,

 

Nice!

Any repairs ?

 

I just passed 350k mile with my '06. LIFETIME AVERAGE ~ 50.2mpg (75mph freeway, 55mph country, plus commuter stop-go - each about 33% of my miles).

Original: brakes, shocks (very rough ride now), HV battery, 12V battery, alignment
Mobil 1 Oil : Every 5k for first 100k miles, then at 10k from 100-200k, and every 15k miles after that (it now burns a quart every 2k miles, so it gets lots of fresh oil). Transaxle fluid replaced every 75k (never smelled burned). K&N air filter (original). 3M clear bra on most of lower front end.
All replacements: Warranty - MFD, water pump.
Non-Warrany - 3 sets HID bulbs (buy on eBay), tires every 80k miles, LED tail light bulbs, 2 windshields due to debris cracks (ready for #3)wipers.

Fog lights are completely cracked/shatter, , rear bumper repainted after parking lot scrape, 2 door dings, 1 worn driver side armrest.
Total cost of ownership $0.17 per mile (does not include insurance).
Yes, I'm ready to buy a new Prius V.

 

I replaced PCV and it's hose with Toyota parts. Engine lights went off (code was P5050 ?).
But oil burning stays same at 1qt/500 mi, even during 5 qt of 20W50. Now using 5w30 high mile oil, same result.
I plan to keep running as is. If worse, may get a newer engine replaced. I don't see smoke out of pipe. Mpg went down to 41 from 46 at this weather. Saw grease on spark plug. Is that the reason MPG down?
No other issues. Engine still going strong.
Finally passed 200K now.

 

Glad code went off, but looks like that did not cure the oil consumption problem .
Is that "grease" on the outside of the spark plug or on the porcelain insulator surrounding the electrode on the inside of the spark plug ?

If on the inside and it's an oily/sooty residue, that would tend to make the engine misfire and decrease mpg. Also, that residue points to your rings being worn which would be the basic cause of the oil consumption. You could try having the plugs replaced to see if your mpg comes back to normal, but it would not fix the basic problem if it is ring wear.
Good luck with it!

 

Grease is inside the plug.
How much it will cost to replace the rings, by individual mechanics? Or how many hours it takes?
And how much to swap a newer engine, you think?
Thanks!

 

Replacing rings usually requires a total removal and tear-down of the engine, so is quite expensive. Probably more labor hours than to swap engine for a used one. Not a mechanic but have done things like that in the old days when cars were much simpler than the Prius! My GUESS would be couple thousand for good used engine and then 500-1000 for an independent shop to do the switch, but you would have to be very sure they knew how to work on the Gen 3 model.
If you were near San Francisco, I would recommend you take it to Luscious Garage, which specializes in Prii and has their own website, etc. But you're in Chicago and I don't know dealers there. So first step is finding a Prius-qualified independent repair shop near you to assess the situation and give you price estimates for different solutions.

You could just change spark plugs and see how it goes, but the extra Unburned hydrocarbons caused by the oil consumption could also slowly damage the catalytic converter depending on how bad it gets. So it depends on whether your strategy is to "drive it into the ground" and just do what it takes to limp it along, or rather to "restore to normal" and drive it another 100,000 miles or more . Difficult choice and good luck whichever you choose!

 

I have a Gen 2 prius and the engine just died. The dealer confirmed broken parts of a piston found in the oil pan. They gave a quote of $3800 for an engine swap (newer engine has ~50,000 miles and comes with a 2 yr warranty).

I'm also wondering if this sounds right or VERY unusual. My 2006 has 190,000 miles. It may not be normal for this to happen at 200K, but is it within reason? Has anyone had this swap done at an independent shop? How much did it cost?

 

3800 seems steep. I bought a replacement engine for $500ish dollars with 108,000 miles on it. I replaced it in my driveway, If i remember right it took around 7-8 hours. I think toyota quotes 10 hours so you should figure in around $1000 labor. Where are you located?

 

The car is in New Hampshire. They are saying the engine is $800 and the rest labor and some misc. parts like plugs, belt, coolant change, etc. I agree $2500 for labor seems crazy. I've called around, and I don't think that I can get this done for under $2000 which is what I would have thought. Does anyone else have a confirmation on the hours that Toyota says it takes to change an engine?

I now have a delima because at $3970, I'm not sure I want to fix the old car which has some other body problems, and now seems small for my growing family. I'd really like a car with a receiver for bikes and still carry 4 passengers. In the 2006 Prius, that puts us way over the weight limit. I'm now considering just going with a new Prius V. It seems like a toss-up.

 

Im in Texas, so too far to be of any help. Regardless of what anyone may tell you, there is nothing too difficult about swapping out the engine on a prius. Just make sure you pull the Safety orange colored tab from the battery pack and leave it out until the job is finished. You'll have to strip away all the plastic trim covers under the hood and remove the hood, cowling and wiper motor. Remove the cover on the inverter and unscrew the electrical connections inside. Unbolt the inverter from the car and set aside. Starting at the Crankshaft sensor and the ac compressor unplug the wiring harness working your way up to the firewall behind the engine. unbolt the Exhaust manifold and remove the intake and throttle body. Pull the radiator hoses off the engine, leave all the hoses to the inverter alone. Support the engine and unbolt it from the trans. Support the transmission on a jack from beneath the trans. Remove the engine mount from the top and bottom rear. . Unbolt the trans mount and lower the trans about 2-3 inches so that the transmission mount stud will go beneath the mounting plate. Move the trans over to the drivers side about 1-2 inches. This allows you to pull the engine up through the top. Reverse the directions and put it all back together again. No draining the trans, no pulling the cv shafts and dropping the whole drivetrain.

I may have missed a step as its been a couple of years, but you should be able to do this yourself with an engine lift or similar. Just remember to plug the battery fuse back in and slide it up, this is something I missed and cause me hours of grief until Patrick helped me out.

 

misc parts would be the
belt
hoses
plugs
coolant
gaskets for intake, exhaust
thermostat and gasket
oil change
motor mounts if worn (my trans mount was split after 400k)

 

Thank you! Great précis for those of us who intend to go far in these machines.
I own a 2012 and have not found a Haynes manual for it yet, so Would you happen to know if the process would be essentially the same for the Gen 3? If the arrangement of major components is basically the same, I would hope the process would be quite similar and I can use your procedure when our Prius needs an engine replacement.

 

Rather than waste your money on a Haynes manual which is close to useless, I suggest you subscribe to techinfo.toyota.com since you have the capability and facilities to replace an engine.

 

Sorry I have no idea. I wouldnt be worrying about an engine on a 2012 yet, my 05 had 400k miles and then some physical damage from pieces of a spark plug insulator.