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Another head gasket

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by mattbatson, Jan 28, 2023.

  1. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    Hello again… it’s been a minute

    bought a 2012 about 1.5 years ago with 130k
    Immediately did water pump, egr cooler, thermostat, intake clean and OCC

    now at 187k (I drive a lot) I found radiator reservoir almost empty
    That morning I had the death rattle. Which was first ever in that car

    so start looking for leaks to see if it was that… noticed idle picked up a little and slight smell of coolant at exhaust

    I was on a road trip down in Florida and 800 miles from home

    call Tampa hybrid
    They say they can ship it for 150 and do the head gasket for 2500. Which includes complete clean of egr cooler

    said they use the felpro gasket as it is an upgrade from OEM

    said I should get another 100k or more out of the car once the gasket is done

    think I caught it early enough to avoid other damage

    I’ll keep ya’ll updated with the results
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i think you're in good hands
     
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  3. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    I think so!

    I will let ya’ll know how it goes

    I never did actually confirm it was the head gasket. We will see what they find
     
  4. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    Well it’s already done

    he had 8 other third gens in the shop as well

    all for head gaskets

    he cleaned the egr cooler and throttle body as well

    warranty for one year

    2600 well spent

    hope to get it after I book a flight in about a week

    hopefully she runs another 190k
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Keep on the EGR and intake cleaning. Say every 50k.
     
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  6. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    Yep
    I had about exactly that many miles on the egr clean when head gasket went

    I think it was just time at 190 k miles

    I left a five star Google review for Tampa Hybrids …due to the fact that I can’t get back down to pick my car up for another week and a half so I asked him if they would put the accessory battery on a trickle charge and Todd said no worries


    I will come back on here and update if anything happens a year or two down the road , just for information purposes… I know a lot of people think that replacing the head gasket won’t get you that much more time… So I guess we will see


    everything else on the car at 190 K is absolutely bulletproof. Never done a wheel bearing never rebuilt the brakes never had to recharge the air conditioning everything else about it is Toyota quality, except for the head gasket lol
     
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  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Head gasket blew at 190K miles, and your first EGR cleaning was 50K miles back, at 140K miles? How'd it look at that cleaning, the valve, the cooler, and the small passages on the intake manifold?
     
  8. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    I honestly have no idea
    I’ll text Todd and see if he knows or if he can ask the mechanic
    I’m guessing since most 3 rd gen head gaskets don’t go until over 100k miles…. That I shouldn’t need to clean the I take and egr every 50k
    But I’ll ask Todd and see what he says
     
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  9. mattbatson

    mattbatson Member

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    I misunderstood your message

    when I cleaned the little holes on the intake and the egr were almost completely blocked

    definitely would do at 100k intervals

    i
     
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  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah I'd vote every 50K. After the first time it gets a little easier: you can leave that least accessible fastener, and there is a coolant strategy, that avoids spilling, requires no hose clamping (which is not really effective anyway). It's still a day-long chore, but if you stay organized and take brakes, not too hard.

    See top two links in my signature. On a phone, turn it landscape to see signatures.