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Gen 3 lower control arm replacement info

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by AubreyIII, Apr 18, 2017.

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  1. AubreyIII

    AubreyIII Junior Member

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    Posting this in hopes that someone who is in my shoes will find it useful...

    A few weeks ago my daughter hit a curb in her 2011 Prius. She hit it pretty hard, I'd say at maybe 30 MPH. Both front tires and rims were destroyed. I had the car towed home thinking I might could repair it myself.

    Once I had it up on jack stands I did indeed confirm that both rims had unrepairable damage, and the tires were shot as well. The left (driver's) side suspension looked OK, but I wouldn't know for sure until I took it in for alignment. The right side, however, had an obviously bent lower control arm - bent back so far that the half shaft from the hub to the transmission rubbed against the cross member.

    I decided to replace the lower control arm and see from there if that would be all it needed, or if I would have to deal with the half shaft. Ordered a new control arm from rock auto for about $35 (bought the same brand that NAPA sells). The control arm came with the ball joint already installed.

    Watched several YouTube videos on replacing lower control arms (though I could not find one dealing with a Gen 3 Prius). Looked pretty easy! Just remove the clip and castellated nut, separate the ball joint from the hub, and remove two bolts. So I got out my tools and went to work. First off - I could not separate the ball joint. The loaner tool from Auto Zone just did not properly fit the Toyota part. Grrr. OK, skipped that for now and set to work on the other two bolts on the control arm. One, the vertical bolt and nut, came off easy. The bolt that the arm actually swings on loosened up fine, but when I tried to slide the bolt out it hit the oil filter housing.

    At this point I began to wonder if the engine had shifted or if the frame was bent. That control arm would not come out unless I could back that bolt all the way out. So - I purchased a 48 hour pass on the toyota tech site and read the instructions. OH CRAP - you have to remove the crossmember to back out that bolt all the way! Removing the crossmember means separating the steering shaft and pulling all kinds of bits, then unbolting and lowering the whole assembly. This is not something that I could do in my driveway. Called the salvage yard where I bought two replacement rims to see if they had any advice. Technician there told me I either had to jack up the engine or remove that crossmember, both are jobs I just did not want to do. Soooo....I had it towed to a repair shop in my neighborhood. Few hours later they gave me a price to replace the control arm and the half shaft, which they determined was too damaged to keep. In less than a day the work was completed for just under $1,000.

    Next day I drove the car around and discovered a bad noise from the front end. Back to the repair shop - apparently the wheel bearing was damaged too. Another $300 to fix.

    Total damage repairs came to a little less than $2,000 total, including the control arm, half shaft, wheel bearing, two used rims, and two new Michelin tires. The car is back on the road and hopefully it will stay out of trouble for a while.
     
    #1 AubreyIII, Apr 18, 2017
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  2. Colm01

    Colm01 Member

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    Just had the same thing happen to me. Ran off the road by some jerk. He gave me a toot and a wave as he drove off. I just got new insurance the day before and didn't want to turn it in.I had to replace both control arms, both wheel bearings, left tie rod, left ball joint, and left wheel. I removed the 3 bolts for the engine mount and jacked up the engine an inch or so to get the control arm bolt out.My half shaft also rubbed the cross member but was not bent so I reused it. Came to $786. More then my deductible but at least my rates won't go up.All parts were genuine Toyota except for the wheel which was from LKQ. It got an alignment too. Good to go!
     
    #2 Colm01, Apr 30, 2017
  3. graham hendren

    graham hendren Geeman .. taximan

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    Hi just read your reply you say you removed the engine mount bolts. . Right sie top mount only ?????? Had this issue really dont want to drop subframe sounds a nightmare , if you could could you post a picture of the mount you undid? Please
     
    #3 graham hendren, Dec 12, 2017
  4. Colm01

    Colm01 Member

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    Sure!, No need to drop the sub frame. The bolts removed are circled. I then jacked the engine up from the oil pan with a block of wood on the jack. Go slow and stop jacking when the bolt for the control arm will come out enough to remove the control arm. When I put everything back together, the engine moved a bit and the bolts for the mount didn't line up anymore. I put a little weight on the jack and moved the engine back into place so the bolts would go back in.
     

    Attached Files:

    #4 Colm01, Dec 12, 2017
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  5. Colm01

    Colm01 Member

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    Sorry, The third bolt is under the engine coolant reservoir. You can see half of it in the picture but I forgot to circle it.
     
    #5 Colm01, Dec 12, 2017
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  6. graham hendren

    graham hendren Geeman .. taximan

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    Nice one thanks was looking at that but didnt realise there was one under the coolant box , did you take all the bolts out or just losen them ? Any problems along the way ? Thanks for replying by the way
     
    #6 graham hendren, Dec 12, 2017
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  7. Colm01

    Colm01 Member

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    The bolts did need to be taken out all the way. The engine needs to be lifted quite a bit to get the control arm bolt out enough. The only issue was that they didn't line back up when I lowered the engine. I was able to maneuver it back into place with a little weight from the engine on the jack. It was no big deal.
     
    #7 Colm01, Dec 13, 2017
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  8. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Hey guys...I know this is an old thread but I found this video that shows how to do what is described above :

     
    #8 farmecologist, Jun 9, 2018
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  9. samuraisd

    samuraisd Junior Member

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    OMG... ok, I have to re-watched the video again and the gist of it is that part of the engine or rather, the oil filter is blocking the clearance of the long bolt to come out completely, correct? Thus the loosening of the engine mount bolt and jack the engine up a bit to clear the way for that MF bolt to come out.
     
    #9 samuraisd, Nov 3, 2019
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Could just removing the oil filter work?
     
    #10 Mendel Leisk, Nov 16, 2019
  11. SB6

    SB6 Member

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    Anyone know the torque specs for the 3 engine mount bolts?

    No, the bolt head is facing towards the front of the car. I don't know much about car parts, but it is some other part of the engine that is blocking the bolt from being fully taken out. Not the oil filter
     
    #11 SB6, Dec 7, 2019
  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I think they're all in the attachment. The "RH" mount (at the timing chain cover) has a preferred sequence of bolt install: maybe search for Gasket Master Prius head gasket replacement videos, they mention it.
     

    Attached Files:

    #12 Mendel Leisk, Dec 7, 2019
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    The new Gasket Masters video is linked here, I believe that bolt install sequence is noted:

    New head gasket replacement video from Gasket Masters | PriusChat

    About 9 minutes in, he says to start with the bolt that screws in from the underside, for removal. Install would be the reverse I think.

    The older video (in same link) appears to be taken down.
     
    #13 Mendel Leisk, Dec 7, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2019
  14. SB6

    SB6 Member

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    Thanks. I looked through the attachment though, but the bolts I'm talking about are not listed on there. The ones I need torque specs on are shown in the above video (linked here again).

    ... Were those the wrong ones? Hope I didn't damage anything, cause I went to start my car after replacing the right LCA, and I heard the engine rattling/knocking... I'm hoping it's just from the front end being jacked up for a while and the oil needs time to be pumped up. Or something like that, I don't know how it works :unsure:
     
    #14 SB6, Dec 12, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    #15 Mendel Leisk, Dec 12, 2019
  16. SB6

    SB6 Member

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    Is that a possibility? I didn't do anything other than unbolt those 3 bolts (shown in the video at the 1 minute mark), jack the engine(?) up, replace the lower control arm, lower the engine back down, and bolt the 3 bolts back on. I didn't have a torque wrench at the time though, which is why I'm looking for the torque specs to try to torque them down now.

    I was hoping that the rattling was just caused by the front end of the car being jacked up for an extended period of time (weeks - some other stuff came up that I had to take care of first). I checked the oil on the dipstick and it seemed low (near the min mark), so I did an oil change. However, I drained out over 3.5 quarts and put in 4 quarts of new oil, and the car still makes noise upon starting. I haven't let the car sit while on yet. I was scared of causing further damage, so I turned the car off immediately after hearing the noise.

    I should probably make my own thread about this, rather than stealing this thread :cautious:
     
    #16 SB6, Dec 12, 2019
  17. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I think I had a brain f@rt. :oops:
     
    #17 Mendel Leisk, Dec 12, 2019
  18. SB6

    SB6 Member

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    :LOL: All good.

    I was looking through the repair manual, and found this. Just wanted to double check with y'all, are these the same bolts I'm working with?
    upload_2019-12-12_18-17-40.png
     
    #18 SB6, Dec 12, 2019
  19. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    #19 Mendel Leisk, Dec 12, 2019
  20. SB6

    SB6 Member

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    Hmm they do sort of go over it, but they don't mention any specs. I'm just trying to confirm if the 3 bolts I'm tightening are the 70 ft.*lbf ones I posted a pic of above
     
    #20 SB6, Dec 12, 2019
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