Gen 3 Prius Which year to buy?

Would purchasing a brand new cooler an option?

 

They're about $220~300 plus shipping. And used on EBay are around $50~100. The latter are often cooler plus valve. The latter basically lets you clean at your leisure. OTOH, if it's reliably possible to clean the existing cooler, and doable in a day or two, that's the route I'd go.

Egr Pipe - Toyota (25601-37010)

 

I use BrakeKleen and let it soak for hours. Leave the valve connected and put it in a bench vice and cap the end with a piece of plastic and rubber band. Here's what it looks like with a flashlight on one end:


Not too bad. I tried 20 gauge wire and it hangs up on the fins in the cooler. But thinner gauge would work. Mine at 120 k miles wasn't bad enough where liquid wouldn't pass through it like @danlatu 's was. So the brakekleen and soak time worked well.

Could you do it in a couple of days: absolutely.

Could you do it on your own: yes.

Would an extra set of hands help: YES!!

Don't forget the ratcheting wrenches for the nuts on the backside of the cooler for your plunge. Life is much easier with those.

 

Spares are good to have if you use the car frequently or if you know someone else who lives near you and you swap 'em out .

We have 157 k miles on our 2010 Prius II and we log 350-500 miles a week on it. Sitting idle for a cleaning doesn't work, so the spare made sense. Now I have one for sharing!

Buying a new one is not worth the investment. A salvage yard part can be cleaned and be functional.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

 

You mean like these?



Is it all 10 mm size, or?

 

I forget the size off the top of my head (it's been a long week at work), but it should be in the repair manual. I believe they are either 10 or 12 mm.

But the ones in the picture would work wonders.

 

I think you can get them with 10 at one end, 12 at the other

 

Like Ray's, my cooler wasn't completely clogged and water flowed through it (168K miles). I actually used thicker wire, 16 gauge galvanized steel that I happened to have, to poke through each passageway. To get that to work, I had to thrust the wire in and out of each passageway under running water until it went all the way through to the other side. The 16 gauge wire is stiff enough that you can push against it.

There are 5 rows of something like 12-14 (I didn't count exactly) passageways. You can get most of them from the side with the larger hole. The holes are offset, such that you won't be able to get all the passageways from one side. However, the two openings are offset in different directions, so the passageways that you can't reach from one side, you'll be able to reach from the other side. You will have to bend the wire a quite a bit to get into those end passageways though. I'm sure Danlatu's method of 20 gauge copper wire spun on a drill would work to open those passageways too, but I didn't have that wire or a working drill sitting around.

After poking wire through all the holes, I would hit the cooler passageways with some water pressure. I actually soaked it in solvent first, but if I were to do this again, I'd see what would come out with water pressure first, then soak in solvent. The water pressure from my kitchen sink faucet (with the flow restrictor) wasn't strong enough to do much until I unscrewed the pull-out end, and just used the hose end. Then carbon chunks started flushing out.

An adjustable nozzle on a garden hose would be good too. A pressure washer would probably be too much and dangerous.

Then plug one end of the cooler, fill with your choice of solvent (I used Purple Power based on recommendations here), plug the other end, and let soak several hours or overnight. I plugged the ends with disposable gloves (doubled over as many times as necessary) and appropriately sized sockets:



Not sure it helped much, but while the cooler was soaking, I'd occasionally run hot water from the tap through the coolant holes to heat the whole thing up, with the idea that it would help speed up the solvent action. It's fun to see how quickly the whole thing heats up anyway.

After soaking, hit the cooler passageways with water pressure again, and then check your work. You might need to poke through any passageways that you might have missed and then do some more soaking and water pressure. When I was done, my EGR cooler was literally as clean as new. I'd be hesitant about leaving visible deposits in the passageways, even if you can see through the cooler, because carbon will build up on that faster than on a clean surface.

I'll differ from Ray and say don't hesitate if you don't have someone to help. I did it without help, and can't imagine how someone else would help rather than get in the way.

A deep 12 mm socket will work as well as ratcheting wrenches for those back nuts. At least that's what I used (Stanley socket).

 

yes, that's the one, and no really good way to test the battery. they can check the cell voltage under load, but that doesn't mean one won't go out of parameters in a few months.

 

That's it.

What @jeff652 offers is a "grid charging " system that allows you to charge and recondition the complete HV pack while it is in the car.

This makes the process easy and simple where a non-electrically inclined person can handle the job.

I have done 1 top end balance and 1 two cycle reconditioning. I have seen better battery life and a slight uptick in mpg.

Hope that helps.

 

Greasy or just dusty? I'm always inclined to just brush and use boa duster, then maybe wet dry vacuum a bit, Then the leaf blower, hehe.

I've managed to keep ours eerily clean with just this, but might be tougher if it's fallen behind.

 

Yeah try brush/vac/blow first. Seriously, our's looks showroom new, never needed to do much, just kept on top of it.

One thing, I pushed a couple of pieces of plumbing pipe insulation tubing, onto the seams along the edges of the hatch opening. This was initially to kinda contain the engine heat better. But, I suspect it reduces air flow enough, that not much dust comes in. I did monitor engine temps for a few years with ScanGauge, and never had overheating.

 

Nice lights!

 

My 2010 barely consumes any oil at speeds under 65mph. Once you start going 70+ then it will do about a quart in 5k miles.

242,000 miles on it (390,000 kms)

 

I traded a '10 (trim 3 or III) with optional nav for a '13 (trim 4 nav included) and the newer car is way better.
Both were bought new, from the same dealer.
Issues I had with the '10 were 1) the braking system and 2) driver seat (dis)comfort.
1) The braking system felt dangerous to me, if I braked hard-ish on an uneven/rough surface, like train tracks or pavement in a work zone, it felt like I was sliding on ice. It seemed to take a longer time to stop than it should also. I learned to plan for things like train tracks, but couldn't plan for everything. Had some scary close calls, but no wrecks. Complained to the dealer several times, they claimed they drove it each time and it was "working as intended", the software update didn't help.
2) Driver's seat was very uncomfortable and my legs would get stiff and sore on even a one hour drive, longer drives were very painful. Lucky for me, hubby drove the long trips, didn't bother him much. I'm short, maybe that has something to do with it.

Happy to report, that both issues are better in my '13, but note that I went up a trim level to get the power seats, which made a HUGE improvement in comfort, they have more ways to adjust than the manual.

The braking is still a bit weird, but no longer feels dangerous. Now I believe it's working as intended.

Other differences; the nav is different, maps are in color after the refresh, there also seems to be something different (better) about the handling since the refresh but I'm sorry, I can't be more descriptive. Also, my '10 seemed like a lot of the interior plastic was squeaky.

I would definitely recommend you get a '12 and spring for something with the power driver's seat unless she's tall.