Information about engine installer

Hey 1st geners

Quick question -

I think my engine is gone in my 2002 (more on that later)

On craigslist called a guy here in California in North Highlands near Sacramento who is selling and installing used engines with 6 month warranty - called and texted with him - seems on the up and up - no hard sell etc - anyone have any information about this guy?

2001-2015 Toyota Prius Hybrid Gas Engine Low miles installation -...

Thanks in advance

 

Actual price is 1200 - still seems cheap except that he is installing used - non-rebuilt engines

 

So the story for those interested - I have this 2002 Prius I bought about three years ago with 198,000 miles on it - now has 260,000 - been running great but always has oil in the intake and I had to clean the throttle body regularly - about two months ago started noticing some issues with heater - wouldn't heat up and then would blow really hot - checked radiator and it was low - but overflow tank was full - thought I had a bad radiator cap - changed the cap and added coolant to radiator -

Fast forward one month - driving home from work and the high temp light comes on - I pull over - engine and radiator are cool to touch - some fluid is in overflow tank but it is near the cold fluid level line. I wait for light to go out and nurse the car home - coolant is low again but no sign coolant is in oil and it does not look like coolant is going out exhaust pipe. Talk to radiator shop, they give a quick look and tell me no red flags and to watch fluid levels - I need to go out of town - car is running well so I drive it about 90 miles to San Francisco watching fluid levels - runs great

Prius sits at SFO for week - I check all fluid levels and add a little coolant. Car fires right up, runs about 30 seconds and dies completely - can't get ready light - finally comes on and car won't start - after about five minutes starts with check engine light and running really rough - I get it moving and it starts running well but check engine and orange triangle lights are on. I run it for about 5 minutes orange triangle goes off - car is running fine so I shut it off and rest the codes with a generic code reader - P0300 generic misfire - clear the codes - check engine light does not return drive home without issue

Read everything I can find on priuschat - look at shop manuals I have - no real clue as to what the problem is - throttle body is filthy so I clean it - car runs better with no codes for a few days - then has trouble starting in the morning - throws the P0300 code again - I contact local hybrid specialist in Petaluma - one mechanic suggests I need new injectors - other thinks blown head gasket - I check plugs which look good but maybe lean - I look at the top of pistons - all are dirty which suggests to me not a head gasket but I buy combustion leak test kit - blue fluid turns yellow green - exhaust fumes in coolant - I decide to change head gasket - pull it apart which is a much bigger job than I expected and each part I remove is exceptionally dirty and looks burnt - finally get to the head bolts - manual or Haynes (neither is very good on this topic) says need an 8 mm bi-hex (it is a 10 mm bi-hex actually which I ordered) which I mistakenly think I have - but I don't - I make a rookie move and try to loosen the head bolts quarter turn at a time - outside bolts are incredibly torqued - I think who over torqued this? - I think they are loosening but later find out that I was stripping the head bolts - get to the last two in the middle and they are barely torqued - basically finger tight

Right now I am deciding what to do - I think the motor is toast - I was going to have the head rebuilt but now thinking head is warped and two separate machinists told me that if the head on these is warped the block is warped also - as I mentioned it looks like everything got really hot - internal valve cover gaskets were broken and basically crumbled when I pulled them off - so trying to figure out if I try and drill out the head bolts and see if the head and block are as bad as I think - or do I cut bait and start selling parts - anyone know how much a two year old hybrid battery is worth? Or how long it will last without charging?

I wish I would have waited until the virus was over before I pulled the car apart! Who knows who will want to buy parts right now? I think people have other, more important, things on their mind right now....