Removing EGR Help Please

I'm doing a head gasket job on my 4th gen and having trouble removing the EGR. There's much less space than a 3rd gen and cannot get to the bolts. Does anyone know if the inverter needs to come out or moved over a bit to get to the EGR bolts? I've removed the valve cover and about to remove the valve tray. Hoping the EGR will come out with the head assembly. If not, probably will have to remove or move the inverter. Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

Thanks Mr. Vanvanden. I looked all over the place including Amazon, local dealer and the web for a repair manual but no luck.

Good news is that I finally got the EGR off after watching a couple gen 3 inverter replacement video's plus this great video by Professor John Kelley:

. Thanks for whoever posted this on a thread on PriusChat.

The trick on getting the EGR off is to loosen the inverter so you can lean it over and get the clearance you need to get to the 12mm bolts and 8mm reverse star bolt. I ended disconnecting the 2 big plugs in the back, 2 on top, and removed all the mounting bolts except for the 2 front ones so the inverter won't side down. Be careful not too move the inverter around too much as it has very short wires (6") running to the motor just underneath. Be patient as it's a lot more work than a gen 3.

Next will be to remove the head, testing for bent rods, and getting the head resurfaced. Will keep you folks updated...

 

Great thanks Mendel

 

Wow 195 pages. Thanks Mendel!

 

Oh my yes, thank God the head came off and piston rods are not bend. Woohoo! Will take head to machine shop for resurface, inspect and clean the EGR and put everything back together. Stay tuned for updates...

 

Head has been pressure checked for leaks/cracks and resurfaced, and EGR and EGR cooler has been cleaned. Machine shop said the valves and mating surface were clean and and didn't require valve lapping. The EGR did have some black carbon build up and you can see through it with no problems. Glad Toyota made improvements here. As for my previous gen 3, the EGR cooler was completely clogged and you couldn't see through it. Next will be to clean the intake manifolds and put everything back together. Stand by for updates...

 

FYI be sure to check that the camshaft rockers, rollers, valve caps are positioned properly before and after tightening down the camshaft rack. I decided to double check, and sure enough one of the rollers fell off it's track! This can be catastrophic.

 

Ok headgasket replacement job is all done and glad it's done with! It took a total of about 35 hours which is 3x's what it would have taken a seasoned Prius mechanic to do the job, but thankful overall to have it done and had a great learning experience, and a few scared moments. I've bypassed the heat exchanger already and have taken it for several test drives.

I did have a blunder and that was I forgot to tighten down the camshaft position sensor on top of the valve cover and got a number of codes including P0340. It wasn't running well and seemed like the HV battery wasn't charging. So I ended up removing the variable VVTI sensor (left/front of valve cover), thinking it was the camshaft position sensor, and blew it out with compressed air. Upon startup, there was a whole lot of chatter and I thought the timing chain skipped a tooth. Well next day, I realized the camshaft position sensor is on the other end of the valve cover (right/front) sure enough the bolt wasn't on there, so I installed the bolt and whola, problem solved.

I actually couldn't find a video for a 4th gen HG change, but did watch a number of video's on 3rd gen Prius HG replacement and this is the best one and most concise one I found by GasketMasters which I followed:

Most of the steps are the same from 3rd to 4th gen aside from the inverter needed to be unbolted and pulled with bungee cords as far as it goes to the right side (driver's side) to access the EGR.

A few pointers from working on a 3rd gen and this one (4th gen) is:
- To remove the water pump, engine mount needs to be unbolted and engine raised about 2". Use jack with small 2x4 wood under oil pan. Use a 4th gen WP, and not a 3rd gen. Reports of problems with using 3rd gen one.
- Use new OEM toyota cylinder head bolts.
- Replace the following while at it: water pump, thermostat, spark plugs, pcv valve, air filter, ...and use all OEM Toyota parts, but for the headgasket use FelPro.
- order all parts ahead of time to keep downtime to a minimum and keep dust/rodents/creepy crawlers out of the engine and parts.
- Check to see if piston rods are bent. Turn engine and make sure pistons 1 & 4 come all the way to top evenly. Then test pistons 2 & 3 to make sure they both come up to the top evenly. Gasketmasters has a youtube video on this.
- Disconnect both HV and 12v batteries.
- Be sure to check that the camshaft rockers, rollers, valve caps are positioned properly before and after tightening down the camshaft rack. I decided to double check, and sure enough one of the rollers fell off it's track! This can be catastrophic.
- Double check all wiring harnesses and hose clamps are on.
- Have cylinder head resurfaced and leaktested.
- Flush coolant and radiator out well.
- Inspect and clean out EGR.
- Inspect for warpage on the block and head (something like this: Amazon - POWERTEC 71213 Anodized Aluminum Straight Edge Ruler | 18" | Metal Straightedge Machined Flat to Within 0.001”) and .004 feeler gauge. Use BOTH sides of the straight edge. One side may not be true as the other.
- Initial oil change at 100 - 300 miles as there's still coolant and debris from HG leak/job.