Waiting on my '13 Wagon to get here

Just the beginning of BIG $$$ Problems..............

 

White smoke means the engine is gone. You need a rebuild to have any hope of reliability. A rebuild of a decent used engine. Shop around, many have had it done for $3,500-$5,000 and a rebuild is worth it.

These engines from 2010-14 had bad rings - requiring new pistons and rings to correct. Too many have put a head gasket on a severe fail like yours at the white smoke stage and end up doing it again. Some have even moved to a rebuild after one or two head gaskets. Its not a beginner diy job and several have had issues with oil leaks and bad timing after the hg repair.

It is very possible the head is warped and should be professionally rebuilt even on a head gasket job. Bent rods and holes in the block can and do happen.

While the car is a hybrid, the engine is a normal gas powerplant. Any shop who can do a Corolla or Camry can do this job. Some are simply scared of the high voltage and the inverter. I would visit a few recommended shops in person. Don't be afraid to trailer the car somewhere if necessary.

Otherwise, a used engine that is successful might work if you wish to immediately flip the car. The car does have two hybrid expenses in your future - the hybrid battery and the brake booster. Both around $2,500 each.

 

Sorry..... but you probably shouldn't have bought it...... motor, traction battery, water pump, master cylinder and accumulator

 

Mine is a 2012 Prius II (regular Prius) with 201k mi. on it and counting. I love mine. Runs and drives like new. It was mostly highway miles, though. It does make a difference on how well the previous owner(s) took care of the car.

 

Ya until the head gasket goes.... mine was perfect till 215,000 then it started to go to hell.....
Head gasket..... brakes........traction battery.. two water pumps....blown inverter...... it will happen sooner than you think...
driving along getting good mpg then......broke down and you don't go to Autozone for parts....

 

You'll have to do the diagnostics

 

Replacing the motor with a better rebuilt version is the safest and more reliable answer.

 

Brake booster and accumulator is 12 to 1300.......Never put a used one on..... I did and it went out.
Luckily it failed with the rite codes and got a free one. But that program was over last year.

 

You can get toyota techstream on amazon or ebay. just google it.......bootleg copy but way better and the one you really need for the prius.
No scanner can compare and its super cheap..... and you need the plug and cord but usually comes with it.
MAKE SURE you get it............anything else just a waste of time and $$$$$
Plugs into usb port on laptop and it works on mine running windows 10.
I know what I'm talking about because I have changed every major part on mine.

 

Like Tim Jones has said. Experience is key. It is not fun when you have a $2500 brake job bill sitting in front of you when you don't expect it. Luckily it was covered under Toyota's extended warranty for the ABS accumulator/pump. The extended warranty they sent out expired in December, though. I was wondering, how hard it would be to put a Gen 4 1.8L in a Gen 3? I know you would probably have to switch some sensors on the motors, but is it so much different that you would have to switch the ECU out?

 

Actually the brake booster customer support program is still good on a less than ten year old less the 150,000 mile car. Several have installed a gen4 engine frankenstein in a gen3 using gen3 intakes, egr and slightly modified harness.

 

So it sounds like instead of doing a head gasket, its better and easy to just rebuild the motor so the other problems are eliminated?

 

A rebuilt gen3 engine with new rings and 5k oil changes will likely get you 150k or more reliable miles. With a gen4 swap using the gen3 egr and intake seems to negate some gen4 advantages. Time will tell if the gen4 swap under these conditions is dramatically better. Maybe a short block rebuild on the gen4 could be skipped. Maybe there would be less carbon build up with the gen4s improved cylinder cooling strategies and rings. Maybe just disabling the egr as a few have done is an option although that gets a code.

 

I have a better idea.....GET RID OF IT..................................

 

you can check at toyota.com/owners

 

It covers the Prius v