Walmart changes my oil I change my head gaskets. Follow along! (HALP)

Long story short engine go boom, Toyota wants 4500$, I want a million dollars, to escape the rental market, and to quit work forever.

So basically I'm creating this post to document my progress and so people who know better can scream at me when I mis-step.

I did a lot of research and acquired a Haynes manual. This research essentially told me the price Toyota quoted is fair. The price is fair because if the engine was hydro locked and bent a connecting rod you may have to have your short block assembly replaced which costs 2300$. It's probably going to cost you 500$ in parts and tools and take a good mechanic about 8 hours. I am not a mechanic and certainly not a good one so this is probably going to take a month or two and I'd laugh at you if you offered me 1700$ to do this for you because it's back breaking leaning over an engine bay and I can't feel my fingers after 8 hours of messing with stuck clips and connectors.

That said I am still determined to do this because I don't have 4500$ I'm REALLY hoping I don't have to replace that short block plus I'm hoping to get some use out of the tools.

But also I've had several garages tell me they weren't interested in repair or hang up on me when I tell them:

• I have a hybrid.
• I need a blown head gasket repaired.
• My car odometer reads 250 summin k ...

A few more comments:

The Haynes manual doesn't talk about checking the warpage on the head gasket surface I am aware of this and will be adding this step. I saw someone use a straight edge and feeler gauges to check. I know that a machine shop will have to fix this if it's out of spec.

I know that I can check if the connecting rod is bent by comparing the elevation of the cylinders relative to each other and making sure they all come all the way up.

Lets color code this for fun:
Completed tasks
Impossible tasks
In Progress.

Where we are so far:

• I pulled the service plug.
• I depressurized the fuel system / unplugged the fuel pump. This step told me to start the engine by depressing the brake and putting the ac on cold but the car would not start with the fuel pump disconnected it only went to accessory and turned back off when i tried to start it.
• Next I removed my bumper to access the heat storage tank. There was no heat storage tank.
• All right smooth sailing... Next step is to drain the coolant in the non-existent heat storage tank, the radiator, and the transaxle.

I

 

HOLD UP OP You probably didn't depressurize the fuel system right... "To depressurize the fuel system, find the wiring harness to the fuel pump under the rear seat cushion. Make the Prius READY and put it in inspection mode so the engine will continuously run. Disconnect the fuel pump and wait for the engine to stall." - Patrick Wong

You might wanna buy the Prius manual from Toyota and cross check it with the manual you understand.

Also do this before you remove the coolant so your engine doesn't overheat.

 

Bigggggg Update! Soooo it's been a while I've been slowly collecting parts and tools and I just restarted this past week but I've made a ton of progress.

• Reconnected the fuel pump, battery, and service plug put the car in maintenance mode and disconnected the fuel pump.
• Jacked the car up and removed the passenger tire and some panels to access the bottom of the engine on this side.
• Drained the oil and the coolant from the radiator.
• Removed the windshield wiper assembly and cowl
• Unhooked all the wiring harnesses.
• Removed the throttle body.
• Removed the intake manifold.
• Removed the EGR uhhh stuff need to do more work on identifying that (BTW gonna clean this)

Sooooo questions

Under the throttle body there was a small pool of oil in the bottom of the intake manifold is this normal? (Picture)

When I attempted to depressurize the fuel system by putting the car in maintenance mode the engine turned on ran for a few seconds and then died but it sounded a lot like it normally does when the hybrid system decides to turn it off. So I did it again with the same result. I'm not sure if I did this properly.

What's left:

• Cleaning the EGR
• Replacing the PCV valve
• Replacing the timing chain (I was told to do this should I buy a kit with sprockets to?)
• Replacing the rotors (After the car is drivable again) (They are horrifically rusted)
• The head gasket which I came to do before I got carried away.
  

Unfortunately it looks like I'm gonna be taking another break I have a lot of parts I need to order (head bolts, pcv, timing chain, brake fluid for the EGR) not to mention winter is coming or not it's hard to tell here.