2011 Prius Valve Cover Photos

[racin4ds]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
That must be a typo. You can't get 185,000 miles on 0w20!

Remember this is a hybrid so nowhere near all of the 185k miles was on the engine, the electric motor shares it

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by racin4ds
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
That must be a typo. You can't get 185,000 miles on 0w20!

Remember this is a hybrid so nowhere near all of the 185k miles was on the engine, the electric motor shares it

More wear/tear because the engine spends more time outside of the optimal temperature range for the oil as it's cycled on/off.

 

[Bud]

Nice!

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Look at all that carnage from a 20wt. My god man you should switch to a 0w40 immediately.

Thanks for posting.

Carnage and cleanliness don't always go hand in hand.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by StevieC
Look at all that carnage from a 20wt. My god man you should switch to a 0w40 immediately.

Thanks for posting.

Carnage and cleanliness don't always go hand in hand.

Carnage in the sense that we see the top end and it doesn't look like the cam lobes are excessively wearing and the chain looks good as well. Yes it's clean but that wasn't what I was getting at.

 

[krismoriah72]

Heres a little blog of a garage that mostly works on Prius taxis.

"In short, we are highly familiar with the patterns of Prius taxi repair. Transaxles failing from every angle, HV batteries down to the last electron. Engine side, we regularly see blown head gaskets and oil consumption up to 1 quart per day. Combination meters, warning lights, wiring trouble of any flavor. Double salvage vehicles. Every trouble code in the book. Prius with critical problems layered on top of tolerable problems that have been going on for months.

Not to mention the incessant parade of bad headlights, tires, brakes, struts, radiators, wheel bearings, and water pumps. Between both day and night shift we see between 40-60 cars every day, of which the vast majority are Prius. "

https://lusciousgarage.com/blog/prius_taxi_repair/

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by StevieC
Look at all that carnage from a 20wt. My god man you should switch to a 0w40 immediately.

Thanks for posting.

Carnage and cleanliness don't always go hand in hand.

Carnage in the sense that we see the top end and it doesn't look like the cam lobes are excessively wearing and the chain looks good as well. Yes it's clean but that wasn't what I was getting at.

I know what you were getting at. It looks good, probably would have looked just as good or maybe better with a 0W-5W30/40 grade synthetic oil as well. Bottom line we can debate that until [censored] freezes over, but we will never know.

 

[PimTac]

I think it looks excellent. The 0w20 did the job. For a engine that starts up with immediate load and goes through cycles much harsher than a regular engine this is a eye opener.

 

[buster]

Looks great. I'd be very happy with those results. It's unfortunate that you had to have the HG replaced, but for a car that's going on 9 years old and has been trouble free, that's still a remarkable service life IMO. I have no doubt other top synthetic oils would have showed similar results, but the Mobil 1 Extended Performance clearly did a good job.

https://mobiloil.com/en/article/why...rn-engines/hybrid-technology-and-mobil-1

 

[aquariuscsm]

What I always wonder is what causes those scars around the circumference of the cam lobes? Would a thicker oil prevent that? Is it only ascetics? My 300ZX's cam lobes were perfectly flawless with no marks at all (it got 15W50/20W50 most of its 119,000 miles),but my Accord has those same marks on the cam lobes. Does thicker oil prevent that,or does my 300ZX have a tougher camshaft? Just something I've always wondered.

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted by Pat in Speedway
Wow, all that varnish...on the bolt heads.

Did you do any used oil analysis is the past?

He forgot to scrub down the bolt heads, but did a good job on the rest )

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
What I always wonder is what causes those scars around the circumference of the cam lobes? Would a thicker oil prevent that? Is it only ascetics? My 300ZX's cam lobes were perfectly flawless with no marks at all (it got 15W50/20W50 most of its 119,000 miles),but my Accord has those same marks on the cam lobes. Does thicker oil prevent that,or does my 300ZX have a tougher camshaft? Just something I've always wondered.

If you are talking about the dark ribbon type rings around the lobes that is burnishing effect and it's normal. It appears on vehicles running 20w50 as well.

A scar would be like the thin line on the cam lobe to the left of where the #34 is on the front cam. (Although this could be the lighting, but if it isn't that's what scaring would look like and it can be much worse than this)

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by Phishin
Why is there piece of paper towel or something else tucked around the cam lobes in pic 2 and 3??

It is my way of temporarily locking down the camshaftsss

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted by krismoriah72
Heres a little blog of a garage that mostly works on Prius taxis.

"In short, we are highly familiar with the patterns of Prius taxi repair. Transaxles failing from every angle, HV batteries down to the last electron. Engine side, we regularly see blown head gaskets and oil consumption up to 1 quart per day. Combination meters, warning lights, wiring trouble of any flavor. Double salvage vehicles. Every trouble code in the book. Prius with critical problems layered on top of tolerable problems that have been going on for months.

Not to mention the incessant parade of bad headlights, tires, brakes, struts, radiators, wheel bearings, and water pumps. Between both day and night shift we see between 40-60 cars every day, of which the vast majority are Prius. "

https://lusciousgarage.com/blog/prius_taxi_repair/


How is this relevant to the OP's topic? So, are we to believe that a Prius TAXICAB wearing out tires, brakes, struts and so forth is somehow a reflection on the specific car on which they're installed?

Let's not forget: People drive taxis as a business, you know, to make a profit. The Ford and Toyota hybrids have been used, heavily, in taxi service for over fifteen years now. The people who run these businesses aren't stupid (exceptions possible...). They buy and use these cars because they help them maximize profits. If they didn't perform that function, reliably and consistently, they'd have been expelled from the business long ago. Here and there tax incentives may distort the picture to a small degree, but the fact remains, if these cars were not effective, sustained money-makers for the taxi cab companies, they wouldn't be on the road painted yellow. Are you also suggesting that conventional vehicles, enduring the torture of taxi service, don't suffer the same beat down from wear and tear as the hybrid cars?

If the hybrids were such horrible, unworthy vehicles, nothing more than a fad for extreme environmentalists, why have they endured so long? Sure, I drive them and like them (over a quarter-million miles worth for me now). But I'm not delusional -- they wear down and have issues like any other man-made machines.

And guess what: they're only getting more and more popular and accepted. In fact, Toyota just introduced yet another new hybrid model here in the US. Here's the new for 2020, just introduced Corolla Hybrid. You can hate these cars for whatever reason, if you choose, but they're not going away. There are many good reasons why.

 

[ekpolk]

And, to get back squarely on topic, the OP's pictures just cemented my decision to switch from the AFE 0w-20 to the EP on my new car. I don't think that the AFE will do any harm, but this is essentially the same engine I have, and I like what I see here!

 

[s2krunner]

Woot thats clean

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by ekpolk
And, to get back squarely on topic, the OP's pictures just cemented my decision to switch from the AFE 0w-20 to the EP on my new car. I don't think that the AFE will do any harm, but this is essentially the same engine I have, and I like what I see here!




You won't know the difference and neither will your engine.

 

[Chris142]

The port on cyl #3 looks cleaner than the rest. But you lost #2?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by cpayne5
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Weird question: Do the red colored links on the timing chain signify something?


They are used to install the chain and properly time the engine using marks on the crank and cam sprockets.

In the pictures above, you can see that the mark on the right sprocket lines up between the two colored links. On the left cam, there should be a mark that lines up to the middle of the colored link. Same with the crank.

Timing this engine was not exactly a quick process. More info here:
https://www.toyoheadquarters.com/threads/toyota-2zr-fe-timing-chain-marks-1-8l.457/
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Looks clean in the cam box.

Are the cams / tappets servicable? Did you plan to have them profiled /measured?


Good luck with the HG repair.

Undecided.
Originally Posted by Chris142
The port on cyl #3 looks cleaner than the rest. But you lost #2?

Visual inspection with an inspection camera confirmed coolant intrusion inside of cyl#2.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by ekpolk
And, to get back squarely on topic, the OP's pictures just cemented my decision to switch from the AFE 0w-20 to the EP on my new car. I don't think that the AFE will do any harm, but this is essentially the same engine I have, and I like what I see here!




You won't know the difference and neither will your engine.
I don't really expect that I will. I was already leaning in that direct for other reasons. This engine is only one data point, but at least I can see it. Pretty subjective, and a sample of only one is hardly statistically significant (pretty much the opposite thereof...).

All that said, when I ran the 30 wt AFE in my old Prius, I had some minor consumption (filter and plug checked for leaks, both bone dry). That never happened on the EP, before or after the AFE. Again, only one data point, but as least it's one... If Mobil were clearer about the construction of their oils, I'd have more to go on, but they're not, so. . .