We bought a 2006 Prius for my college student son to drive with a engine noise. It runs fine but has a loud tapping on the top of the engine. We decided to do a whole engine swap due to the mileage on the original car. We got a engine with 80xxx miles on it and are beginning the swap in the morning. I have read a few threads on swaps and are trying to make like a checklist of things to disconnect etc to make sure we dont damage any wires or other components on removal. Any help would be greatly appreciated from members who have done this GEN II swap.. Thanks
Depending on how many miles you have on the car, it may be worth while to do the transaxle swap at the same time. The repair manual suggest you remove both units together and separate them when they are out of the car. I read more of transaxle failures at higher mileage than engine failures.....so if the miles are really high, you might want to do both at once.
congrats and welcome! search here and google, hopefully you'll find what you're looking for. all the best!
Swap went great, prius running smooth with 2008 engine, only glitch is coolant doesnt seem to be circulating if I drive very long heat sensor flashes. I may need to bleed the coolant system. Also I tried turning on heat and it never blew hot making me think the coolant is not getting to the heater core.
There is no "may" about it. See my posts #22 and #42 here: Changing engine coolant | Page 2 | PriusChat
Congrats! that's really something to be proud of. if i ever need an engine swap i know who to contact!
Patrick, Thanks for the links on the coolant change, I bled the system out, everything is smooth now, I reset the CEL, by disconnecting the negative post for a minute. All lights off, Did a 50 mile test drive no overheating everything is running smooth, ready for my son to go back to U of Memphis this weekend. Thanks again
Follow up: For anyone doing this swap a few hints I would pass on is, definitely remove the radiator and drain the freon, this made access to everything much easier and quicker. Since I did not have a lift for the car I used a 4 ton car jack to lift the car up just enough to drop the engine down under it. On reinstallation being the car was a near 45 degree angle it was difficult to make the engine match the angle to get on the motor mounts. We had to hold the engine with the cherry picker and use another jeep type hyd jack to lift the front side of the engine to get the angle needed to mount.
HAWGMAN, could you tell me, have you found any on line instructions for removing the engine? I have one that lost a rod bearing at 227,000 miles. Do you recommend replacing the transmission at the same time? Any advice or assistance you can impart will be greatly appreciated!
I followed the first few steps on this really well documented transmission R&R DIY: How to remove GenII Transmission | PriusChat but then went ahead and disconnected the motor mounting bolts and disconnected all the wired connections and removed both engine and transmission together. I then disconnected the engine from the tranny and transferred the wiring harness from the old engine to the new then put it back in.
I was nervous at first about the High voltage on the hybrid battery but following the directions on that link and double checking the points on the inverter you should be fine. Also after you got it in and running at first the 3 lights were on but I disconnected the negative again waited a few minutes and reset all lights went off. Also make sure to follow the other link that Patrick Wong mentioned about the bleeding the coolant to make sure your new engine doesnt overheat. Follow those instructions with the bleeder valve and it should all go well. Good luck
