Cost of Cleaning EGR system

I strongly recommend you either re-consider this plan or just plan on buying a new car.
Our own @NutzAboutBolts made a video, detailing the EGR pipe cleaning process.

So....I have not done this myself, but I suspect that it's not an $800 job - even at a stealership's maintenance department.
If your car's mileage is dropping off more rapidly than normally happens when Jack Frost is nipping at your nose there might be more things wrong on a neglected car than just the EGR pipe.....including plugs,Throttle body, PCV valve, MAF sensor...etc.

If I'm wrong when I said 'neglected' then I apologize sincerely, but usually people who have their car "serviced by the dealer" often do not bother to read and comply with the Warranty and Maintenance guide which states that you need to check your oil once every 30 days or 1,000 miles.
Quite frankly....you don't have to be very anal about it.
You can probably make this once every 5,000 miles, and know whether or not your car is using oil (Spoiler alert: it probably is) and how much and just keep it topped off.
ONLY you know if you've been doing this regularly.

Your sig info says you have a 2010.
That means you're probably sitting on about 120,000 miles.....and it's time for some maintenance.

If your dealership cannot tell you exactly how much it will cost to do the EGR cleaning, then this is either because they don't know themselves (because they haven't done one yet) or they're going to go looking for something other than exactly what is causing your MPG problem - like how big a check they think you will wrtie to get to drive your car back out of the dealership.

One last thing.

Throttle body maintenance.
I strongly advise AGAINST letting a dealership do this.
Because?
They mostly won't DO IT.
They will charge you $100 for a $5 bottle of snake oil and not even remove the Throttle Body Assembly.
With a little fingernail polish (on a hidden fastener) you can tell.

One LAST last thing.
If your car starts a horrible knocking/shuttering act - Shut it down immediately.
You might be dealing with a blown head gasket and you'll only have a few seconds to react to that if you want to effect a repair without replacing the engine.


Then again.....if you're just going to take it to the dealer???

You might as well floor it.
The result will be the same in the end.

Good Luck!
(You're going to need it!!)

 

I'd second: how many miles on it?

What's your situation?

Do you have any tools, floor jack or ramps? Do you do basic maintenance, say oil change, spark plug change, that sort of thing?

Watch @NutzAboutBolts videos for EGR cleaning, and intake cleaning, to get a feel for what's involved. They're linked in a thread pinned at top of 3rd gen maintenance forum.

If you can DIY, it can be done for more-or-less nothing, either the EGR or the intake manifold cleaning.

 

80,000 miles isn't bad.

Start checking your oil.
AT LEAST every third fill up or so.

The Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaning should be a 1/2 hour job only because their minimum billing is 1/2 hour.
An independent mechanic should only charge about $20-40 for this 5-minute procedure - but I would only suspect the MAFS if you're throwing codes or idling roughly.
In a car that's burning oil, this cleaning should be done anyway.

One advantage to having a dealership do this is that they (should) at least have the right stuff and won't be tempted to use Brake Cleaner.

If your dealership's mechanic drives a Prius, invite him to read through this (and other) threads in this forum.
If he's honest (some are) then he SHOULD be angry at the fact that there's so much truth to all of the tales of horror that internet chuckle-heads like me tell about stealership mechanics.

If he's not part of the solution?
He's one of the crooks.

I'd recommend checking the oil level immediately and taking topping it off - then start monitoring your burn rate.

I'd also have him (you said 'guy') look at the PCV valve and LOOK AT the intake instead of just putting a bottle of junk in your fuel tank or blindly spraying stuff into your intake.
Again....I would expect that a lot of dirt in the TB would result in a rough idle as well as lower MPG.

The EGR coolant pipe cleaning is a MUST.
If they charge $800 and they're the only people you "trust" to work on the car - then pay the $800!

Also...watch the video I included in the earlier post to see what you're paying for.

This fairly important.
Ask your mechanic if he knows what an oil catch can is.
If he doesn't.....that's too bad.
If not....find out yourself. READ UP about them yourself in this forum.

It might be legal for you to use one.
Virginia has some pretty comprehensive car inspections. It's one of the advantages of being a "Commonwealth" instead of merely a 'state'....but don't get too swell-headed about it.

....Kentucky is a Commonwealth too.

KEEP AFTER THIS.

With any luck.....you'll be trading this car in on a BEV in about 10 more years....IF you pay closer attention to the Warranty and Maintenance guide!

 

It might be.

As far as I know, all G3s (2010-2015) use synthetic oil.....yours most especially since the dealer puts the oil in. It would be a VERY disreputable dealership that the wrong oil in your car (the right viscosity is on the oil fill cap) BUT(!!!) there have been numerous posts about dealerships over-filling or under-filling the oil.
IMHO it's not often that this happens - but you do need to check.

The important thing is that you make sure that you keep the oil level topped off.

Priuses have a small oil sump, and your oil is in there for 10,000 miles.
If you burn as little as 1 quart during this 10,000 miles that means that you may well be driving for thousands of miles with only 75% of an already small supply.

Don't over think this.

I check mine every 2-3 fill ups and it takes about 30 seconds and all you need is a paper towel.

Don't obsess over having the oil exactly at the full mark.
If it's consistently between the marks (holes/dimples..etc) time after time......then you're fine!

 

PriusOnTheFence, I am in a similar situation, a 2010 with 98,000 miles. I have changed the oil every 10,000 miles and have done almost nothing to it. I do check the oil level regularly and add quart or so between changes. I have Michelin defender tires.

My mileage may be somewhat lower than it used to be but it is hard to tell because I do shorter drives these days. Like yours, mine runs perfectly.

One of the theories about EGR cooler clogging is that, once clogged, the engine runs hotter leading to a greater risk of problems such as blown head gasket. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that how you drive can play a role in that risk. For example, if you are not driving many miles per year, then you may not be doing much high speed, long range driving and your engine might not get excessively hot even with a clogged EGR cooler.

In our case, my Prius is now our secondary car and just used around town. My attitude at this point is that MPG doesn't matter so much anymore when I'm putting so few miles on it. It is cost per year that counts and with a 10 Y.O. Prius, that is ridiculously low.

Mendal Leisk has in the past suggested checking the condition of the EGR pipe as a relatively easy way to get some info on the health of the EGR system. Checking (and cleaning) that is much easier than a full EGR cooler cleaning. I'm not much of a DIYer and I plan to do that when I cross 100,000 miles later this year, then decide whether to go further.

 

Yeah there's a video in the aforementioned video link thread, for checking just the EGR pipe.

 

Of course it varies but I would say that now, in a pretty cold winter, mid to upper 30's. In summer probably mid 40's. Under ideal conditions such as a longish but not fast drive in Summer I can still get a bit over 50.

 

Yeah, that's our current lifetime average. It ticked up a bit, was 4.9 liter/100km, but new (17") tires took their toll last summer; I'm hoping they're breaking in. A bit.

Yes, at 70K kms. Also the intake manifold cleaned, and Oil Catch Can.

We're on 195/65R15 Michelin X-Ice about 4 months of the year, actually doing better on them than the new Michelin Primacy MXM4 215/45R17's.

Chevron regular.

No problem. Only 86K on the car now.

 

The tire guy may well not consent to this. Do it yourself, it is a very basic and easy DIY task. If you don't have your own air pressure gauge, then go buy one, it is cheaper than any shop visit and is an essential maintenance tool.

If it is old, it may be a good idea to replace it regardless. But unless it is really bad, don't expect much MPG improvement.

I'm doubting that EGR cleaning will do much for MPG, it is more to prevent a blown head gasket. I cleaned mine Christmas week, at 92,000 miles, and while definitely very dirty, it was not yet anywhere close to what many others have pictured when cleaning at much greater mileages. So I have doubts that yours is close enough to really need it, unless it has a substantial oil consumption problem.

I also have very strong concerns that having any dealership do this cleaning will not be cost effective. It is cheap but somewhat time consuming as a DIY project, with the repeated soakings and flushings of the EGR cooler (and intake manifold? which I have not yet done) taking a fairly significant time. Shop mechanics with time pressures are not likely to take enough time to do it right, but will still charge horrendous labor rates. And dealerships in my area tend to not do such things, business policy it mostly to replace with new parts. And that EGR cooler is E$pen$ive.

I have doubts that exceeding 6 months will be much of an MPG problem. It would show up as other problems, such as engine longevity.

Look close at the maintenance guide, there are numerous uses where the oil should be changed at 5k intervals. Do you have mostly short drives?