Repair or Replace 2011 with 220K early head gasket

Hi all,

TLDR: I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW OF PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE ACTUALLY CHANGED THEIR HEAD GASKETS WITH SUBSEQUENT REPEAT FAILURES, AS WELL AS GENERAL HIGH TICKET ITEMS AT THIS MILEAGE FOR THE GEN 3S, TO INFORM ME OF MOVING ON OR FIXING AS A STARTER CAR FOR MY KIDS IN 2 YEARS.

Live in Bay Area California. 2011 Prius just about 220,000 MI with early cold start rattle, diagnosed with an early head gasket failure based on a leak down test.

EGR system from intake manifold including the ports through cooler (pressure wash at local car wash made it quick and way cleaner than solutions thanks to whomever made the suggestion!) have been cleaned at 120k and 180 k was plan to do the next cleaning at 240k - essentially every 60k since following Prius chat 6 years ago. Thanks Mendel and other including Nutz about Bolts for your videos/direction.

I'm hopeful that we caught it early enough within a few days of cold start rattle that there aren't significant issues with the bottom end of the engine or head warpage.

Bigger picture question is that I anticipate future expenses adding up to $10, 000 separate from the head gasket including possibly high voltage battery due soon, as well as possibly a brake booster when they fail.

Thankfully, it seems a lot of the Prius specialty shops are within range of my area including gasket Masters, luscious garage now earthling automotive, arts automotive. Seems like the going price assuming it's just the head gasket is approximately 3K to 5K except gasket Masters is around 2.1 k. I'm not confident about choosing gasket Masters based on the mixed reviews here on Prius chat or other websites though they are the best price. Luscious/earthling starts at 3k assuming best case scenario.

Suspensions and brake system were refreshed 30k miles ago. I had also just replaced the thermostat and water pump as prevented maintenance 10,000 miles ago. Was aiming for a 300K mileage car.

I would appreciate people's perspective on how long their cars have gone after head gasket replacement assuming it was done well by a shop, as well as other costs that they incurred over the next 3 to 5 years following head gasket service. Specifically, high voltage battery failure timelines whether it be miles or years and brake booster failure if it is specific to 2011 model years.

my overall goal is to keep a car that will be reliable for at least another 5 years that I can also pass on to my kids who will drive in 2 years without breaking down on them, while not incurring additional costs that end up being a decent down payment to a brand new or lightly used car (essentially 8-10k).

I'm looking for perspective/ stories here as I've been thinking a lot about this since diagnosed; car is sitting on the driveway for now. The car has been truly reliable until this event which is a much larger cost than I had expected for a head gasket.

Part of the challenge is the unknown until one of the shops actually rips into the engine to determine how much if any damage has taken place on the bottom end.

Real stories about long term experience (>10k or 3-5 years) with Gasket Masters also appreciated for those that went that route.

Thanks all!

 

I appreciate your response. I do see the subsequent maintenance costs adding up is why I wonder how long you will have kept their Prius running after these major issues such as the brake booster or the head gasket.

To be honest, the biggest variable is the reliability and downtime given the tight scheduling my family and I have with our kids, work, as well as parents.

 

I'm really interested in people's real world experiences with gasket Masters specifically the location in Manteca California for those in the Bay area. Perhaps I will start a separate thread specifically for reviews on gasket Masters. I'll search first to see what I can find.