Just wanted to write this cautionary thread for people looking used. Bought a 2015 Prius V Five with the technology package and 180k miles used off Facebook Marketplace. During test drives it drove great. During the pre purchase inspection it drove fine but after a couple of days of ownership the morning death rattle reared it's ugly head with the knocking happening even after only stopping at red lights with the knock going away quicker if I pushed harder on the gas. Took it to a local shop which diagnosed a bad head gasket likely caused by a bad water pump. Wanting to learn more about cr maintenance I was down for the challenge. The second surprise that I discovered was when I pulled it into the garage then noticed zip ties around one of the coil packs and noticed the pack was loose to the touch. After removing the cowl and cutting the zip tie I found my second surprise so far. They had snapped the bolt in the head and zip tied the coil pack down. Removing the coil pack revealed a rusty body when compared to a properly secured one. Still in the process of removing the bolt just thought to post this in the hopes it may help someone. Will update as I make progress on the car and any more surprised I may find.
No one is insured against this. But on the Gen3 and Prius V generations, it is necessary to know about the vehicle's mileage and the cylinder head gasket expiration dates. And it is critical when buying a car on the secondary market.
Some budding mechanic likely read the inch/pound torque spec as foot/pound, got out the the 1/2” drive torque wrench and dispatched the bolt-head, lol. Drill a pilot hole (carefully) and try a reverse thread extractor bit. The absurdity: it’s a wee locator bolt, torquing to “spec” is complete overkill. with those miles head gasket failure is inevitable. If you stick with it clean the EGR system, and repeat every 50k miles max, thereafter. more info in my signature (on a phone turn it landscape to see signatures).
Gosh, hope you didn't pay too much but those issues aren't a difficult fix. You could look for a good valve cover replacement at an automotive junkyard (pull and pay) or spend around $350 to buy a new one from Toyota. OR, you could use a tap and die set (for aluminum) and make that stripped screw hole one size larger to secure it. Those ignitor screws only need like 7 ft/lbs torque so not much. Our oldest Hybrid is a 2017 Prius and she's been flawless, so far.
If considering new valve cover purchase, also check out item 11201 on this page too, see what it works out to for your location: Cylinder head for Toyota Prius ZVW30L - Genuine parts - Amayama Shipping for this is "to be determined": in such cases they recommend to start the buy process, and you will have a chance to bail when they let you know the shipping. I've found them almost always significantly cheaper, and never any extras, other than item cost and shipping (no taxes or duties). At least with purchases around $100 CDN. Still, definitely try to get that bolt out first. And food for thought: even with nothing holding down that coil, it's very firmly pushed onto the spark plug, unlikely to come loose. Which is why that bolt is mostly along for the ride; crazy that someone would torque the head off it.
Geez Chap, you should know what "inevitable" means. Ok, I'll bite, akin to bound-to-happen, death-and-taxes, wombats-pooping-cubes...
I've always thought the meaning of 'inevitable' was in some way incompatible with people driving around it hasn't happened to.
Sorry haven't been checking the thread. After giving my best efforts to extract the bolt and learning a lot about bolt extraction lol. I found the valve cover Gasket on ebay for 48$ total and ordered that. Now waiting on the gaskets to come in. Just moved into a new house so still getting my Garage/Shop sorted out and organized. I paid 6750$ for it and the only reason for that was due to it having the Advanced Tech package,being a five level trim and a later year of the V. Basically the configuration I've been drooling over for the past couple years. Also I want to get more involved in learning the fixing and repair of cars so it being too good to be true didn't bother me too much. Even if I have to drop a new engine in it I think I'll still be ahead considering the price, knowledge I'll gain and fun I'll have. Dropping the order that I've pieced together for those kit's as it appears Fel Pro messed up from my research and made the spark plug tube seal too large, and if I can't pick it up today might as well go OEM Engine Valve Cover Gasket Product ID: 11213-37041 Spark Plug Tube Seal Product ID: 11193-0T020 Engine Valve Cover Gasket Product ID: 90430-A0001 Engine Valve Cover Gasket Product ID: 11159-37010 Likely won't need this bolt but I'll drop it anyways lol Ignition Coil Bolt Product ID: 90105-A0103 This is on the website "Toyota OEM parts online"
Was watching a video and saw they had one more grommet for a bolt. I'll let y'all know if this one fits. This for the bolt near the hole you add oil is. 90210-06013
