Hello, 2015 Toyota Prius, 191,000 miles. I had a check engine light come on, took it to dealer. They said tech found a code for the air fuel ratio to have an imbalance and is recommending the intake manifold and gasket be replaced due to heavy carbon deposit. Does this sound right or wrong, and why? Pablo57
Lol, that's why we call them stealerships... So wasteful is their standard operating procedure of replacing as many expensive parts as possible with brand new. But it just needs to be cleaned and evidently they don't know how! Lol... But take it to real mechanic instead and they'll recommend a simple induction cleaning of the throttle body, intake manifold and mass air flow sensor. Alternatively, if you want to DIY you could find some youtube videos that will show you how... OR if you want to be extra cautious buy a used intake manifold from a wrecker for 10% of what Toyota charges for new and then take your time cleaning it and swap it with the one you have, which is a fairly simple procedure.
Very easy to DIY the intake cleaning. Attachment shows intake manifold info. It’s NOT necessary to disconnect throttle body coolant lines for this. the elephant in the room though: had Exhaust Gas Recirculation circuit ever been cleaned? More info in my sig, the bad flywheel link.
Maybe. If the code is something like P219A, it means that the air/fuel mixture for one of the cylinders is different than the other 3. It can really be almost anything- partial intake or EGR passage restrictions, valvetrain problems, restricted fuel injector (a common cause), exhaust leak at the cylinder head, etc. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
