Help troubleshooting check engine light / coolant light turning on / coolant getting burned

In this model you generally will not get the oil looking like coffee light ready to drink. So you generally won't see that in this model coolant won't boil and burn up generally speaking in this model If it is the engine's probably fried. Head gaskets are very common failures also very common as people pouring in block sealant or instant head gasket repair in a bottle that will clog your cooling system almost immediately I don't care what anybody says The radiators in the Prius are pretty danged good setups they don't just get clogged up because they wear out or they get old they generally get clogged up because somebody put something in it that doesn't belong in it how did they determine the radiator was clogged generally you tilt the fans back or you make access so you can get to the back side of the radiator core when the engine is completely warmed up even leave it running if you like and you run your hand across the whole radiator core from top side to side down the bottom You're looking for dead cold spots generally in the middle of the radiator so all around the rectangular core of the radiator is hot as all get out and dead in the middle of the radiator you can lay your hand there and leave it all day It doesn't get to near the temperature as the rest of the outer rectangle of the core of the radiator If this is the case sounds like you have the center of the radiator plugged probably by head gasket fix in a bottle no matter whose brand it is that makes no difference If you don't have that going on with your hand running over the core at temperature your radiator is probably not clogged they are very good assemblies The cheap aftermarket assemblies may not be so good or maybe the aftermarket covers this car and you can get an aluminum radiator with no plastic tanks it'll all be silver not positive of that but I know I can get them for my Corollas.

 

Kind of a strange statement. Perhaps they meant leaking past head gasket into combustion chamber.

How long have you had it, and what’s the miles? If recent purchase seller may have added stop leak product.

 

head gasket

 

It's a generation 3 too bad It's 2ZFXE Atkinson cycle engine probably in the toilet. Your best bet is a JDM spec engine or a low mileage Gen 3 or 4 engine in your country wherever that is in America finding a low mileage 2ZFXE Prius engine. Will be a big task everything here is going to have 100,000 mi on it maybe 60 if you're lucky extremely lucky. And you will pay $4,000 plus for it an engine from the JDM market with around 65K on it you'll pay $1,300 for so you tell me what you should be doing.

 

Definitely not best job to start with. Are you serious about your level of experience? Have you done oil changes or similar? Brakes? Plugs?

 

I imagine in the manual which is probably online here somewhere there are tests you can do with a test meter probably on the ohms scale to read the resistance cold and the resistance at a known temperature and if you get the right readings on your meter then the sensor is good generally speaking these things rarely fail on Toyotas and just make a note to yourself It is possible but it's very rare to be honest about it and 40 years I might have changed two temp sensors and probably one of those changes was unnecessary I'd almost bank on it but it was a long time ago I generally keep cars for 12 to 20 plus years when I get them and I mean driving them not just parked in the yard somewhere they have tags insurance and someone sitting in the driver seat.

 

Take it to Hybrid Pit for a solution that is more affordable. Head gaskets or ruined engines are common on this generation. It is absolutely not a first time diy repair.