I started my 2010 today after 3 days of it resting in the garage. I was frightened since the engine was quite rough and loud, almost sounding like metal was hitting something. After about 45 seconds it sounded smoothed out. Before I go to the dealer....is this normal in the cold climate. PS I'm only in Long Island .....not Canada!
Obviously almost impossible to evaluate without actually hearing it. My advice would be that since you have a brand new automobile, under warranty, which has synthetic oil in it, if I was at all concerned about how it sounds on start up, I'd just take it to the dealer. I don't think it should be "quite rough and loud" nor should there be a sound like metal hitting something. So your best bet whether it turns out to be nothing or something is to get it to a dealer and document your concern. In the case of something that might be engine related I'd want my concerns documented ASAP. If it's an intermittent problem it might be hard to track down, and/or it might be something that get's worse with time. As far as warranty goes, the sooner you bring this to light with Toyota and your dealership the better. Document your concerns and what is done towards resolution. Good luck, hopefully it is nothing.
Fairly common, here is one of two or three threads that talk about this problem: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...troubleshooting/70128-rough-engine-start.html No resolution or comments from Toyota as far as I know. I've had the problem two or three times but not for a couple of months now, maybe it gets better as the car the car gets more miles on it? Edit: I think Electric's suggestion of taking it in and having it documented is a good idea. Don't be surprised if Toyota says "Oh! we have never heard of this before." even though they have, quite a few times.
I have read several posts here concerning the rough start, beginning with Bob Wilson's post. I have made a couple of short starts and stops without any issue. Then the other night I started the car and moved it from the driveway to the garage. I turned the car off with the engine still running during a warmup cycle. When I went to start it the next morning, mine did exactly what you described for a few seconds until I put it in drive. It settled right down and I have not had any issues since. I am mighty thankful to the people here at PC for having posted on this issue. If I heard this without the knowledge of these posts, I would be very concerned also because it is a very disturbing sound.
Same thing happened to me about 1 month ago (1 time only) My Prius iii has approx 2600 miles and sounded like a busted washing machine. Havent had any further problems. Jim
Had it yesterday after the car was 4 days in my garage...Can't the prius handle a couple of days standing still in a garage ?
Have also had it (see other post). Does it depend on how the car starts? Mine had been sat for over a day and it was about -4 c during that time. When I got it I put it in 'ready' mode and before the engine started I switched on the rear heated window. The engine fired up as soon as I did this and that's when it sounded rough. A broken washing machine is a good description. Is it a software problem? If I had left the engine to fire up as normal after 10 seconds would it have been ok? The HV battery was showing nearly a full charge. Did I cause the problem by switching on a high load with the rear heated window? Anyone else find they had similar or is this just a coincidence?
The sound has been captured and posted on YouTube. Check out this post: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...g/70128-rough-engine-start-4.html#post1029193
