Rough engine start

I'll also add my incidence for the record.

The rough start happened at 3000 miles, 2010 Prius III, at about 8 am in San Diego. Outside temperature was about 50oF, and this was the first time the car had not been driven in over 24 hours. It sounded pretty much like the Youtube video - shaking of the engine compartment as the ICE kicked in and lasting for 10-15 seconds. I've left my car undriven again for >24 hours and see if it happens again. Good thing about San Diego - the humidity and temperature doesn't change too much. Will also report to Toyota dealership to make sure the complaint is officially recorded somewhere. Thanks to all who are getting the word out.

 

Glad I saw this post! About a month ago, I backed my Prius out of the garage after for the first drive of the day. Outside temp was in the 50s. I heard an awful noise coming from under the hood, like a loud rattle. I popped open the hood and was surprised to see the entire engine block shaking as if it were a martini being prepared for Bond ("shaken, not stirred").

I immediately turned off the engine, waited about thirty seconds, and then started the car again. It stared smoothly and this incident has never occurred again. It is interesting to see the number of owners this has happened to.

P.S. I just viewed the youtube video. The only difference I see between my car and the car in the video it that the engine block of my car shook violently. I thought the car was going to rip itself apart. I do not see any shaking going on in the video. But the sound was similar to the sound my car made.

 

I just had this happen today. I have a 2010 Prius II with 770 miles on it. I bought it on Jan 8. I started the car today and it made loud knocking sounds with violent shaking. My impression is that it came from the left front of the car. The Master Warning Light came on. It never shut off and never changed to ready. I did not think to look to the right for any messages. I am not used to this feature yet. This is my first Prius.

I shut the car off and waited a moment or two and restarted. It did it again, but less violently. I repeated the process. This time it only knocked as I turned the car off. The warning light did not stay on during the restarts.

I had started the car briefly, yesterday to move it a little further up my driveway. Otherwise, it was not driven yesterday. It is cold here. I am just northwest of Boston and while I did not look at the outside temp., I would guess it was close to freezing. I have 2 bars of gas left on the indicator. My driveway is completely flat. No incline at all.

I called my Toyota dealership immediately. They told me they considered it undrivable. They gave me the number to the tow service they use. I had them bring the car up to the dealership with me as a passenger.

My car is there now. They told me they are swamped with recall accelerator pedal fixes and will not be able to get to my car right away. I have a 2010 Corolla rental. They assure me the accelerator pedal in this car has received it's recall fix already

This not something that should be happening. It was violent and loud. I was afraid to drive the car for fear of causing major damage to it. The service technician, and team leader I spoke with, told me I did the right thing by calling immediately.

I hope they can tell something from the diagnostics they will be doing. I hope something was recorded when the MWL came on and did not shut off during that first violent start.

I will post the results, when I have them.

 

Hello all,
I'm new to this thread, but I'm wondering about the octane ratings.

• summer blend regular gasoline
• winter blend regular gasoline
• E10 regular gasoline
• others?

Are these same 87 octane ratings?
If they are different, how much?
Are there any relations between gasoline type and the symptom?

Ken@Japan

 

All 87 octane and up to E10 here, may be different in other states. I think there is still a difference between winter and summer blends also. I first had the problem last fall, probably with winter gasoline . Took delivery of my car in late August but had no "rough start" issue until about the second week of October. First time it happened the temperature had been about +20 F the night before, first cold night of the year and I think I had run the car briefly the previous evening.

 

Running 87 with no blend up here. Had a little roughness today when leaving work. It was outside in 18F for eight hours.
Had it happen one other time last fall (40F+). Both cases were very short in duration and I would say not very violent. Smoothed out to a normal idle.

 

My car continues to sit at the dealership. The service department team leader told me it will wait till Monday to have the "boss" look at. Then I was told by someone else it will wait till Monday due to all of the recall work they are doing there this weekend.

I can understand all of this. The part I am having some difficulty with is the rental they gave me. They told me the rental will be on them if it is warranty work, but on me if it isn't unless the labor goes over 4 hours. I had originally thought they had said the rental was on them. This is the problem with speaking with more than one person.

I was told not to drive my car and to have towed up there. It makes no sense to me that I should have to pay for a rental.

There were error codes on my display. Hopefully, this info will be worth something.

I did move the car up the driveway a little bit the day before this happened. That is the only time I started it before this event.

My car was shaking and knocking very badly. I feel the disturbance was coming from under the left side of the hood.

My rental car is a 2010 Corolla that has had the recall work done to it's accelerator pedal. I want my Prius back

 

Your right you shouldn't have to pay for the loaner, it will help if you can remember who told you what. If it is an honest dealership you will probably be OK; if it isn't they will try to force you to pay for the loaner car. Be prepared to defend your self when you go in, and let us know what happens. If you are forced to pay there may be some recourse through Toyota and/or your state Attorney General if it comes to that. Just remember stay calm and cool and don't let them put you on the defensive.

If you think of it ask them to write down the codes someone on here should be able to find out what they mean. I checked mine for codes after it happened to me and there were none.

 

That just rang a bell for me. I experienced that rough start this morning... Horrible noise and vibration for a little less than 10 seconds (although it felt like it lasted forever!) and I couldn't figure out why. No error codes for me though. I shut the car down and then restarted a few seconds later without a problem. I had also moved the car from my driveway and into my garage a couple of days earlier, allowing the ICE to run for only about 30 seconds before shutting down. It sounds to me like maybe there was some un-ignited fuel left in the system? Please report back when you find out what the issue was/is. Thanks!

 

This happened to my 2010 Prius today (2500 miles), so I thought I'd add one more case to the thread. I'd started the car for about 30 seconds yesterday to move it in the driveway, and then when I started it this morning, it clattered and shook for 5 seconds before I turned it off. When I restarted it and let it run a bit longer, it did the same thing for another 5-10 seconds, and then it was fine. It was about 30F.

I'm glad I'm not alone! It's a really violent thing to just happen to such a friendly car.

 

I got my car back last night. The techs could find nothing wrong with it. They said no codes were registered by the computer. (I know the amber colored triangle had been on but I had not looked to the right to see what else was displayed.) They tried twice to get it do what I said it did. The one thing they did not do was start it for about a minute then let it sit then restart it later.

Anyway, I was told if it happens again, to let it run for a little bit and then shut down if it doesn't stop. Then turn it back on after a few minutes and see what happens. If it is still doing it, I should call and it might need to be brought back up on the truck. If it stops doing it, I am alright to drive it but I should call them to discuss it. They said it might be a "fluke" and hopefully it won't happen again. They said they had never heard of it happening before.

They charged me for the rental, but not the diagnostic work.

They were crazy busy up there with the recall work on the accelerators.

 

Thanks for letting us know what happened. It has happened to me several times, last time I put the throttle clear to the floor, which doesn't increase the engine speed by much in park, and it cleared up immediately. Don't know if that was a coincidence or not but I'm going to try it again next time. Some have speculated that it may be caused by fuel left over in the intake system, if so opening the throttle and letting in a bit more air may clear it out.

BTW this has been reported to Toyota, probably hundreds of times. The company seems to have a policy which they pass on to the dealers of saying "we have never heard of that before", no matter what the problem is and no matter how many other cases they know of. If someone at the dealership originally told you there was no charge for the loaner car and then they charged you for it they are not honorable people.

 

This happened to me as well. I had the car parked in the driveway, which has a slight slope. When I pressed the start button, the car shook so violently, I thought a motor mount had broken, so I immediately shut it off. After waiting a few seconds, I tried it again with the same violent shaking. I shut it off, and thought my new car was already having major engine problems - a stuck valve? A third try and it started normally, so I drove it straight to the dealer, who told me, "Yea, it happens to all Priuses sometimes," with no explanation as to why.

It has not happened again.

 

Sounds like you have service manager who is at least telling you the truth instead of the "we never heard of that before" line, that's good in itself.

 

Everyone I spoke with told me something different about that loaner/rental car!

 

Your experience sounds almost exactly like mine except for the explanation

As an aside. Is the plural of Prius Priuses or Prii (sp)..lol I have been wondering about that.

 

Glad I checked back to the forum... I've had my car since July and I've been experiencing this all winter (since the temperature dropped below 40 or so). It doesn't happen every morning but I'd say its happened about 10-15 times so far. Always on my first start in the morning. It only lasts 5-10 seconds immediately after I press the start button. I'm not mechanically inclined at all but it sounds like the engine is shaking violently. I haven't called my local service center yet but my experience so far with their service hasn't been very good so I've really been trying to avoid any contact with them.

 

I am NO mechanic but I'm wondering if the winter blend of gas might be part of this problem. I have a Honda that did this in late fall and was told that this is the time when the blends are adjusted for the winter season. (It also affects the MPG) I added some dry gas to the tank to see if that helped and it cleared up the problem. I haven't had the problem in my 2010 Prius and hopefully I'll luck out.

 

I think they are like sheep.

 

I have had this nrough start issue 3 seperate occasions. The first time it scares you. It has always been after sitting for one or more days. We were gone for 15 days and when we started it shook and sounded horrible for 5 seconds or so.
Then it acts normal. I know it won't do it for the dealor unless it is cold and let sit for a few days. I hope it is not something that turns out top be a serious problem.