Rough engine start

Which may indicate that choice of oil is more critical than usual. The high viscosity index Toyota 0W-20 will be thinner on startup than a lower viscosity index oil.

Has anyone who knows they are running Toyota 0W-20 oil experienced this issue? Remember, just because the dealer changed the oil does not mean they used Toyota 0W-20.

Rumple

 

In response to the video, that doesn't look or sound at all like an engine mount problem. There's certainly no visible rocking of the powertrain. I think it's internal to the engine.

We should determine if this is an ongoing manufacturing/design issue or if it just affects cars made during a certain time period (i.e. a bad batch of parts causes it in cars made in month X). Would those that have experienced this problem please report the month of manufacture of your affected car? The info should be included on the placard in the door jamb near where the tire pressures are listed. (I think. I don't have a Gen3 yet to check for myself!)

 

OK lets try it. Mine was manufactured 7/09 and has a plant code of 0. The plant code may be significant also, it is the 11th digit of the VIN.

 

Hey Fellow Prius Owners. I have a similar problem, but it didn't occur during start up. Just the other night I was driving for about 30-45min to my destination. While parking, out of no where the ICE began revving up fast and the engine was shaking and felt like it was going to bust. I turned it off right away and waiting for 5min. I then started it back up to continue parking but it still was revving up fast.

After 30min I left and although the noise and heavy revving was gone, I noticed a decrease in power and acceleration. I brought it in today for the recall and told the tech about it. He said he would look at it, but when I picked the car back up he didn't say anything about it or if they did check it. he just told me I can get my keys at the parts register and left.

Has this occurred to any of you? Is this similar to the rough start?

 

My engine was not revving. The sound it was making was more like "knocking" and the left front of the car was shaking badly. At least, I perceived the shaking to be coming from directly in front of me. This happened when I started the car and I have only had it happen that one time.

 

It happened to me also one time, in cold weather, in the morning. I panicked and turned it off, checked under the hood if I left anyting there (the hood support came first to my mind) - all looked normal so I turned it back on and all was good again, than I forgot about it until I read this thread...

 

Happened to me once. About 3-4 seconds of rough start. Never happened again. ??

 

I've had this twice. Both times it was after the car sat idle for 10-30 days while I left for vacation. The time I left it for 30 days it was really bad...when I first started it up, it sounded like the engine had no oil with severe knocking and grinding. really concerned me and still does. Just as I was reaching to shut it off, the sounds smoothed out. Id say it ran rough for about 15-20 seconds really badly. Lack of oil on startup can cause permanent damage and shorten the life of the engine significantly. Not sure if it was indeed a temporary lack of oil, but it certainly sounded like it. My car sits in the hot sun of Guam (no choice) and that may contribute to heating the oil and speeding its drainage out of the engine and into the pan.

I use Castrol, recommended viscosity now, but will be changing to synthetic oil in the hopes that it may alleviate this problem.

 

This happened to me this past Nov- it was somewhat cold out, and the battery was "full"- I pushed the button and the engine made a horrible noise, almost as if someone had drained all the oil out of it during the night, so I quickly turned it off, checked the oil (still there), and tried again- no problem the second time. Weird.

 

This happened to me in my J-code 2007 Camry Hybrid. I assumed it was the Atkinson timing component taking data from an incorrect engine state. It used to happen peridocially and sort itself out. All Prius are made in Japan. I wonder if this happens on US made (4-code) hybrids?

 

It happened to me yesterday in the evening - twice. For two nights the car was in the garage, temps at night - below just freezing, daytime - high 30's-low 40's. When I heard rough start, I shut down the engine. Restarted it -- the same rough knocking. Shut it down again. Started for the 3rd time - normal. With so many people experiencing it -- there should be something abnormal in the design....

 

Red is a 2010, built May '09, sleeps in our unheated garage, which gets no colder than freezing even if the OAT is in the teens.

I've had several instances of the very rough start, but only during the winter. It's only been on the first start of the day, after the car had been sitting overnight in the garage.

I've had the dealer look at it - they couldn't duplicate it, of course, but I didn't insist they scan it, either.

Now that it's warming up (yay!), I don't expect any recurrances.

Certainly seems to be a trend here..

 

Same thing happened to me about a week ago. I had started and moved the car briefly twice to position it better while installing new mud guards. Several hours later I started the car to back it out of the garage and run some errands. It felt like the engine was shaking violently and a thumping noise seemed to be coming from the passenger's side of the engine compartment. I thought the hood support rod might have come loose and was banging against something in the engine compartment. I turned off the engine, got out and raised the hood. Everything was in place. I closed the hood, got back in the car and started the engine. Everything ran fine and I have had no more problems. My Prius was manufactured in early summer of 2009. It had about 4,700 miles on it and I am using Mobil-1 oil, 020W weight.

 

I'm lucky. Haven't had this -yet. Have any users gotten any acknowledgment from their dealers that this is a problem? And/or any fix?

 

I have not had a rough start either. Almost 2 months and at 2300 miles. It was cold enough the first week I got the car to make this happen if that is the cause. I am, after reading these posts, careful NOT to do short startups and moves without cycling the ICE through the warmup.

 

Rough start happened this morning for the FIRST time and lasted for ~4 seconds.
Temp: 1*C
Last used: 20 Hours ago
Mileage: 5150km

I wouldn't call it violent, just a lot of clacking and some rumble.
Definitely not normal.

Email sent to Toyota.ca

 

Have you had the fist oil change done on you car yet, or are you still on the factory fill oil? My pet hypothesis is that the rough start is related to using oil with a too low VI (viscosity index) if it's a 0W-20 or just the plain wrong grade otherwise.

If you have had an oil change to a non-Toyota oil (and many dealers do this) it would support the hypothesis while if you are still on the factory fill it would indicate the opposite.

Rumple

 

I have not had an early oil change done. Mine's due @ 8000 kms.

 

I think I'll give up on the hypothesis. Too bad, it was an easy fix if true. But truth and easy do not have to go together.

Rumple

 

I do not have a theory as to why this happens, but I do have a sort of work around temporary fix you could try. When starting the car from cold I always start the ICE by putting the throttle to the floor (in Park) as soon as the "Ready" light comes on, then release the throttle as soon as I hear the ICE start.

It may be a coincidence or it may work, but I have been doing this for several months and several thousand miles now and haven't had a rough start. I did have several before.

I started doing this because the last time I had a rough start I decided to push the throttle to the floor instead of turning the car off, which I had been doing before. As soon as I put the throttle down the engine smoothed right out.