NEW!!! Service Bulletin for Engine Knocking at Startup T-SB 0012-10

Ok, it cold outside and the car was moved in and out of the driveway rapidly this morning to allow my wife's car to leave. It never finished the warm up.

Just now it did a shake for like 1 second. Not long at all but I did notice/hear the difference.
I need to be more careful for a complete warm up.

 

so if my car is already past 60k miles, I am not covered by this t-sb? does this mean that i have to shell out the expenses to fix this problem?

 

Save your money......to date, "Nothing/Fixes" the problem!......

 

new engine new set of problems. toyota will fix it tho, they always do.

 

Hi !

Got the engine knock this weekend (same scenario as most) so I email the service manager yesterday and she ordered the parts for T-SB-0010-12 no questions asked !

Now, did this TSB permanently fixed the problem for anyone ?

Thanks !

 

It's really a crap shoot. I had the TSB done on my 2010 Gen III and it didn't fix it. I have the same knocking on my PIP that occurs every time the ICE starts after a cold soak. It hasn't been into the dealer for service yet.

Others here have had the TSB done and it fixed it. YMMV.

 

I wished I saw this before my powertrain warranty ran out (I have $75k+ miles). I was having intermittent problems at startup ever since I purchased the vehicle, where the engine would run rough and the car would shake. I was not able to recreate it at the Toyota service shop and even with my local mechanic. I would leave the car at the service shop outside overnight, even below freezing temperature, and it would not exhibit itself. No codes. The local dealership and Toyota Corporate would not assist since I could not recreate it.

What I failed to do is ensure my complaint (the symptoms) was on the service receipt while the Prius was under warranty, and I should have video recorded the incidents when they occurred for the record.

Anyhow, I ended up paying $509 for a TSB repair that Toyota should have covered, and it now actually runs better with the new manifold assembly. In ECO mode, the car seems to response faster than before the parts replacement.

--George

 

Not for me and they won't do any more to my car since I have the 0054 IM. I had mine in for the 40,000 service last week (and the recall fix) and I was told by an "anonymous" source that they are going to stop doing anything to gen 3's since the IM upgrades don't work. Wasting too much time and money. I asked about the '15's and whether they have the plastic IM and no one seems to know....yet.

 

BTW, when I was there, the service consultant told me they had only seen 3 cars with this problem. Toyota must have sent the same hymn book page to all dealers because, if he is being honest with me, I know TWO of them are on opposite sides of the street in my neighborhood in a town of 6,500 people. Hmm, maybe I should buy a powerball ticket.

 

In my experience, having been through this knocking issue several times early last year, I was told by my dealer that there isn’t a problem with the car (I even mentioned the service bulletin). I took it upon myself to dig a little further into the issue. Thanks to all of your gracious posts, throughout this forum, I found out that the problem was related to water in the I/M. Upon receiving this news I, on the next tank full of 87 octane, put in a small bottle of dry gas. This seemed to clear up the knocking, without replacing the I/M.


Now, during the winter I routinely put in a bottle of dry gas every two weeks or so. When the weather looks especially moist, I may put it in once a week. This may sound like a lot, but I am driving an average of ~500 mi/wk, and this clears out my tank pretty well before a new bottle. My mileage suffers, as most can attest, in the winter, but I have still managed, doing manual calculations, to get about 53-55mpg during even the coldest weeks. This is while using dry gas.



I can only remember one time where I missed a bottle and put one in after three weeks. It dawned on me since during startup one afternoon the engine fluttered, but not as rough as it had in the past. Fortunately, temperatures are warmer now, and my mpgs are back into the 60s, plus there’s no more need for dry gas. I hope this helps and I’m glad to have finally contributed to this forum.

 

Glad you found good results with the dry gas recommendation.

I use the treatment about one time a month, so for winter time I use it 3 to 4 times.

I agree, I also find myself using more when the weather is more extreme, weeks at a time.

I've been able to keep the knock away, knock on wood. =)

Thanks for the feedback.

 

OKAY ALL,

Here is an update with my situation. I have been waiting patiently for 2 1/2 years for a fix. Without going into detail to far, my car has been in 5 times for this situation of bad cold starts. I have documented some of them via video. I, at one time, owned 2 Prius 2011 cars, One car almost never did it, one car has been terrible with it. It did not matter if it was a long drive or short start then park, it would start rough on either. With my warranty almost over on the car, I decided to give Toyota a call and they set up a Special Tech advisor to look at the car at my local dealer. They could not find a fix, nor did it rough start for them. I however had about 5 videos showing my car rough start. I should also mention that I had the engine mounts replaced, then the 052 manifold , then the 054 manifold installed. None of them fixed the situation. Toyota then asked me to go to arbitration, they explained that this was only thing left to help me.
So I brought all my information to the NCDS/Toyota meeting. The Toyota engineer and Toyota rep was there too along with the NCDS Arbitrator. I explained I was there at Toyota's request and just wanted the car fixed. I showed videos and paper work. The engineer admitted that their was no fix currently and from the meeting sounded like none was forth coming. He also explained that Toyota only considered rough cold starts at 25 degrees or below. I have had many rough starts above 25 degrees and most at around 30 degrees.

 

Could someone who had firsthand knowledge of the inside of the manifold, tell us what the tension spring valve does?

 

what was the result of winning the case?

 

wow, congratulations!

 

Thanks bisco, I know this sounds weird AND I am happy , but I really just wished they fixed the situation, but they either can't or choose not too for cost. Which one I am not sure…….

 

ive never been that lucky to just get a new car. LOL. hopefully the new model fixes the issue you were having. that was a redesign on the motor as well so naturally some things would be quirky till they are able to figure them all out.

 

Yeah, that was my thinking and why I waited one 2 1/2 years and until my warranty was almost up to allow Toyota time to fix this issue. In my experience some cars are way worse than others in displaying this situation...

 

Out of curiosity, and I'm assuming you received a replacement vehicle, were there any other offers on the table? I was in the process of going to arbitration, also, but was able to negotiate another solution. Just curious what I might have missed. Thanks.