It was -35 degrees Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit) this morning. My Prius v was parked in the driveway. When I started my car the engine produced a grinding sound. The sound lasted between 30 seconds to a minute, then it went away. I was able to capture this in a video: I have an inclined driveway, I'm not sure if this matters or not. Would anyone know what noise this is? Has anyone experienced something similar? Should I have the car inspected at the dealership? This was not the first time I heard this noise. The first time was a few months ago when the temperature outside was about -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). During that time the noise lasted only for about 10-15 seconds. Thank you for your help! ----- Prius v 2012 (Canadian model) Ontario Canada
Did you move it prior to parking the car and only let it run for a minute or so? This happens when you don't let the car warm up and cycle through the first warm up and shut down to EV mode.
@ bisco - I'm from Canada @orenji I'm not sure what you meant by "Did you move it prior to parking". It was my first engine start of the day. After the grinding noise stopped I let the engine run for about 10 minutes before driving it out of my driveway. I can't remember, but I think it may have switched to EV mode before I drove it off the driveway this morning.
From the evident chassis and camera vibration, I do think there may be cold start misfire. Now why this happens.... I do not know. Perhaps you should consider a block heater. "
i don't think so. it's usually caused by unspent fuel in the intake manifold. what orenji was stating in post #3, is the common occurrence where people start their car to move it a short distance, then shut it down before it has warmed up. the car then sits overnight (cold soak) and the unspent fuel floods the cylinder, causing the misfire. it's quite common here, and you can find many threads and posts.
This does happen and there are 2 TSBs written to address the issue...neither one made a difference though. Get in the habit of pressing the accelerator immediately after as you release the power button and brake. This has eliminated the "problem" with my car.
i have never heard this befre. is there a thread? are you saying gun the pedal as soon as the ready light comes on?
As soon as you let off the brake...just punch down the gas and release. Never happens anymore (unless I forget to do it), even under the conditions described previously. Learned it from another member here back in 2010. Can't remember who. I had the engine mount TSB done...no help. They won't do the intake TSB (still no reported help) unless you throw an engine light.
Tried to logic it out once...but until we get a definitive on the "real cause" of the problem, it's just speculation. I know the lower intake was full of crap last look though...as others have reported.
I'm no mechanic... not even a shade tree mechanic. But I wonder how unspent fuel in the intake manifold would cause the engine to run rough for 30secs or more. Seems to me all the unspent fuel would get sucked into the engine and burned within the first couple secs of operation. I'm putting my money on a problem with the ignition (spark).
The 'did you move it' question is asking if you did something like this before the noise. Parked after a normal run. Then moved the car a short distance in suffciently cold weather that the ICE came on or at least turned it on so the ICE came on for a very short period of time. Then shut it down. Then come back later and started it which is when the noise would have occured.
