I just bought my Prius 3 with 107k miles and have been driving it for the past three days with no issues (300 Miles). On the way home I noticed a vibration that seems to happen when the gas engine kicks in but it is intermittent (frequently intermittent if that makes sense). It feels like the transmission is struggling to engage or if you let the clutch out to fast on a stick shift and the motor vibrates like it wants to stall. It has happened 3 times in a half hour period but not every time. I have no check engine light on but am getting a random misfire code on cylinder 2. There are many threads in the forums that address similar issues but nothing that I have read has mentioned a fix. Can anybody chime in with their thoughts on this. Thank you!
That vibration is most likely the engine misfire. At that mileage you may have a clogged EGR system that is the root of the problem. There are plenty of video's on YouTube that can help you through to procedure for cleaning.
Well, I cleaned the egr valve and the throttle body and the issue is still there. After the cleaning, when the engine started for the first time, it sounded like something was rubbing and vibrating in the motor, like I left a screwdriver in the motor? Then it was fine until it started vibrating again. Any other thoughts? The car drives fine when this intermittent starting Vibration is not happening.
I still have a misfire in cylinder 2 and the other code for random misfires. I am going to take an educated guess and say a bad coil? Anybody agree?
congrats and welcome! it really could be almost anything. with no trouble lights, there's nothing to do but keep picking away. plugs, injectors, air filter, oil level, motor mounts, etc.
Even the intake can be the problem. Toyota knows about it and has extended the warranty to replace the manifolds if the criteria is met. Not say that it couldn't be a coil but your symtoms suggest a bad intake manifold or EGR related issue.
You will need to clean the EGR circuit as it runs through the intake manifold and EGR pipe for sure, if not the EGR valve and cooler to boot. A good thread to get started with is: Prius III engine knocking at high torque low RPM (solved) | PriusChat My experience with my 2010 at 100k miles was that the intake manifold and EGR pipe clogging were the performance problem. If you have no P0401 code, I would start here and not get into the EGR valve/cooler unless the vibration and misfire persist. Here's a great intake manifold cleaning tutorial (not sure who to credit here, anyone know?) and Raytheeagle's excellent EGR valve/cooler tutorial:
Thanks for posting the tutorials @m.wynn . At 107 k miles, it is close to the 120 k miles servicing. So I would look to do the spark plugs a little ahead of schedule. Also if you are removing the windshield wiper assembly, that is a fantastic time to do the egr cooler as access is easy and draining the engine coolant is done at 120 k miles anyway. You said you just picked the car up. Do you have a history on the car (service records, car fax, been in any accidents, etc)? Did you buy it from a dealer or private party? If private party, what insider info did they share? As others above have mentioned, cleaning the intake manifold would be a good idea. Changing spark plugs will give you some insights into the condition of the engine and if you wanted to, you could swap coils and see if the misfire follows the coil. If you do change out the plugs, take a pic. Pics are worth a thousand words. Keep us posted.
