violent shaking at start up

Could be, but in my perfect world no part of the breaking in or "loosening up" process ever involves violent shaking or loud banging noises under the hood. Guess I'm just funny that way.

 

I'll try that too, if there is no recurrence by spring we can, perhaps, assume it works.

It take about 15 seconds for the engine to start after the Ready light comes on, you can start it sooner by pushing the throttle down.

 

It just happened to me this morning.
Temp 48 degrees. First start of the morning. Car has 10,500 miles.
I turned the car off (to stop the vibration) and then on and continued reversing on batteries only.
Then once I started moving forward I made sure the car was accelerating (I had to brake with the left pedal three times to keep the ICE running to avoid recurrence)
I would not keep that vibration for a minute... not even 10 secs. It is nasty...

 

Spent the weekend in Baudette, MN visiting the kids. It was -38 Saturday morning and out of 4 cars in the yard, the Prius was the only one to start.....and did so without a fuss. 10 minute warmup and 6 mile drive. 5 hours later, -10, start up and 5 min warm no fuss. Sunday after Vikings game, start up created a shaking and banging I haven't heard since the timing chain slipped a couple teeth on my '58 Dodge. Now that it has my attention, it doesn't seem as smooth at lower rpm or as quiet. Otherwise, love the car.

 

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.

 

I know I'm super late to this thread, but the same thing happened to me with violent shaking. I'm having so many problems with my car! Not sure if they're all this bad or if I just got a lemon. Here's the problems I've had. Some are mild and I wouldn't even mention them except that when combined it adds up to a lot.
1. Breaks are TERRIBLE in the snow! The car skids all over the place and the breaks barely work. I got the breaks fixed with the recall so hopefully that solves the problem.
2. Several times it sped up over potholes, even with my foot firmly on the break. Scary!
3. Violent shaking at start up on one occasion.
4. "Slippery" sign comes on at a stand still.
5. Door doesn't lock like it should when touched more often than not. Maybe it's because of the cold?
6. The other day my doors locked themselves while I was driving.

I think Toyota has a big problem with their software but don't want to admit it because of the expense of fixing it and because they may not be able to figure out the cause of all the problems. Uggh.

 

1 & 2 Hopefully these will be fixed or at least helped by the recall.

3. There are a couple of other threads about this also, my car has done the same thing. There is no fix yet but I have been pushing the throttle clear to the floor when I first turn the car on in park to start the engine and haven't had the problem since. Don't know if it helps or is just a coincidence but it might be worth a try. You should report this to Toyota, if enough of us do that maybe they will come up with a fix.

4. If you push the brake down quite a ways when you are stopped the slip indicator will flash, this means you have successfully put it into the hill holder mode. Check your owner's manual for details.

5. Sometimes I need to put my finger on top and touch the bottom with my thumb, or maybe it's the other way around, yes could be the cold weather also.

6. Default is to lock the doors when it comes out of park and unlock them when it goes in, there are other defaults you can select or you can have your dealer select them. Owner's manual again.

 

my car reached 176k, I had the shaking at start up once last year, but now it does it every-time I start the car. sometimes continue while I am driving for almost 30 sec and stops. the other day was very violent shaking and cranking that the "check engine" light lit and stay on until now.

 

a lot of owners are experiencing the same thing like myself. Check around the forum because it can be numerous things like egr, spark plugs, fuel injectors, intake manifold.

 

Old thread...
The 2010 and 2011 had the following problem: If you shut off the engine while it’s still warming up, the car will have this shuddering at the next startup. This can only happen if you start the car and switch it off within a few minutes.

But if the engine is warm, or has warmed up since being started, then this shaking won’t happen.

Go try it... if that’s not it, then you’ve got s different problem.

 

Any reason it wouldn't apply to 2012 through 2015 model years as well?

I would revise the "will" to "may". A new vehicle, probably never. As the miles pile on, more likely.

Also, I don't think this gets to the root of the issue. No car should shake violently on start-up, just because of a quick shut-down at the previous start-up. It happens, but it's a design failure.

Further, what is this shake? Toyota mentions "Toyota has received some reports of a rough idle and/or tapping noise from the HV transaxle at cold start due to sticking EGR Valve Assembly due to excess carbon build-up:, in a Warranty Enhancement Program (Toyota Canada May 2017, SOSH-W11-1A, Toyota USA similar?).

They also make a point of saying "the majority of vehicles will not experience this condition" (with underline and italicize). Yeah right...

 

It should have been fixed by then by a factory change, with TSB-0010-12 applied to the older cars:

https://priuschat.com/attachments/t-sb-0010-12-pdf.34186/

... but apparently this TSB did get extended to some later year units too.

 

My wife's 2012 Prius with 260,000 miles just started doing the same "banging". Is there an answer, or just live with it? Thanks

 

Check the EGR pipe first. Probably SOLIDLY clogged.

 

deleted - posted in error.

 

Check that she hasn't taken out any loans from the mob and is behind in payments....

 

I have the same problem too shaking at start up.
The condition is usually caused by condensation building up in the intake, leading to partial cylinder misfires as the condensation works its way into the engine. While it does not harm to the engine, the accompanying loud rattle out of the hybrid transmission is cause for alarm and can be embarrassing to the owner. Up until April 21st, Toyota offered a redesigned intake manifold (part number 17120-37054) that made the condition much more rare (but didn’t eliminate it entirely). what an older version of that bulletin looked like. The bulletin was updated futher to include 2012-2013 models. for a no-start condition (codes P2111 and P0A0F) was later released that updated the intake manifold further (part number 17120-37091).
As of April 22nd, the original bulletin is declared obsolete by Toyota. The reason for this is unknown at this time.
So what is a Prius owner to do?
CARspec continues to recommend replacing the intake with the most current version of the manifold for this condition. On both of the shop vehicles (a 2011 Prius and 2014 Prius Plug-in), the updated manifold has dramatically reduced the frequency and severity of the rattle, especially in cold weather. While not perfect, it makes a big difference.

Owners can help prevent the issue by letting the vehicle warm up fully before shutdown, occasionally accelerate briskly (when safe), and have the intake manifold inspected for excessive oil and water buildup below the throttle body. There is no doubt that Toyota continues to investigate the issue and we here at CARspec want to support them in helping resolve this concern.

 

If condensation knocking doesn't harm the engine, why was recommending replacing the intake was suggested? If no harm, should it just be left alone and nothing to be replaced?

 

I might add, that lately here in So Cal over the evening, we have had really high humidity for us (80%) or higher. When I get up in the morning, it looks like someone sprinkled water on my car. One morning, I experienced exactly what you are talking about. I only have 44k on my car, so I knew it had to be the adverse conditions of my car sitting outside. 100 degrees during the day, then, 70 degrees at night with 80% or more moisture in the air. I could be wrong, but, extra moisture in the (condensation) must be building up in the intake after the car sits overnight.