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

I agree. The main reason why 2015 and up has less issue because it does not burn oil. The new piston rings and piston design really help. Revised head gasket in 2013 help a bit but no oil burning, less carbon on EGR, less carbon in engine, reduce pinging/ preignition, makes head gasket survive longer.
Burning oil issue is like a snow ball. It causes carbon deposit in engine, clogging EGR valve, increase engine temperature and pinging, blown head gasket, kill catalytic converter. Total the car.

 

Maybe slightly. I think it took the 4th gen EGR revamp to truly fix the problem.

 

Yes, but the main reasom we have EGR clogging is oil burning. If someone with 4th gen has oil consumption issue, it will eventually kill the catalytic and clog EGR. Although in slower rate than 3rd gen because of larger passage and EGR after Catalytic. Oil consumption is the main enemy in my opinion. So change it every 5k miles/6 months unless we live in south States and regularly in highway to prevent oil consumption issue.

 

Maybe yes maybe no? I’ve got no oil burning, at 90k kms, but my EGR was carbonning up nicely.

my 2 cents: the main reason 3rd EGR is clogging is it’s design.

 

It is exhaust, carbon will always there. There must be a lot of carbon too in 4th gen but as long as it is not sticky and hardened, EGR will still have enough flow and can still reduce the engine temperature. After Catalytic converter, any oil residue will be burned and will not as sticky as the area before it. If there is no oil consumption, the chance to have sticky sludge is much less than exhaust with oil consumption

 

Here is the requirement from the service manual for setting P030x. Since cold start knocking may not happen twice in a row very often, it seems unlikely that it would ever get past the pending state, due to two OBD trip detection logic.

 

Mine looked like it had vegemite in the egr holes lol. Carbon in the egr cooler of course, but the egr passageway pin holes were just full of goop.

 

You only have 90k kms? So 56,000 miles?

 

Yeah something like 93,400 kms. Our usage is tanking, sporadic driving to see our kids, dentist/doctor, occasional outing or shopping trip. We're homebodies, do a lot of walking. This 2010 "might" be our sunset car.

 

Holy cow. You've got at least another 64,000 miles before you should notice any issues at all if we put all of us on a sample curve.
And you aren't kidding. There's a lot of Toyotas i see around that could possibly attend their owners funeral lol.

 

Is there a recall for this problem with 2013’s. We have 10 year here in Calif? So far no trouble codes. Seafoam seems to work until it gets cold again.

 

It is not a recall, just TSB, means only cover if it is still under warranty. The intake manifold is redesign to reduce ice build up.
Seafoam is mainly made out of mineral oil and Stoddart solvent. It is not meant for engine crankcase, only for fuel lines. There are some safer engine flush product but only for 30 minutes usage. All products of engine flush usually group I Oil, very good solvents but unstable, degrade quickly. Most engine oil are group III with some PAO and ester.

 

The best information we got about the TSB at the time was that the manifold was redesigned to avoid giving the engine a snort of condensed water from the EGR passages on startup.

 

So guessing I'm SOL on this with my 2015 Prius? Had the knock of death and check engine light come on this morning @256000 KM.

 

Yes. More detail in my response to your other post.

 

so is there a warranty of any kind or anything toyota is doing for the hard knock situation in cold weather? I have a 2012 with 138k miles and it does knock some winter mornings, is toyota going to or have they given some kind of warranty or warranty extension on this problem? thanks for any information.

 

so is there a warranty of any kind or anything toyota is doing for the hard knock situation in cold weather? I have a 2012 with 138k miles and it does knock some winter mornings, is toyota going to or have they given some kind of warranty or warranty extension on this problem? thanks for any information.

 

so is there a warranty of any kind or anything toyota is doing for the hard knock situation in cold weather? I have a 2012 with 138k miles and it does knock some winter mornings, is toyota going to or have they given some kind of warranty or warranty extension on this problem? thanks for any information.

 

No, no and no

 

At least in Canada it’s yes, no and no. We got this “warranty enhancement” letter, but pretty much useless. They have you wait around till the system’s royally clogged and head gasket’s letting go. And the italicized and underlined statement commencing with “while the majority…” REALLY rankles: they all “experience this condition”.

 

You have to wait until an egr code occurs and the valve sticks, not a common issue.

The specific condition covered by this program is sticking EGR valve due
to excess carbon build-up. If the condition is verified by a Toyota