07 Crazy Knocking/p0301 and such

First post. Long-time lurker. 07 Prius with about 190k miles on him. Hope I’m posting correctly!

Ok… Where in the heck to start…

The other day, I was driving home and got on the highway when the Prius started violently shaking. Felt like I was going over ruts in the road. CEL light went on and was flashing (P0301). When I would press on the accelerator, it would stop, but right when I let go it would start shaking again. Limped my way home with the same symptoms.

Checked spark plugs and cyl 1 plug was cracked and chipped at the tip. Changed all spark plugs, swapped cyl 1 ignition coil with cyl 2. Started him, and my goodness the KNOCKING. I felt like I was being shaken off my seat. CEL came on with p0301, 302, 300, and I think 304. Swapped coils back to original and cleared codes. I’m nervous to try to drive him to see what codes pop up now. He’s been sitting for 3 days now.

I had P0301 probably a year/year and a half ago (I think 25k-30k miles ago) with the same crazy knocking. Changed spark plugs, new ignition coil (I think cyl 1, but now I can’t remember if I had swapped the coils and put the new coil in a different cylinder, but I had marked them while diagnosing, and cyl 1 coil doesn’t have my marking, so I think it was that one). I cleaned throttle body, without taking it out (basically just sprayed on the plate), cleaned the fuel injectors (again half a s s ed, by spraying them. I couldn’t figure out how to hook them up to a battery or whatever to have them spray. I’m not good at electrical at all. But I did change my hybrid battery all by myself!), cleaned MAF sensor, new PVC valve and I think that’s all.

I burn oil like nobody’s business. I think I’ve been burning oil more lately. Also have had P0420. Ran lacquer thinner in the gas tank and that went away for probably 3000 miles. I know there’s debate on that, but it worked. For the past maybe 1000 mi, the code goes on and off. Got a new cat, but have not installed it.

The new symptoms are so similar to what I’ve seen with the EGR in the gen3s. Silly me has been researching it like crazy the past few days, only to open the hood and realize there’s no EGR like gen 3s. I was planning on cleaning the EGR cooler, valve and pipe, and thoroughly cleaning the intake manifold. But this manifold looks to be aluminum or something. Not plastic like all the videos I was watching. Can I still take it off and clean it?

As for the head gasket (those two words make me shudder), I don’t have smoke coming out of the exhaust, no milky oil, and I don’t think I see coolant in the cylinders.

I’ve done quite a bit of work on him, and I do drive him quite a lot. Like 100-150 miles a day 5 days a week.

Also I feel like I start to have issues the beginning of every winter. I’ve had him for I think coming up on 2 years. I feel like he was severely neglected and sat out in the sun for a while. The window seals on the drivers side where falling apart, and there’s damage to the display screen inside that looks like it was cooked in the sun.

So my main questions now are 1) What would cause this crazy knocking at idle and when my foot goes off the accelerator? 2) Can I take off the intake manifold and clean it like I’ve seen in gen3 videos? 3) Can I install and OCC, and would that be beneficial with all this oil I’m burning? 4) Does the p0420 relate to these things?

The one thing I haven’t done for some ungodly reason is to change the air filter, which I will do today. Could that be the problem? Can I do a test drive with this crazy knocking?

Thank you guys in advance. I feel like I know all of you after these years of me searching and lurking. I’m sure some of this may probably be obvious to you guys and some might jump right to head gasket. I’m a diy mechanic trained from good ol’ YouTube and Prius Chat I’m confident in my skills and really think I could do most anything in a car at this point (EXCEPT ELECTRICAL). I just can’t grasp that stuff for some reason. Like literally not even the basics.

- Raven C.B.A. (Certified Bad A s s) ❤️

 

Thank you for your reply! I suppose it could be rattling. Is there a way for me to post a video with the sound? Or can I link to a YouTube video? There’s a video that has the same sound.

I started the car a little bit ago. When I press and hold the accelerator down, it sounds normal, but right when I let off it jerks and the sound comes back. That is with it in park. When I put it in drive with my foot on the break and gun it, it’s bouncy like I’m on rumble strips, and right when I let off it’s noisy, but not the exact sound as when it’s in park.

My uncle is a mechanic (I hate asking him to look at my car) but he told me to put a screwdriver in the ignition coil and hold it a tiny bit away from a bolt or something metal and see if there’s a spark to test the coils. I just had to run and grab some Mikes Harder Lemonade to get myself loose enough to try this haha I’m reallyyyy hoping it’s just a coil. I tried the whole unclip one coil at a time, but the car engine stops each time. I think. I don’t know if I’m doing it right.

 

Update: Did the screwdriver ignition coil test. All 4 created a spark. Unfortunately I was an idiot on the 4th coil and got electrocuted. It wasn’t too bad thank goodness. But maybe that was the alcohol.

I guess next step would be compression test?

Do I need a special kit for it?

 

@Mendel Leisk ha! I’ve figured out how to pull someone I very much value into this! ❤️ Your thoughts and comments are always so appreciated. You don’t know me, but I love seeing your comments. Any thoughts on my predicament?

 

lol I know what you mean. I don’t think this car was actually driven up north. I think it might’ve been transported up here. There’s barely any rust at all. I changed the drivers side wheel bearing last year and it was a breeze! When I was younger, I had no idea about salt and cars. My Forester’s frame was all but gone. Now that was certainly almost Flintstoning it!

I’m not a mechanic. I have pretty basic auto tools, a three car garage full of mostly construction tools and equipment, so I don’t have extra car parts lying around unfortunately. And I cannot be trusted to not hoard car parts if I could get them!

 

No, no! The Prius is not in the garage. It’s full of construction tools. No room for cars. So you’re saying you think it is not head gasket?

 

I got Denso plugs from Advanced. Should I get another one and pop it in to test?

 

So, I got a new air filter (decently dirty), cleaned MAF (very dirty), cleaned inside throttle body (very dirty), went to start him and got P3190. Sprayed more MAF cleaner on the sensor. I stupidly didn’t wait for it to dry, started again then got p0125.

One thing, I didn’t take the throttle body out. I just sprayed TB cleaner in there opening and closing the plate, and used a soft bristle tooth brush and my fingers with shop towels.
When I went to start him the first time, he didn’t have the crazy knocking (or whatever sound), but barely any power. After I sprayed the MAF again (without taking it out this time) I was able to drive forward a little. Then a different knocking sound started (not quite the same as the original sound) and I quickly shut him off after the p0125.

Could he be struggling because I sprayed so much throttle body cleaner in there? Should I take the MAF out and clean it again?
I didn’t get the 0300 or 0302 this time. Just the pending 0301.

I may go get a coil for 1st cylinder, but I really wanted to see if the noise stopped after the cleaning. I haven’t checked the fuel injectors yet. I was just seeing if it was just the dirty MAF and throttle body.