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Engine rattle in park

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by ryderpr, Oct 18, 2023.

  1. ryderpr

    ryderpr New Member

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    Hi. This is my first post, but I am not new to the forum. I have been lurking for years.

    My issue is my engine only rattles in park when charging.

    A little history on the car. I got it from a friend and he told me it had overheated due to a bad water pump. At this time the car already had a rattle in the engine.

    I hit up the forum for every known reason the engine could rattle and replaced the following just for peace of mind and to try and eliminate the engine rattle.

    -water pump and all hoses
    -spark plugs
    -ignition coils
    -timing chain/tensioner/guides
    -pcv valve and hose
    -head gasket
    -had cylinder checked/resurfaced
    -egr valve and cooler
    -intake manifold gaskets
    -oil change
    -fuel pump
    -coolant flush
    -and a few other things I'm forgetting

    *I used all genuine Toyota parts for everything

    I did a compression test and 3 cylinders were at 165 psi and 1 was at 175 psi.

    The only thing I haven't replaced is the intake manifold itself, but I did clean it 3 times.

    Am I missing anything other than the intake manifold not being clean enough that could be causing the rattle?
     
  2. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    When you put the cam shafts on did you make sure all the rockers were on correctly?
    And the caps? If even one fell off it will make a lot of noise.
     
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I'd love to hear a sound bite or a video of that rattle I have the same thing going on but it is not the engine that's doing it I can guarantee you this We can go over this thing and look through the spark plug holes with a camera and look for drips we're not losing any coolant have an added any coolant engine side only inverter stable. Our 13 persona at startup can make this rattling noise and if you step on the gas just a little bit not for it revs will go up and you will hear you have stepped through the rattle but the rattle is not because of the fire being put out by water or moisture ignition wise the rattle is coming right from between the engine and the CVT You can put your mechanic stethoscope there and your fingers right under the fat water hose at the back of the head where the transmission bolts up and it'll rattle your hand like a clacker from the '80s let's boogie and all that you know. I am banking after farting around with this for a month or so now that something is wrong in that flywheel spring mounted plate business I think there's something right there that's wore out I don't know The CVT seems to drive flawlessly The car gets a 48 mi to the gallon It predominantly does this like if you stop in a parking lot and then decide you need to back up or change gears or change direction and it also does it when you're like under no load and you would think the electric motor is doing your cruising so it must be as the gas engine is trying to start like there is some bushing or bearing on the main shaft of the transmission that goes through the spring plate now we're connected to the motor It seems like the starter Bendix is stuck on the old Chevy 350. Except we don't have a starter Bendix We have an electric motor or something that can just walk up make everything rigid and turn the motor on I don't know point is is I'm thinking the transmissions got to be pulled to have a look for looseness things that could rattle I have a transmission out that was the original transmission that was giving us no problems I saved it because when I ordered my engine I ordered a transmission so I'd have an engine and transmission with approximate similar mileage. Maybe that was not smart thinking but by looking at the other transmission sitting here on the floor the input shaft and so on and so forth all seems to be pretty stout No axial play or anything.
     
  4. bbrages

    bbrages Member

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    Can you describe the rattle a bit more?

    There are heat shields around the exhaust system that can get loose at rattle at certain load+rpm combinations. But that will be a light metallic rattle, not the knocking sound of a misfiring engine.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how many miles on her?

    did you clean the tiny intake manifold ports?
     
  6. ryderpr

    ryderpr New Member

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    Hi. Thanks for the reply.
    Yes, all caps were reinstalled.

    Thanks

    I will try and a an audio recording soon. I travel a lot so I do get much time to work on it.

    199k. I cleaned the whole intake 3 times. But.... no.matter how much I cleaned it the carb cleaner kept coming out dark brown.

    I just don't wanna spent another $300 on an intake manifold and find out it wasn't that.
     
    #6 ryderpr, Oct 19, 2023
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2023
    bisco likes this.
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    @ryderpr please use the multi-quote function
     
    Limey Geoff likes this.
  8. Michael Kent Handy

    Michael Kent Handy Junior Member

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    Experienced mechanic at Cars4U in White Settlement (west Fort Worth) told me it's loose or worn engine mounts. I have same gen 3 2011 with 200,000.
    I think he's right. I had another car about the same age with engine mounts that needed replacement
     
  9. ryderpr

    ryderpr New Member

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    Ok, so after a few months I finally got a chance to work on the car.

    Since my last post I have replaced the intake manifold with an original Toyota unit, but the rattle remained.

    Without knowing what the cause could still be, I removed the cylinder head to have it checked one more time at a different machine shop and it came back with no issues at all.

    I am going to reinstall everything and report back. I'll be away for a few weeks but should be able to get to it by the end of March.
     
  10. ryderpr

    ryderpr New Member

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    Finally was able to mount everything back, but no luck. Not sure what to do at this point. Gonna look into local hybrid specialists I guess.
     
  11. Priipriii

    Priipriii Member

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    I would have it running and go listen inside the engine bay if its coming from engine or MG1. At the same time, force charge it by pressing both gas and brake at once, im sure you know already. And rev it for higher rpms. Is the rattle still there or does it go away when rpms are higher?

    If it goes away, its probably your engine. Maybe rod is knocking if i had to guess (and noise only stops at higher rpms), you did mention the engine was overheated before you got it. Possibly even the cam area, springs?

    If it doesnt go away and this is only a problem in park, then its possible it has to be something when mg1 is disengaged from the drive gear.

    Just my 2 cents. You already changed the headgasket, so it cant be that. Mine would rattle because headgasket was blown so it was upsetting engine balance at low rpms, even while driving.