1.8L starting rattle, knock, events

The knocking noise is from the oil being to thick. Make sure you have 0w20 in cold weather. Trust me on this.

 

? Both times it happened to me was in temps in the 50-60F range and in the case of the second time, it was sitting just 15-20 mins in a parking lot after a long drive (read still very warm). The original oil in the engine.

 

Incorrect. Oil has little or nothing to do with it. Toyota will be forthcoming with a TSB on it, according to a previous post.

 

My family is from Fort Madison. Caught a few catfish in that river!

 

Always have the complaint documented. It can be worth thousands of dollars in the future, if out-of-warranty claims are made. I have complained to the Toyota service writer about the startup knock several times, and it is on my work orders.

 

No it has nothing to do with the oil... sorry...

 

I wonder if the TSB, if and when it will come out, will be US only or worldwide...

 

I checked out the start-up noise on Youtube and all I can say is the engine's been good so far, with over 5000mi. on the clock.

 

Did you contact the dealer? What did they have to say about it?

 

Hopefully everyone is contacting their Toyota dealer AND sending a note to Toyota Customer Care about this, right?

I have had this knocking occur to me about 3 times over the last 18 months with my 2010. Scarred the crap out of me the 1st time it happened! No warning lights on the dash, still getting outstanding gas mileage, engine purrrrs like normal all other times ... strange!
I have reported it to Toyota USA and will be taking the car to the dealer tomorrow with video/audio footage on a CD and a thumb drive for their added convenience -- because YOU KNOW the knocking will NEVER happen at the dealership with a bunch of technicians standing around.

 

Well, I took my POS Prius to the dealer this morning to have this mess diagnozed ... What are the chances the Rattle, Rock, Knock, and Roll will occur for them? I actually dropped it off last night for them to work on this morning.

(I knew I should have bought the Honda Insight!)

 

Chances of recurring at dealership are virtually zero.

This is a small problem still I think and the honda insight is a substantially inferior vehicle to the Prius, really. You made the right choice even though this is a strange problem.

 

4th time for me today. Wife moved the car last night to let friends get out. I went out today to run an errand and got the knocks-knock on startup.

Precisely the same circumstances as the previous times it's happened to me.

 

Let me put it bluntly ....

if my Prius happens to knock and make horrible noises when ICE fires, believe me, you all will know about it. So will Toyota, customer care.

I cannot recall EVER having a car that knocks upon startup. A newer car knocking, seriously?? Most definitely NOT good for your engine. Knocking, pinging, etc... in fact damages engines.

I've seen this in video and it is most certainly not normal in any way. Whoever's getting it, time to whup out the video cam, present, and apply the heat on high.

 

Third time last week. Had driven to neighbor's house half a block away and back, never had time to warm up. Tapping in morning upon start up. I floored it and the tapping quickly went away until I let off gas and it was very light. I got out of car to lift hood but by time touched hood it was all gone.

 

I swept my garage yesterday and moved the car in and out of the garage . This morning when I started it the most horrible noises happened for about 5 seconds. It sounded like the pistons were going through the engine. It also sounded like the plastic engine cover and underside of the car was shaking too. This can't be good for the car. I wonder how much damage and life this takes off the engine. This is the first time it has happened in 14,000 miles. I am pretty disappointed about this and all of my millions of rattles.

 

Without really knowing what is happening, we don't know if it is harmful to the engine or not. Probably... Just make sure you report it to the dealer/service.

 

I assume the TSB that was posted in another thread is suppose to address this problem? Seems like the TSB doesn't address the cause of the knocking though? Seems like they are just trying to make the problem less noticeable so people won't complain?

 

I had that happen to my2010 the first winter. I started the car and shut it down in the garage without a complete warm up.

I started the car the next morning and had that awful rumbling vibration. I started and stopped the engine a half dozen times, but the rumble remained as bad as ever.
I drove the car to town (8 miles) with the engine still doing the heavy vibrating rumble when warmed up fully. I shut it off and did business for 15 minutes or so, then restarted the car, still had the rumble. I shut the engine down, restarted and the rumble was still there. I stepped on the brake, shifted to drive then manually shifted to N, the engine roughness cleared instantly and has not returned.

Shifting to N disconnects the gas engine from it's battery charging dutys and allows the ICE to run freely without load.
I am wondering if the shift to N cleared some electronic or mechanical glitch, or if it was a 1 in a million chance that it just fixed it'self at that exact same moment ??

I live in ND, the far north where we get very low winter temps. The few times I have needed to start my unheated Prius in temps of -20 to-30. The little 4 cylinder gas engine starts at those low temps and is immediatly put to work charging the traction battery. This leaves the stone cold little 4 cylinder running quite rough.
I have found that if I start the engine at those very cold temps, shift to drive , then N, the charging dutys are turned off and the ICE runs much smoother.
After a minute in N, the engine warms a bit and runs smoother, then I shift to D, then park so the charging function kicks back on
After the battery charging function warms the traction battery for another minute of so, I drive off with no problem.

It may sound like a bit of a goofy workaround, but it works for me.

 

A member that said he works for Toyota stated that another bulletin will be coming out that addresses the knocking.