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

Seilerts, thank you so much for posting this! I had my intake manifold replaced today. Initially they said that it was going to cost me ~750 $ to have it replaced. I then told them that I had a 100 kmi powertrain warranty as part of my Toyota Certified Used Vehicle Warranty. (The powertrain warranty explicitly covers the intake manifold.)

The employee then called Toyota's warranty hotline and spoke to them for several minutes. As it turns out, the intake manifold replacement is also covered under the Federal Emissions Control Warranty. The length of the Federal Emissions Control Warranty is 80 kmi when part of the New Vehicle Limited Warranty, and is 130 kmi when part of the Toyota Certified Used Vehicle Warranty. There is additional coverage for residents of a few other select states. See the attachment for the details.

I had expected to pay some deductible of approximately 50 $, but at the end, there were no charges whatsoever! I went from a supposed ~750 $ bill to not even having to swipe my card.

I'd had 3 starts with noticeable rattling over the past year and a half, with the rattling becoming increasingly severe each time it happened. After my intake manifold was replaced today, the employee told me that the manifold was visibly warped. Scary!

 

I guess warped at the face bolting to the engine.

 

Just whose brain did you get? Um, Abby somebody...

 

I'm new here but I've had this ongoing problem from 125,000 miles. I now have 143,000 and just found out I have coolant in my oil. I have taken my car to Toyota a dozen times before the coolant in my oil and said its normal. Now I'm screwed. I saw somewhere where it said that the Prius head gasket leaks coolant into the head or something like that. But now I have to change the head gasket.

 

You need to get this fixed and if you documented this issue before the warranty went out complain to everyone far and near.
Antifreeze and water in oil is never normal.

 

I just bought my 2012 PiP a month ago and I had the oil changed 3K miles ago. When I check it, it has a slight cloudy nature to it, makes me nervous. Car has 53000 miles on it. Is this head gasket leakage common on this motor? Am I being too concerned because the warranty is about to run out?

 

Just found out my head gasket is done. Coolant in the oil. Getting it fixed and selling it. Never buying a Prius again lol. I've had Honda in the past with nitrous on a stick block that lasted almost 200k before blowing a head gasket...they don't make cars like they use to

Cloudy...that's how my Prius oil started to look like. After it really started to leak it looked like this.

I have a Toyota tech changing out the head gasket and resurfacing the head. He did tell me that he has seen a lot of the same problems but Toyota will not recall the problem because it's only a very small percentage. Can't wait to get a new car after all this is done.

 

never heard of a head gasket problem on a gen 3. you guyses must live under a black cloud. enjoy your next honda.

if i were you, i would have the oil checked. why lay awake at night wondering what might be wrong? my oil looks like water, you can't hardly see it on the stipdick.

 

There, I fixed it for you


iPhone ?

 

tanks.

 

Yeah I heard about the recall for the 2016 civic 2.0L lol. Been out for only 1 month and already a recall smh. To be honest I might just buy a Genesis or a Kia Optima. 10 yr 100000 bumper to bumper sounds legit to me

 

Probably a Hyundai is the next best after a Toyota. I would go Corolla instead since they have been bullet proof over the last 46 years. 2016 is very nice.
Bought the extended warranty for all my Prius' but only used it once for a hatch latch. So I am good to 120K. Sonata is made in Montgomery Al. Not sure where the rest are made. I would have thought the dealer, at every oil change, would have briefed you on the oil.

Never a Honda. Had to lemon law one for piston slap plus drivers window, and rear suspension, etc. Terrible MPG.

 

I've been experiencing this problem for awhile. I've done all the usual suspects. I changed the intake manifold, all 4 coil packs, all 4 plugs, all 4 fuel injectors, throttle body, cleared the EGR passage, engine mounts. Nothing worked. Still misfires at cold startup or cold soak. Today put a borscope down the cly's. and guess what's in there? that's right, coolant! The dreaded Blown head gasket. After (it feels like a dozen trips to the dealer) with no answers, I found the problem myself. I took it into the shop for repair, the Mechanic tells me, "blown head gaskets" on the prius are becoming very common. They are starting to see it a lot now that prius' are starting to get in the higher mileage range. Says Toyota should put out a recall on the head gaskets like they did for the 4runners V6 years ago. If you are having this knocking issue, watch your coolant level. If its slowly going down, you got a bad head gasket. It will NOT SHOW in the crankcase or oil cap. The coolant leaks into the cly's and is pushed out as soon as the engine is started. This is why the engine will knock at startup, then run fine after 10 seconds. Good luck! I will not be buying another Prius because of this issue. Knowing that this is a common weak point in their engines. It is a big job to replace these head gaskets, The Engine has to be removed in order to get the cly. head off.

 

That makes sense as I always thought it was a too lean issue at startup/could be leaking from the intake if the intake has coolant in it/had an old Chevy that had coolant passages in the intake.. Wonder how bad it will get before it is un-drivable? Also wonder if it leaks both directions/like blowing hot gasses into the cooling system? And how many miles on your car and what driving conditions? Sounds like two free head jobs for me when I get around to it.

Wonder if it affects the Gen 2s and 4s?

 

car has 150k miles on it. The water is not coming from the intake, that was checked first. It's definetly a headgasket issue. And you are right about the combustion going both directions. If you have this issue, you will get a weird pressure inside your coolant tank. when you open the coolant tank it will sound like you're opening a soda can. The mech. working on mine, says he see's this issue a lot on high mileage fleet prius's like taxis. And mostly Gen3's
and he states this is the reason Toyota stopped changing the intake manifold for this knocking issue. ( the knocking is caused by the leaky headgasket not the condensation inside the intake manifold

 

Well/now we know the problem and the fix. It is a "known known" as the Sec of DoD would say.

150K is low mileage for that much work. Hope all of us don't need it.

 

If that's the case, how would you explain so many the Priuschat members writing to say they've experienced the "knocking" phenomenon only occasionally, and only when they start the engine the next time after the engine has run for a very brief period? Possibly there are multiple causes.

 

I think there are multiple causes of the knocking. The knocking is just the ICE misfiring. And the loud banding you are hearing is the planitary gear inside the transmission hitting the casing. There can always be numerous reasons your engine can start misfiring. My blown headgasket is just one of them. Of corse as a plan of attack during your troubleshooting, check everything. I was just sharing what clues I experienced while figuring out mine.

just throwing out a wild guess, Maybe the prius headgasket is so cheap and prone to leak, that most of the cars experiencing this have a very small leak. ( like one drip per hour or two) And knowing how metals expand snd contract during temp changes, this may play a factor in why most people experience it more in cold environments. or during the brief startups where the ICE is only half way heated then shutdown.
again, just my opinion (guess)
I was a mechanic for over 15 yrs. before my back gave out, so I do know a little bit about how a car works. just a little..,
obviously an issue with these little cars, I just wish Toyota could figure out a solution and issue a recall to take care of it once and for all. but, because it looks like there are multiple reasons why this is happening, toyota can not pinpoint the problem either, they just know it exist.

 

Ding ding!!! Correct. Just got my Prius head gasket replaced and all the deals done. Also got the heads resurfaced and cleaned up. New plugs and fluids. Now it runs like a brand new car.... Well it's pretty much a brand new motor

I have 144,287 miles. No more knocking when I start or coolant in my oil. Car is going to be sold this week and will never buy a prius again

 

Yup, Toyota knows that the knocking is caused by water/ moisture in the combustion chamber. They just don't want to believe it is coming from the cheap headgasket. They want you to believe it's coming from condensation building up inside the intake manifold. I've never seen condensation build up inside an intake manifold of a SEALED internal combustion engine. And, if there was moisture in there, where is it coming from? leaking headgasket maybe?