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

How long will it take to get this TSB done? I'm willing to get this scheduled. I would call dealership for an appointment as soon as possible.

 

Good luck with that. In my case they told me it had to happen right in front of them in order to get fixed. I showed them two videos of my car knocking and they still wanted to produce the sound themselves. They've had my car for a few days now.

 

I assume you have other transportation aside from a bike? Toyota informed me they would reimburse a rental for a maximum of 5 days IF there was warranty work done. I don't trust them to diagnose it on their own that quickly.

 

Yes...the bike is my first choice, working from home today...so no driving

I'm not sure how it is in other areas but most dealerships in the Seattle area will provide a loaner car at no charge if you schedule your appointment in advance. Is your car currently at Toyota for the knocking/rattle TSB repair?

 

Good gravy don't you just love intermittent problems? Reminds me of an '86 Jetta at about 100k miles. Got to running terribly, sometimes ok. Was taking it to VW specialist shops, car ran fine for them for days. Bring it home, fails. VW dealer was able to diagnose as bad ECU board. Replaced, ran fine thereafter.

If this crap keeps up and takes off, eventually they will cave. That does you no good now. Question is, does this TS-B even fix all the cold starting knocking probs people are typically seeing?

 

I think there may have only been a handful or so of PriusChat members who have had the TSB for the knocking performed on their cars. I'm also waiting to hear if it really does solve the issue. Once and if I get mine done, I'll go through the steps to try to reproduce it and report back.

 

Just got a phone call from the dealership that is checking out my Prius. They were able to reproduce the knocking / rattle noise this morning. So now they have to order the parts which will take at least a week since they are not in the region I was told.

 

Congratulations! You've won the lottery

 

No, I left it with them overnight as you did, calling the following day and they said they couldn't repeat it, so I came to pick it up. They offered to keep it longer, but offered no reimbursement guarantees on the rental. IF I was closer to the dealership, I might be able to get by with a bike for a week, but the Prius is my only automobile.

 

TSBs are a poor substitute for a recall. Toyota knows it and we know it too, I think.

Dealers are always the weakest link with problems like this. And it appears that Toyota has not given any firm directive to "fix it whenever a customer reports a problem." Instead, it's the dealer's discretion. That kind of sucks, and I'm sorry y'all are having to deal with this.

 

My manifold is been on order for a week now they haven't got it yet must be in short supply. Most toyota parts I have had to order were in in a couple of days.

 

I asked the service guy about the parts. He said one was being shipped up (to Seattle) from San Francisco and the other was coming from the east coast...somewhere.

 

I went in Saturday the 14th, and it's still not in yet. Been essentially 2 full weeks, and I haven't heard a word from my dealership. I will probably give them another week, then call. Considering it's only happened twice to me in 2.5 years, I'm not feeling it all that "urgent" that a week will be a big issue.

 

Yeah, it seems like the dealers really jump to attention whenever Toyota Customer Care gets involved. I happen to have a new Toyota Carmax in my town and they are very good about keeping the customer informed and satisfied, but I have heard from other people that deal with other Toyota dealers that have the completely opposite experience -- that is until Toyota Customer Care comes a knockin'!
I had my intake manifold replaced several weeks ago and so far everything has been fine.

 

Yeah, this must be a big replacement item for Toyota because my intake manifold was on back-order for about 3 weeks.

 

Knowing that the car never, EVER makes the noise when the mechanic is standing there, I ended up taking a YouTube video of the issue on a Thumb drive and played it for the service manager. From there the video went to Toyota Of America -- Customer Care, and I started getting phone calls from Toyota Customer Care the very next day. My car of course never made the noise for the dealer, but that YouTube video spoke volumes I suspect.

 

^That video method didn't work for me. Guess I'll go back Monday with 2 more (on a USB drive, so it's not limited by the low-fidelity of the camera) and ask to speak to the service manager.

 

Don't forget to send a copy to Toyota of America and get customer care working for you too. I think that was hansgrason1's helpful suggestion.

 

I have a case #. I guess I can call and ask where to forward the video evidence.