Rough engine start

I just had a really rough start after the car sat parked at the BWI airport for a week. It had warmed up (at least to S1) as I had driven it about 5 miles in the morning to the parking lot from the hotel. So, it wasn't fully warmed up, but it also wasn't during the warm-up cycle, either. In fact, I had crept into the parking spot on just the electric motor. Once I noticed it was doing it (2nd time in 2.5 yrs), I pressed the accelerator pedal down for a few seconds and it seemed OK. It almost sounded like it was going to stall to me before it smoothed out.

 

I've never experienced this before and I often have to move my car on cold days (Where cold-start EV isn't possible) and I shut it off before waiting for the ICE to shut off.

Not saying it's not related but it's certainly not a sure thing that it'll cause it to happen. I bought my car Sept 2009 by the way so I've had it a while. One time the initial idle seemed slightly less smooth than normal (like I could feel a very light shake occasionally) but no banging or shuddering like I've seen in videos. Never did it again either....

In winter months I can drive home or to work and the engine never even gets to 160F. (Short commute with lots of stoplights.) That + heat on drains the temp from the coolant.

 

Look at this:

Sure sounds like the identical problem -- and on a 2007 Camry Hybrid. The thread referenced seems to talk about this happening also only from time to time. Many people also mention the "moving the car and shutting it off with the engine still running" and then the banging.

 

My 2011 GIII Prius just did this twice while I was on vacation and the car had been sitting for 2 days (on each occurance) at around 35F - 40F degrees.

Each time I immediately shut off the car, waited a few seconds, and then restarted and all was normal. I really hope this is a one off thing because my car has a little over 5K on the odometer and I just brought it in for the first scheduled maintenance and saw they said all is fine, knock on wood.

As I turned on the car my brother who was at least 20 feet away heard it.

 

I haven't been around here for awhile, but just saw your comment and wanted to let you know that my car has not done this again. Thankfully, the first time was the one and only time. The car was brand new and this was unsettling to say the least. The rough start was very rough with shaking and very loud noise.

I had started it and moved it up my drive a little bit and immediately shut it off. I think that was the night before. So I did have the quick shut down scenario prior to this.

I hope you don't have to experience it again!
Charlene

 

Oh, it will happen again, no doubt. Toyota has issued a TSB for this problem and will replace your intake manifold at no charge. Talks to your dealer.

 

Thanks, Hans. Intake manifold? Can you give us the number of the TSB? There is a TSB mentioned earlier in this thread involving the valve timing gear, but I don't recall anything for the intake manifold.

BTW, I've not had this happen in our 2010 in well over a year. We've had it since August 2009, now have 100,200 miles on it. Some ICE startups are rougher than others, but nothing like the videos. So far, the car's been perfect mechanically!

M.

 

Here is a thread that talks about it http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...n-engine-knocking-startup-t-sb-0012-10-a.html Number in the thread title is wrong is should be T-SB-0010-12.

Some owners have been getting a really bad time when they try to get this done, Toyota (or Toyota dealers) want them to "prove they have the problem". Kind of hard to do when it only happens a few times a year under special circumstances.

Good Luck

 

I can duplicate the rough start problem by starting the car when cold, moving it a few feet or just letting the car idle for a few seconds, then shut it down. I thinks what's happening is unburned fuel is left inside the cold cylinders and injectors and it has a hard time clearing it out when you go to start it the next time. I had several other non-hybrid cars that would experience rough starts too because the injectors /cylinders still have cold unburned fuel in them under same circumstances. It only lasts a few seconds and everything if fine afterwards. I'm wondering if the Atkinson cycle of the valves also make it sound worse than it really is?

 

You nailed the issue perfect. This is what I always thought was happening. I could do that in regular cars as you said you can. Someone posted a bit earlier that they would stab the Go Pedal and it would immediately stop the engine stumbling. That is exactly what a guy does on a normal car that is flooding.

Mike

 

Thanks - I found the right thread! My car gets plenty of cold soaking parked outdoors at work, but since I usually don't start/move/stop I've not experienced the problem since those one or two times early on. Some cold-weather starts are a little rough, but not abnormally so.

I'm not really interested in trying to duplicate it, either, especially since my car is so beyond the warranty!

 

Hear YA there I know enough to not fire up a vehicle and not let it warm the block as that alone is killer hard on the oil. I am one of the firm believers that once a vehicle is fired up, it gets driven to cook off that moisture in the oil, no exceptions. If there is no good reason to go somewhere, it gets pushed in the driveway or it doesn't get started that day

Mike :tea:

 

Wow now thats crazy!!!

 

My 2013 Prius did this yesterday morning for the first time. It has been sitting since getting home Saturday at 0730. When I fired it up Monday morning at 0820, it did this and a few hours later again at 1100. I have had the car for 2.5 year and it had never done this before. It was 45 F outside.

 

perfect storm i guess.

 

I just had this happen, and it unnerved me until I found this article.

I have a 2012 Prius v Five. Car had not been driven in 4 days (I was on vacation). Car is parked outside, and it had rained.

It started the gasoline engine, and it rattled and vibrated and ran really rough. This had me worried, and so I turned it off and waited a minute, then tried again. It still rattled, but for only a few seconds, then it sorted itself out and ran normally. Strange.

If it happens again, I've heard that hitting the gas pedal might be a better thing to do, than turn the engine off?

The service bulletin TSB-0010-12 seems to be applicable, but it doesn't seem to cover the 2012 Prius v (only the 2010 and 2011 Prius non-v models). Is there a different TSB number for it?

Josh

 

how many miles on her?

 

Clean the intake plenum (remove all floating oil/water/fuel) and get an oil catch can.

Here is an article about pcv systems and oil catch cans <<<<click here

 

I'm the second owner of the OP's (@bwilson4web) car and am posting this to help Gen 3 and possibly Gen 4 owners. When I bought it, the car had all the scheduled maintenance done on the car and more... I enjoyed the car but noticed this annoying startup knock that happened sometimes and lasted up to several seconds. Being a new hybrid owner - I was perplexed and my questions were vexing to Bob (thanks again for the tech support). I found that the knock wasn't due to how the gen 3 owners maintain their cars - it's a design problem inherent with the 2zr-fxe engine.

What follows is what I've done to eliminate the startup knock which took a weekend in June '17. I disassembled the entire EGR circuit from the intake manifold to the EGR cooler and cleaned each part until there were no deposits. The EGR cooler was cleaned with carb cleaner, drilled using @danlatu's wire method, then soaked several 1 hour long soaks in a solution of Oxi-clean and hot water until sparkling clean. I also installed new spark plugs (they had carbon deposits on them), cleaned all sensors on the intake system, cleaned PCV valve. Finally, I installed a PCV oil catch can (OCC).

Maintaining the PCV catch can is key. Much more liquids accumulate in the OCC in the winter time and short trips which is when most of the startup bang happens. My 3 mile commute (one way) experiences both extremes. Since the OCC install, I only experienced one startup knock event. This 1 second startup knock happened in 10 degree F weather. I found it was due to the OCC being full after a week of service at those cold temperatures.

You can see pictures of my modifications in post #108 of the Oil catch can eliminate that startup knock thread.

I continue to enjoy driving the 2010 Level 3, even more so now that the engine design issues are worked around.

 

I had the same thing happen to my car, rough starts when starting. it got so bad i would have a rough start at every red light. I replaced the EGR valve, PCV valve, Purge VSV, spark plugs, intake manifold, and had toyota give the car a "software update" but nothing seemed to fix the issue. I'm afraid it may be the head gasket because the car is burning coolant...

Good luck with your vehicle