Service Bulletin for Engine Knocking at Startup T-SB-0204-11

Great find. In the last thousand miles I have begun to notice an abnormal amount of engine vibration when the ICE powers up after a cold start (i.e. when leaving work late in the evening). In addition, during the first 1/2 mile or so, the ICE engagement is very noticeable and rough.

 

bummer, mine is not covered. Out of 60K warranty.

 

Ask; they might do it regardless.

 

Awesome find!!

Critic - Can you add this to the list of TSB's you'd compiled earlier that is in the Technical Discussion subforum as a sticky? That way they're all in a list still rather than all over the replies.

 

This 'solution' may cure one segment of the over 213 owner population reporting this anomaly here on PC; however, this TSB also states:

"1. If customer complains of excessive vibration or abnormal humming through vehicle until engine warms up after an extensive cold soak (below 32ºF[0ºC]), replace the right rear engine mount with the updated part."

I would venture to say that only a minority of those reporting this problem here had it occur at ambient temperatures that low. Most had it show up at well above freezing temperatures. Could it be this solution attempts to deal with the excessive ICE vibration and knocking by simply inserting a stiffer right rear motor mount? IOW, is this still an essentially unresolved engine problem?

Secondly, will local service departments refuse to replace the motor mount if on the date the customer reported this anomaly the ambient temperatures never got anywhere near freezing?

 

As far as I am concerned that violent shaking that I experienced a couple of times at startup had nothing to do with an engine mount. I think they are drawing straws on this one.

With that said, this would be a good T-SB to call in to get all my undercover clips replaced as many of them have been damaged from removing.

Thanks for the link!

 

Hmm, would Toyota Care extended warranty taken care of that?

 

Good idea. I have a couple damaged, and my hope is that they would replace them. With my luck, they'll try to charge me for them!

I have a tedency to agree with you on the grasping at straws. One would imagine that you would experience it with way more frequency if it was just an engine mount.

 

maybe; problem is we drive alot and keep cars until they die.

All of Japanese cars we owned had developed problems well over 200,000mi mark.

 

Grasping at straws, LOL, as in: the drowning man grasped at a straw...

 

Maybe they also drew straws.....as in, they grasped at a few, then drew to figure out which reason to give

I saw that typo too, but was going to play nice and let it slide. Now, had I been at work and it was a co-worker, I would totally call them on it lol

 

I could not agree more......the shaking and noise that I had was NOT a bad motor mount.....Customers want Toyota to do something.....so they are replacing a motor mount.....doubt if this will solve the problem.

 

I agree this does not sound like a motor mount problem, so let's see how long until someone has the motor mount replaced, and STILL has the problem occur. I bet it happens.

 

Since this is a T-SB, and has happened in the past, I called the Dealer. Said they would like a look see before ordering parts. This was issued only 6 days ago. Going in Monday to start the process. I still believe this to be a fuel issue, possibly pre-ignition, but will go with it on their nickle. Will also stop the single pump to throttle following Ready light when cold, which has worked so far. If this works fine, if not, then it is documented and I called them on it.

Thanks for posting seilerts.

 

I think I'll wait before having it done, on the "if they don't fix it they can't break it" principle.

It seems a bit like the programmer's classic of identifying and fixing other bugs while trying to fix a different one.

 

Speaking of knocking.. Is it related to gas formula?

Different states have different formula and ethanol %, some of it doesn't wanna burn well at low temps. CA/mid-west gas drove my bike nuts at higher elevations. But then you stop at different gas station and there is no problems, figure.

 

Seems like there isn't a lot of faith among owners that this is the actual solution to the problem?

It will be interesting to see if people have this done and the problem continues.

Honestly? I don't know. But I have to think that if Toyota goes to the extent of redesigning the engine mount in the 2012's...and issuing a TSB concerning replacing older versions..that perhaps it IS fixing something....

Its is considerable expense to redesign, and considerable expense to open yourself up for warranty replacement. I kind of doubt Toyota would do it frivolously.

However, I will watch future posts with interest.

 

I understand your POV on the topic and your logic does indeed make sense regarding Toyota just doing this for the heck of it.

They may have not figured out what is causing the knocking to actually happen. Therefore, the mount will better absorb the effect being the fact that we see the engine rattling and making noise and want something done. It's possible that the new mount takes care of that part, or dampens it enough that it doesn't seem so bad. It is highly possible that by doing that they presume no (or less) long term damage will be done.

It just seems that if a mounting bolt were really the problem, it wouldn't be specific to happening after a cold soak. Maybe someone has information to refute that. And what makes it specific to just being a cold soak? I've had spurts where my car sat for a few days, and started up just fine without any issue. I've had this event occur twice, and only once it was actually what they called a "cold soak", as the other time it didn't dip that cold.