Help From time to time when I come to a stop at light the car will shudder...about a minute or so....that's it no noise,etc just that Any ideas?
If it is "shuddering" at a stop for up to a minute,- my best thought is that your vehicle is still under warranty. Take it to the dealer and show them. You say, "From Time to Time" but hopefully you could get it to manifest at the dealership.
you are in the gen I forum. you might get more help in the prius v forum, assuming that is what you have, all the best!
The OP has in the past posted they bought a Prius v and also a Gen 1. So if they are talking about the v, just report the post and it can get moved. If not, it's fine where it is.
We need a few details: How often? Where are you located? How long have you had this car? What maintenance has been done as in oil, coolant, spark plugs? Are there any error codes or light on? Bob Wilson
Ok, I'm going to offer some suggestions: check for a sticky throttle - normally a problem in colder climates, nothing keeps it from accumulating and showing a problem in warm climates spark plugs - they don't last forever and as they age, they become marginal (search this forum) fuel injectors - they can get sticky and lead to uneven engine operation (search this forum). A bottle of injector cleaner might help. Now these are hypothesis. The sticky throttle is the easiest to address. Sparkplugs are more expensive but don't take much time. Fuel injectors have to be sent off for professional cleaning so the car can be down for a week and it is a little involved. Now the car can record codes that do not show up at an error light. In fact, the first time some codes occur, the 'check engine' light can come on but three starts later, the light is off. These recorded codes exist in the control computers. So I would suggest getting a Prius-aware, OBD scanner. Search through this forum to see what is available and we can discuss what makes sense for you. Do you have metric tools and an interest in doing the work yourself? If not, there may be a local, independent Prius shop that might be able to do the work for you. If you'll call these folks, they may have some recommendations: Auto Careers Development Center - Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Training GOOD LUCK! Bob Wilson
The stored codes will be the easiest way to check. For bad injectors (if they're all bad-ish), look for a P0171 code, or long-term fuel trim at or near 20% (the maximum adjustment the ECU can learn to make). Possibly those signs would be absent if somehow a single injector only was bad. A stethoscope on the injectors while the engine runs might help; they should make sharp ticking/ringing sounds; muffled thumps indicate cleaning needed. It's probably a waste of time to bother the injectors unless you first have some definite reason to suspect them. If you find evidence to suspect your injectors, I still have a recently professionally reconditioned set of four with test results, if it would inconvenience you to send your own in and wait for turnaround. -Chap
