EGR cleaning . . .

Manifold is so much less far to go, though. Doesn't even need the wipers and cowl out, coolant fussed with (can just set the throttle body aside with the hoses attached) or any of that jazz.

 

I'm beginning to understand your code.

 

I would say that theory is probably pretty correct because the manifold seems like a big internal sticky mess and it seemed like it would plug up very quickly unlike my old metal intakes on earlier versions of other Toyota engines you pull those things at 200,000 mi and they barely be black you tank them two or three times and they never turn silver again but to have almost no build up to speak of but these plastic things oh my

 

I would agree with all that but the other few months ago when I had to take the intake off the engine after it was already installed in the car and pretty much back together It didn't seem to take about I don't know an hour and 10 minutes to get it all done with pretty much manual tools I didn't feel like getting air wrenches or the electrics out for such a small job and one of the things I had to do was change from the JDM throttle body to my original The JDM was fubar. As was the JDM water pump we thought then we put the one we bought on and then later we got the JDM one back out to test and it seemed to be working fine so I don't know if there's some kind of intermittent problem with some of this stuff or what.

 

Well Jerry Mildred since I've got you here and you're posting again I've got a 2013 with a low mileage Japanese takeout engine in it that runs impeccably I mean this engine you don't even know what's running when it's running It is quiet car accelerates great no issues at all but I have this rattling noise in between the engine and the transmission It is not the fire getting put out by water in the cylinder I can assure you of that The engine is running smooth as glass and while I'm sitting here in the driveway I'll start hearing a clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk I get out of the car put up the hood and I'm staring at the joint between the engine and the transmission is where this racket's coming from it I want to say it sounds like springs in the spring plate or the torque plate If you step on the gas you will step through the clunking It will just clean up and go away The engine never misses a beat The spark plugs are clear there's no taste of coolant on the tips of the spark plugs Yes I check. And there is no vapor smell coming from any of the spark plug holes that smells like coolant and I know what that smells like very well I have not taken an inspection camera and inspected the four boars for water droplets I don't have one at the moment like I say the engine runs impeccably even when the knocking noise is going on you can clearly tell that it's not in the engine with your hand on it your eyes looking at it you go right to the joint where the torque plate sits on the transmission shaft You can even feel the clunking right there at that joint If you move your hand over towards number one on the other side of the business the engine is running smooth as glass I don't want to be lifting the coil over plugs off like you would do with regular spark plug wires I feel there's no need and it may damage the coil I have no misfire codes when any of this is going on nothing The plugs in the car are 600 mi old and original SC16 I think is the business and they are real denso plugs of which I am a distributor since the '80s. Any ideas on what might be going on I'm getting ready to take the vehicle over to a buddy of mine's house in a couple weeks who put the engine in and he's going to pull the transmission and we're going to take a look at the torque plate see if the I'll call it the flywheel is actually bolted onto the motor as tight as it supposed to be so on and so forth We used the torque plate that came on the JDM engine from Japan It looked the same all the springs were intact It wasn't rusted The engine didn't look like it needed a rear main seal so I figured the torque plate was a lot newer than mine mileage and year-wise probably so we used it The thing ran for 3 or 4 months impeccably and then all of a sudden one day it started having a similar rattle when you start it up like the fires getting quenched from water leaking through the head gasket but that's not what's happening here I am pretty much positive of that I wish I could be proven wrong and that was the case so I can get this car out of here once and for all but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be I guess an inspection camera would be in order but I don't have one I hate to pull the transmission out just to take a look just because but if nothing's broken in that area then I'll have to write it off as water quenching the fire causing the misses again and that will immediately mean we're not going to fix this car again then I can strip it for parts get the parts out of here and get the car out of here and only have my generation twos thank God. The generation 3 has turned out to be the biggest mistake car was I've ever made in my life so I guess I've made really good decisions about cars all my life or a horrid one with the generation 3.. this is what happens when you buy cute cars that women want It never works that situation that is.

 

He's never going to understand that............

 

Yeah, whenever the engine rotation won't stay perfectly matched to the transmission rotation, for any reason at all, that's where the clunking is going to be.

Look how hard these guys had to work to find the problem, and what it turned out to be:

https://aecs.net/techniek2012/March%20prius.pdf

It won't turn out to be the same cause every time, but lots and lots of things can be the cause.

In that story, the original owner gave up a pretty good Prius for scrap price because the clunking sounded so catastrophic, and then it turned out to be what it turned out to be.

 

I wish mine was a coil or spark plug . But it runs so smooth even whilst clanking away. Step on gas rattle clears engine runs same throughout process.

 

Well so far plugs and coils won't do it for this one It doesn't seem the engine is ever missing when the clanking starts the engine is still running great It's just the springs or something in that plate or clanking but the engines running fine seemingly if you step through it the clanking goes away and the engine just continues to run smoothly at the higher RPM of course because you're stepping on the gas

 

Ask yourself what would make those springs or that plate clank.

The springs take up differences in rotation between the engine and the transmission. No differences in rotation, nothing for the springs to do, no clank.

I understand it's weird that anything can be so subtle that you think the engine's running great, and at the same time result in such an awful clatter. It was weird to the AECS guys too. Everybody it happens to thinks it's weird.

 

Well this is the third car with that nonsense so if it is the engine it'll be going away from here pretty damn quick because I'm not putting another engine in this stupid car so there's always that so far we don't have any misfires or if we do they're hidden in the bushes or something because the engine is running like clockwork now the 2010 sold the roof car it has cooling on spark plugs one into it is definitely got the problem no question about it I've taken the o-ring out of the d gas bottle and that stopped it dead in his tracks but I expect it to reappear any minute now I'm not putting an engine in that car either because the person driving that car is turned it into a complete piece of junk that's how she treats every car she gets so they just are disposable when they go to her The 2013 is a nice looking car but again it's been four-wheel-driven driven through the bushes needs body work front end work and so by the time I do that I have a $9,000 $5,000 car so not going to happen I don't think.

 

The damper or springs can be damaged.

 

Then this is also the wrong place to get opinions if that's the case. Some of these answers almost seem like paid Toyota shills...Clean the whole EGR system and call it day and come back in 75k miles. Be careful what advice you take here from armchair mechanics please..it needs to be cleaned out whether your wallet is ready for it or not.

 

So going by your logic, let's never change our oil again until we get a light or symptoms of either low oil or complete sludge in our engine with a rod through the side of block because it seized up. Why do you think those mileage numbers are there on the service schedule? Because mileage markers are benchmarks for needed services based on the average driving cycles of vehicles...this is why Toyota is WRONG about EGR cleanings and 10k mile oil changes (also arbitrary random numbers) and why so many have failed engines.

 

I keep coming back to the damper springs as I read your symptoms. There is an inspection window at the bottom of the transaxle as I recall. I can't remember for sure if it's on Gen 2 or 3 or both. I've seen coworkers use a flexible magnet to fish out metal pieces from in there. If you get spring chunks out of there, well the puzzle is solved. If you don't get any, that's not necessarily proof the springs are good.

But as @ChapmanF said, there are plenty of other possibilities.

 

Gen 3 has a black plastic piece at underside of transaxle/engine junction. Never pried ours off but assume it’s aforementioned inspection window.