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Shaking when ICE kicks in

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Aadilish, Jan 29, 2024.

  1. Aadilish

    Aadilish Junior Member

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    I have a 2017 prius with about 42k miles on it. My wife drove it through a puddle about a couple of months ago. The engine light came on. I was traveling so I asked her to park the prius and drive the other car. When I got back 10 days later I could feel moisture in the floor mats and the check engine light was on. I started the car and drove it about 50 miles and the engine light went away. However, I could feel a shudder/shake everytime the engine would kick in especially if you keep a light foot on the gas.. With a light foot it is a sustained shake. If you accelerate hard, the shake goes away. There is zero shake whe the car is running on electric motor. I have also notices that the shake is minimal when the car is cold. The translation from ICE to electric and back is smooth. I took the car to a local garage. The plugs got replaced, coils are also fine, air filter replaced. They even opened the inspected the transmission damper but no issues were detected. There are no error messages when you put the scanner in. Any idea what might be the cause? Thanks
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how is the engine coolant level?
     
  3. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Check the fuel trims and temperature sensors for proper operations. The CEL should be in your scan tool history, see what code was initially tripped - that may give you a clue to what's going on. Or you may just have a bad tank of fuel - dump some injection cleaner in the tank and see what happens.
     
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The shaking at moderate load, not at heavy load and not at idle, can be a strong suggestion to clean the small EGR passages found in the intake manifold.
     
  5. Aadilish

    Aadilish Junior Member

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    Steady no visible loss over the last 2 months

    Steady level. Have observed no reduction.. tx

    Coolant level steady and no reduction observed.
     
    #5 Aadilish, Jan 30, 2024
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 30, 2024
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Odd for 42k
     
  7. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    :coffee:
    A puddle ?
    carpet was wet?
    is the carpet dry now?
    2011 Throwing Codes After Driving Through Puddle | PriusChat
     
  8. Aadilish

    Aadilish Junior Member

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    Thank you. Have checked plugs, coils and all relevant sensors still the same. As a last resort, am have the ecm looked at for potential transistor misbehavior. Will update ASAP. Thank you for your inputs
     
    vvillovv likes this.
  9. Aadilish

    Aadilish Junior Member

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    Adeendum: The shaking clearly is on account of engine misfiring at low rpms.. unfortunately it is at the sweet spot where all the gas savings are. If you keep rpms high misfiring disappears ....will update soon. Thanks again
     
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  10. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    If you are able to post and Diagnostic Trouble Codes specific to your Prius issues, that could help us reading your thread understand, why the puddle and wet carpeting observations lead to the misfire at optimal RPM and disappearing at higher RPM.
    If it's extra work or worry, please don't feel obligated in any way.

    And thank you for updating your thread with what you have already learned.
     
    #10 vvillovv, Feb 10, 2024
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2024
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Try cleaning the intake manifold?

    Note, in the attached, Toyota doesn't make any mention of of torque for throttle body hold-down nuts/bolts. FWIW, for 3rd gen the value is 7 lb/ft.
     

    Attached Files:

    #11 Mendel Leisk, Feb 11, 2024
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2024