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2012 Prius almost shook apart this morning (startup)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Blajoie, Feb 10, 2013.

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  1. Blajoie

    Blajoie Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Car is parked in a garage. 60'F temps. 30'F outside.

    Car initially started fine (electronics on and I started to backup) as soon as the gas engine kicked on, the car started violently shaking. Almost to the point that I was afraid the car was going to rip apart. This lasted about 5-10 seconds until it settled down.

    And this is not the first time this has happened. This is probably about the 3rd event. One thing that I have noticed is that this always happens when the car is started up after 1-2 days of rest and when I have the wheel cranked to one side (granted I am not sure the wheel has anything to do with this, but it is a common denominator in this puzzle)

    I've done some searching and many others have seemed to run into this issue as well and I even found the TSIB out there that is suppose to fix this (but it only applies to 2010-2011 models).

    Do others with a 2012 model still encounter this issue? 2013?
    Will toyota do anything (newer TSIBs?)
     
    #1 Blajoie, Feb 10, 2013
  2. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Just the ICE firing up. Normal
     
    #2 JMD, Feb 10, 2013
  3. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    Is it possible that you ran the engine for a very short period when you parked it last?

    I've encountered this not only in the Prius but with one of my other cars. If I start the engine then shut it down after 10 seconds or less it tends to flood when I go to start it again.
     
    #3 css28, Feb 10, 2013
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I've only encountered this once but it was parked outside for 2 weeks in -20°C temps. It went away after it warmed up.
     
    #4 Tideland Prius, Feb 10, 2013
  5. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    The "fix" is a different manifold but the 2012s have that from the factory. It's -possible- yours is an early 2012 that has the older manifold. Ask your dealer.
     
    #5 David Beale, Feb 10, 2013
  6. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

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    I had this happen to me. Backing out of the garage and just as the ICE started I hit the the stop button and it sound like the crankshaft was going to come out of the bottom of the engine. Turrrrrrble noise!!! I took it to the dealer and explained what happened and the response was, "duuuuhhh"
     
    #6 BZzap!, Feb 10, 2013
  7. Blajoie

    Blajoie Junior Member

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    Last time I drove the car it had been running for 20+ minutes before parking. Since the garage is heated I don't think this has anything to do with low temps.

    I'll have to call the dealer then. Maybe the early 2012s were excluded from the 'fix'. Although I have read that many of people that have had the TSIB done still encounter this issue.

    It is certainly not normal at all, or just from the ICE starting up. Normal ICE startup is a little bumpy but nothing like this. This was like a 500lb bear jumping on the hood trying to climp up to the roof to fetch a fresh salmon. Pretty serious.

    Time to find out what the dealer says, although I'm sure they will just want me to drop it off for 1-2 days to have a look to then tell me nothing is wrong.
     
    #7 Blajoie, Feb 10, 2013
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Interesting, I never got a letter to get the TSB done.
     
    #8 Tideland Prius, Feb 10, 2013
  9. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    TSB is a not a recall, no letters.
     
    #9 Former Member 68813, Feb 10, 2013
  10. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Welcome to the knock club! The good news is that we have not heard if any premature failures from this.
     
    #10 spiderman, Feb 11, 2013
  11. scott.in.colorado

    scott.in.colorado Junior Member

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    As a point of reference I have a 2008 and I have never experienced or heard of this until now. That can't be right! You gave just talked me out of selling my 2008 and getting a new 12/13. I would look into this closely. I suppose its good to see others have seen this issue but it sounds a bit suspect to me.


    Scott
     
    #11 scott.in.colorado, Feb 11, 2013
  12. chughes123

    chughes123 Junior Member

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    Please make a video! Probably only people withe dash cams would end up capturing it though.
    Might want to get a used oil analysis done when it's time to change your oil to see if that mechanical stress caused some wear.
     
    #12 chughes123, Feb 11, 2013
  13. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    That's because Toyota switched from a 1.5L engine to a totally different 1.8L engine in the 2010+ Prius liftbacks.

    There were a couple TSBs on this like:
    Service Bulletin for Engine Knocking at Startup T-SB-0204-11 | PriusChat
    NEW!!! Service Bulletin for Engine Knocking at Startup T-SB 0012-10 | PriusChat

    I'm unclear if the above two (and other related TSBs?) resolve the issue completely or if it can still happen. Prior to the TSBs, some people hit it intermittently (but rarely, AFAIK) and Toyota was silent on the issue.
     
    #13 cwerdna, Feb 11, 2013
  14. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    There are many you-tube videos of the anomaly. Apparently not so hard to get on video.
     
    #14 spiderman, Feb 11, 2013
  15. car compulsive

    car compulsive Active Member

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    For me, the car has never knocked unless the last time I started it I turned it off before it warmed up. (Such as moving the car in or out of the garage.) Turning the car off and then back on cured the knock. It's a quirk I've learned to live with. If I need to move the car and not drive it anywhere, I leave the engine running for a few minutes to prevent knocking on the next startup.
     
    #15 car compulsive, Feb 11, 2013
  16. HprDad

    HprDad Junior Member

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    Same here. Only happened once, under exactly these circumstances. I probably should have known better - When I did this to my old RX7, it wouldn't start the next day, so I learned to *always* warm it up. On my Civic 5speed, I simply put it in neutral and pushed it out of the garage. Now if I could only back the Prius out of the garage *without* starting the ICE...
     
    #16 HprDad, Feb 21, 2013
  17. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    It happened twice in my 2010 (34 months, 37k miles) but not yet in my 2012 (10 months, 15k miles). Like OP, I thought the TSB fixed it before 2012.
     
    #17 fuzzy1, Feb 21, 2013
  18. mtbiker53

    mtbiker53 Junior Member

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    Ditto....not worried about it.
     
    #18 mtbiker53, Feb 21, 2013
  19. tach18k

    tach18k Member

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    I have a january 2012 mdl 2, and no such issue.
     
    #19 tach18k, Feb 21, 2013
  20. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Put it in IG-ON and shift into neutral to roll it out. (Or use the EV button)
     
    #20 Tideland Prius, Feb 22, 2013
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