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Engine starts itself at 35 mph in deceleration

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by kensiko, Apr 8, 2013.

  1. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    Is it normal? I tried to find a discussion about this in this forum but couldn't find anything.

    When coasting over 35 mph, when the speeds reaches 35, the engine (or ICE as you prefer) is starting for a second then stops. I really don't see why it would do that.
     
  2. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I've never noticed this. lease include temps, driving time, engine coolant temps etc. when trying to diagnose something like this. :)
     
  3. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    Ok if it's the temperature I'll see what happens during the summer. It was still near 0 Celcius this week-end.
     
  4. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    On a short trip in freezing temps your engine coolant temp may not have been high enough to keep the ICE off. This is especially true if you had the heater or defroster on! If your SOC was low from gliding then that could have also trigger the ICE to fire.

    This is one of the reasons that hypermilers use grille blocking in temps below 40F. When coasting with the ICE off the engine cools down pretty quickly at higher speeds.
     
  5. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    ok, but I saw this behavior multiple times and on many occasions the heat was at OFF.
     
  6. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    But what was the ICE coolant temp? What was the SOC?
     
  7. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    Where do we see the temp?

    SOC was probably where it is when I go on roads, at (all bars minus 2)
     
  8. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    You see it with a scangauge. Same with the SOC %. Alternatively you can use the Torque App and a smart phone.

    Without any of this data there is not much than can be said and even less reason to worry about it further. Get the monitoring devices. :)
     
  9. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    hehe I see. There is no bluetooth on my car so not much to do with a smart phone.
     
  10. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    It doesn't sound normal to me, particularly if you had the heat off.
     
  11. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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  12. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    It's still doing it, really repetitive, like a trigger at 43 mph (yes it's more like 43 and not 35). It does it in acceleration too if I'm in a slope. Are you sure it's not doing that for you guys ?
     
  13. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    Well 43 mph is a different story. If your speed is increasing past 43 the MG1 is forced to get the engine turning to protect the MG2 from overspeed. The engine must be turning once you're above this speed.
    If you're coasting down in speed you're probably feeling a slight jolt as the system allows the engine to stop turning.
    This is very normal and to be expected.
     
  14. szgabor

    szgabor Active Member

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    43 is normal 42 is the official. over that speed the ICE must be on that is by design so whichever electric motor is no over rotate ..
     
  15. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    OK but we can turn off ICE over that speed by releasing the accelerator
     
  16. Kore971

    Kore971 PEDD-CESC

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    Its normal..., and no the ICE will not turn off until you drop below 43mph (when it is fully warmed up)...
     
  17. telmo744

    telmo744 HSD fanatic

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    When doing this, it injects a few drops of fuel for very brief time.
     
  18. kensiko

    kensiko Member

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    That's not was I observed, we can see gas consumption drop to 0 L/100km if we release the accelerator at 60 mph. I can feel it when ICE is starting-up again and the gas consumption bars appear.
     
  19. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    You won't.

    Unless you purchase an aftermarket device to reveal what's actually happening, it's going to be a lot of hit or miss guessing. Sometimes, the engine actually does start up. Sometimes, the engine simply spins without consuming any gas.

    Bluetooth devices (under $20) that work with a smart-phone app ($5 Torque) can be extremely informative.
     
  20. szgabor

    szgabor Active Member

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    How did you observer this ??? I have a SG so I can tell you and others as well that over 42-43mph the engine is turning weather or not consume gasoline that is something different but it will have 996rpm even when 'no power is coming from it' what you may feel is that the ICE puts out power to the wheels ... :)