Weird incident this morning

I readied my Prius and was backing out my driveway. The ICE started and was misfiring very badly, sounded like it was barely running, making all kinds of clatter
I stopped, put the car in park, and the idle was very rough, sounded like it was trying to clear itself from being flooded. There were no warning lights or blinking check engine lights, so I drove off.

Heres where things get freaky. If I accelerated any more than 1/4 of the gas pedal, the car would buck and the ICE would shut off completely. Then when I let go of the gas, the ICE would start back up. If i feathered the gas lightly, the ICE would stay running. After the car warmed up, this behavior disappeared.

I also noticed my MFD was showing the HV battery at all green bars, all the way to the top It would always show a charge going to the HV battery. My brakes also felt very strange. At times they were very spongy, other times they were hard and grabby. My instantaneous mpg's were in the 10-20mpg range during this whole episode. By the time I got to work, my avg mpg dropped 5mpg total.

I dont know what exactly happened. Looking for answers from the board. Techstream revealed absolutely no DTC's in any of the areas (sans solar sensor).

Even though Ive cleaned my throttle body, does this sound like my throttle body plate was sticking? I took off the air filter assembly and looked down the TB throat, and its not very dirty at all.

 

Gassed up at Sams Club this past Saturday. Changed transmission fluid. Checked my air filter this morning when I got to work, after this weird behavior. ICE oil level is about 1/8" below the top full dot. Drove the car ~150 miles over the weekend, no problems until start up today.

I went home on my lunch hour to grab my laptop and mini-vci cable. The ride was unremarkable. Normal start up and operation at that point.

Oh, and about 2-3 weeks ago, I replaced my 12v battery with a Yuasa TrueStart from my Toyota Dealer and repaired my block heater cord (replaced the 120v plug end as it was found to be open)

 

Ok whew. Im hoping it was a 1 time fluke.

I just remembered - last night I moved the Prius around in the driveway, and pretty much right when the ICE started, I shut the car off. Maybe that had something to do with it? Left over unburnt fuel?

 

Yeah, Ive read about the intake manifold/moisture/fuel TSB on the Gen3's. Ive never experienced this with my Gen2 and Ive had it 1.5 years/25,000 miles.

I almost panicked and thought it was something to do with me changing the trans fluid over the weekend. However, I feel this was an ICE issue, not a trans issue.

 

Thats another thing that alarmed me - there hasnt been any precipitation in our area for at least a week. But Ill take that theory and run with it.

I found it strange that if I pressed the gas even slightly more than to move the car at a snails pace, the ICE would shut down and once I let go of the gas, it would restart, lol. Usually its the opposite!

 

Thanks Uart. Yes, I stated above that I moved the car in the driveway last night. The Prius started and I shut it off moments later. This morning, it felt and sounded like it was clearing itself from a flood situation and I figured it might've been from turning it off last night right after I started it. However, the weird behavior continued on most of my 15 minute drive to work. Who knows... no DTC's on Techstream, and because it was time, tonight I cleaned the MAF and throttle body real good. Either were very dirty but I figured might as well clean it while Ive got the time and motivation (boating season starts soon!)

Patrick - today I checked my misfire monitor on Techstream and I now have 2 events. That wasnt there the last time I hooked up my mini-vci (a week or two ago?) so that might have been from this morning.

 

Ha. Ive read about that super secret mode here before...

Ok as along as the board thinks its nothing to worry about. Ill drive on!

 

I considered that too, I had gassed up the day before at Sams Club.

I ended up doing a thorough cleaning of the throttle body and cleaning my MAF sensor. It not idles much smoother and I havent had any repeat incidents.

 

No.. I was never told to use WS transmission fluid, I thought I was fine using generic ATF from the gas station on the corner:




Today when I drove the Prius, Im getting smoke and grinding from the transaxle. I pulled into my driveway at work at the VSC, check engine, and a few other lights came on the dash along with a red car in the corner of my MFD with an exclamation point over it. This is stupid, this is all Toyota's fault and I knew I should've bought a Chrysler product.....











Of course, Im kidding!!!!! April fools

I used just under 4 quarts of Toyota WS fluid that I bought from my Toyota dealer with a 20% off coupon from their website

Every since changing the ATF (2nd change at 80,000 miles) and thoroughly cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor (it was due anyways), its been running great.