EGR circuit concerns from a Toy indy shop

Essentially just a barometer (absolute pressure sensor).

 

I don't know, maybe you are talking about different knocking. the one i'm talking about only happened to me twice, both times there was short (seconds) ICE run many hours before. I examined intake manifold and it wasn't even that dirty. the "knocking" is not even in the engine, it's periodical engagement of the electric motors to compensate for one cylinder misfire. disconnect one ignition coil and you'll get the same "knock."

 

Have you had the software update. Both of our prius' have not had a knock from ice or anything. Just the annoying hit bump while you are breaking and car seems to disengage breaks for a split second. Both cars are running smooth.

I believe the egr is getting gummed up because prius' are burning oil from the pcv valve. It is common in a lot of combustion powered engines. When the motor is ripped apart you will see carbon deposits every where, It is easily traced back to the pcv valve dumping oil/water/fuel. Worse in the winter. When you say your intake plenum wasn't dirty, you looked right under the throttle body where all the oil likes to sit. On start up. it is sucked into the combustion chamber. the knock is also known as detonation. There are hundreds of articles about how bad the pcv systems are for the car. I have read that some car manufacturers don't want to put these in because owners would improperly dump it.

Ditch the pcv system article

 

Did you have engine knock a lot prior to having your oil catch can? Did you notice after cleaning the oil/water/fuel out or your intake plenum and or oil catch can installed that the knock went away? I recommend a heavier weight oil 5w-30 and 5k oci for winter and 7.5k oci for summer.

 

The engine knock was quite noticeable when the traction battery was very low & I was accelerating. At other times I might detect a slight engine knock under high loads. These would be for a very short interval. I use ECO 100% & tend to keep the engine out of its Power range on the display.
The engine knock when the traction battery got down to 2 bars disappeared when I replaced my fully plugged EGR cooler with a clean EGR cooler. I do not remember ever getting an engine knock since I cleaned the EGR circuit.

So, to answer your questions: Any engine knock I had was gone before installing the OCC. I have had no engne knock since the OCC was installed.

I am going to go to 0W-30 or 5W-30 in the near future. I resisted the temptation to go to a heavier oil earlier on because I was trying to only change one variable at a time to resolve the oil consumption issue.

Presently my thoughts are leaning towards a defective PCV valve, since it has never been changed. I have the OEM replacement. I've got another couple things on order, waiting for them to come in. Then I'll install the new PCV valve & re-install the OCC, & possibly relocate the PCV valve to the OCC. Thinking about using 1/2" line from the engine to the OCC since extra 1/2" fittings came with the OCC. I mount my OCC high so any oil in this hose would drain back into the engine sump.

Thanks for the thoughts & ideas everyone!

 

PCV circuit mods - spot the changes

I took advantage of our warmer weather & got all this stuff installed (at least enough to get some solid data) before the rain. So far only 9 miles. I'll get some more miles on it tomorrow.

 

This is the answer to the above question "spot the changes"...
Here is a drawing that I made before I installed stuff on the engine:

I'll see how that Home Depot hose holds up.
The 3/4" hose at the right is only 1-5/8" long.
Hose terminates on the intake manifold.
Currently I use a zip-tie on both ends.

 

A note of caution to those PC'ers installing an oil catch can & using 3/8" ID braided vinyl tubing (or other 3/8" hose/tubing): The OEM PCV valve hose barb is slightly under 3/8" in diameter (actually ~9mm). In my setup above, when the engine got warm I noticed the hose was not seated well on the PCV valve. NOTE: in the above picture my PCV valve is on the output of the OCC. Actually the hose was quite loose. I added a small screw clamp & all is well. The same 3/8" tubing is fine on hose barbs designed for 3/8" hose.
For a permanent installation I would recommend using fuel line with clamps. For testing purposes the vinyl tubing will work.

 

Is your air filter working good ?

 

I purchased a replacement PCV hose, to put on if we trade-in or sell the car. Never used, I checked it's inside diameters with a dial caliper and the pcv end was roughly 9 mm. FYI the intake manifold end measured 17mm.

 

What I like about this setup is the second OCC will grab the stuff draining from the intake manifold and the first OCC keeps the PCV valve cleaner.

Pixel XL ?