Death Rattle and when erg blocked car almost dies.

You really need to check your plugs and engine very well You want to check your plugs especially one and two for any coolant droplets If you see droplets that look like water even little tiny ones on the end of the plug It's probably cooling touch it with your finger touch it to your tongue you know what coolant tastes like probably not well that's it. Now you do anyway very few of these cars get away with the death rattle a few times without something major afterwards so maybe don't travel too far don't do anything too silly until you find out You certainly don't want to be 500 mi from home and find out

 

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Spark plugs are very commonly counterfeit in case you are unaware. The counterfeits are worse than the worst copper plugs you could get. If by "semi-recently" you mean like 15-30k miles and you bought them from eBay (or similar) then that's probably it. I don't think aftermarket coils have the best reputation either.

Edit: LOL, skimmed over the "solved it" post. Still important info for lurkers.

 

Those ports are probably the most important part of the cleaning process because they don't clog evenly, which I'm convinced stresses the head gasket. Not that the cooler isn't important, too. But they don't directly make the so-called death rattle. That's the head gasket. Or bad plugs or coils.

As mentioned, you could have issues with counterfeit or off brand plugs/coils. And, if the head gasket has a small leak, it might take a while for the coolant loss to become apparent.

 

Say you had a boat with some fancy electronics. Boat springs a leak; and water shorts out the electronics. Then you fix the leak: does that fix the electronics?

The EGR cleaning was at least 100k overdue.

The “death rattle”, more succinctly, is (uncompressible) coolant leaking past head gasket into cylinder, making it increasingly difficult for piston to get over Top Dead Centre.

try boroscope inspection and/or leak-down test.

any codes?

 

A Prius makes such a rattle when it is misfiring for any reason.

The "death rattle" is what Mendel says it is if a borescope, leakdown, or other specific test shows it to be what Mendel says it is.

(Even then, the repeating rattle sound that you hear is caused by the misfiring engine, perhaps because of small amounts of leaked coolant, interacting with mechanical lash in the transmission. Once enough coolant leaks in there to actually stop the piston crossing TDC, if you hear that sound, you're not going to hear it many times.)

 

The EGR system doesn't cause a misfire "death rattle" (I wish we'd stop using that non descriptive term) at idle, although if the EGR valve is leaking, maybe it would.

 

Do you have a link to How to clean the EGR valve and cooler on a 2012 Type 3 Prius?

 

So, do you have instructions or video on cleaning the EGR valve and cooler on at 2012 type 3 Prius

 

Why would bad fuel injectors foul up your new spark plugs?

 

I believe the next step is to replace the leaking head gasket.

 

It would be best to continue in your previous thread; starting a new one just breaks up the narrative.

Giving the symptoms a mysterious name (death rattle) doesn’t help. With your miles, symptoms and long neglected EGR, head gasket failure is most likely scenario.

Again, I’d try leak down test and/or boroscope inspection.

 

Oven cleaner dissolves the carbon, a pressure washer blows it out.
You did keep the cooler? They don't wear out, stainless steel...

 

A death rattle is produced when a person is near death and is too weak or hypersomnolent to clear or swallow pharyngeal secretions.
I've heard them and "death rattle" is a VERY descriptive term, most especially if the resultant shaking is caused by a....clogged intake.
A near-hydrolocked G3 produces a more violent 'shaking and quaking' but the end result is the same.
Either you get an automotive angioplasty, a heart transplant, or you hear the final 'death rattle.'

They call it that for a reason.....

 

The coolant will start disappearing within two to ten weeks of initial death rattle. Too many jump on the egr and expensive parts cannon to no avail. When it initially goes away for days at a time only to briefly return on a cold start it essentially rules out plugs, coils, injectors or egrs. The leak seals itself off initially. History repeats itself but some have to learn the hard way.