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Intermittent shaking on start.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by BobThePrius, Feb 19, 2024.

  1. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    Hey everyone,

    I recently got a cylinder 4 misfire on my 07, 174k, replaced the spark plugs, as I needed to do that anyway, and it went away. I also switched the coil on that cylinder to a different cylinder to see if the misfire followed the coil.

    A week later, there was a shaking on start up and briefly while my wife was driving. I went to drive it myself and it shook for a moment on start but then went away.

    A week later this happened again, and I replaced the coil that had originally been on the misfiring and the shake went away.

    Today the shaking is back again. It is not consuming any noticicable amounts of oil or coolant, and there is no sign of oil in the coolant or vice versa.

    EDIT/UPDATE: got to where the car is parked and am now reading misfires on cylinder 3, 4, and P0300 after not getting any other codes since the initial misfire.

    Any advice for trouble shooting would be much appreciated!

    Thanks.
     
    #1 BobThePrius, Feb 19, 2024
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2024
  2. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    Forgot to add, each time the shaking has shown up, it has been driven for a while, parked for 10-30 minutes, and started again.

    From my ressearch, it sounds like a head gasket failure, but I know those are less common in gen 2 than gen 3, and I don't see any other signs besides shaking.
     
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    In my experience, when people are concerned about a running engine without warning lights / error codes it's because they make a bigger deal of it than it is. And granted, It's very hard to communicate how severe shaking is until late stage failure and atkinson engines do naturally have minor rough running moments at times.

    Has your MPG changed much?

    When was last time you put cleaned the mass air flow sensor & throttle body?

    Also inspect all the hoses, sometimes this can be a vacume leak...
     
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    It's important to use a quality Denso/NGK spark plug on Japanese cars. Also you might have a bad coil, changing all of them, or just the one that causing the issue. At your mileage, I probably would change all the plugs if you haven't changed them yet.
     
  5. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    I replaced all the plugs with NGK. I replace the coil that gave me the first error, but I just checked and I'm getting misfires on 3 and 4. 3 has a brand new coil.

    I'll get new coils for the other 3 if I can't find another issue.
     
  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Well you can switch out 4 with 1 or 2, see if it jumps to another cylinder
     
  7. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    I haven't noticed a change in MPG, but I have been in the mountains which adds a lot of variance.

    I cleaned the throttle body briefly when I did the plugs, I will clean it more carefully and get some MAF cleaner too.

    I am now seeing misfire codes for two cylinders. Could a vacuum leak cause those? I will look and listen for one.
     
  8. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    If you're more than 2 quarts low on oil you can get misfire codes, but sounds like you take pretty good care of your car so it's probably not that.
     
  9. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    Hey everyone, just wanted to update the thread. After checking spark plugs, coils, cleaning the MAF, doing a block test, and a few other things, I replaced the fuel injectors and that seems to have been the issue. Many thanks to all of you for your input!

    If anyone else is having the same issue, I used this guide while replacing the injectors.:


    I did end up buying OEM gaskets from my local stealership, which ran about $50 for all eight. However, I have had no issues with fuel leaking from the injectors. I don't regret the purchase, if for no other reason than it buys some peace of mind.

    I used these injectors off ebay: Genuine Toyota Set Of 4 Fuel Injectors for Toyota Prius Echo Scion XA XB 1.5L | eBay
     
    #9 BobThePrius, Mar 28, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2024
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  10. Pinback

    Pinback Member

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    I had a very similar experience. I also replaced my PCV valve too.
    I used a different vendor for the injectors that I had used for injector rebuilds on some VT908 diesel engines in a boat I used to tend. They did a great job on those injectors so I trusted them to supply injectors for the Prius. The key thing is that when you look on Ebay for injector vendors make sure that INJECTORS is what they do. That should be just about ALL they do. If they are selling injectors and old cases of spam and computer parts and stuffed animals and ... Find a vendor that just does injectors. I used NEinjectors603.
    Glad you resolved it!

    Pinback
     
  11. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Even more complicated is the top sellers of legit parts will compete with fake sellers on pricing... There's also loads of random cheap sellers that are legit that I take a chance on and rarely have an issue. The more you study who you're buying from the better...

    Main thing to know when getting started is if you want to save money remmber there's lots of other Toyota models that have identical parts as Prius for a lower price because its not a Prius part.
     
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  12. Pinback

    Pinback Member

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    That's a very good point Prius Camper. I used to have an "Ever Nimble Echo" which was a great little tin can of a car, but it would probably be on the road today if it were not for a hit and run. That has the same engine and I suspect other parts too. Quite a few cars in the Toyota Line up have that 1NZ type engine.
    A similar issue occurs with receiver hitches. I have been looking at getting a bike rack and the class2 or 3 Prius hitches are comparatively rare and much more expensive. But I read about a Reese adjustable for pickups that actually fits Prius gen 2 cars and is 2" class 3 with 500lb tongue weight. I won't put anything near that but having a 2" hitch for ~40% of the price of a 2" hitch for Gen2 Prius. ($150 as opposed to $375 or more). One of the few things keeping me from doing it is not wanting to carry a bunch more dead weight I only use once in a while.

    It's like we are Cadillac as opposed to Chevy.

    Pinback
     
  13. Pinback

    Pinback Member

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    BTW Bob, love the stretch 6 door look you have. ;)
    Pinback
     
  14. BobThePrius

    BobThePrius Junior Member

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    That is good to know. I honestly didn't even think of that but will keep that in mind moving forward. I just went with them because I saw someone else here had good experiences with them.
     
  15. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    Keep us updated re permanency of the solution