Please help, prius skaking, engine light on and blinking and traction control light comes on

Since the car is already at the Toyota dealer, I suggest that you let them retrieve the DTC and give you a diagnosis. At that point you can decide whether you can do the repair work yourself or not.

If you go to the dealer after hours and try to retrieve the car, you'll probably find that it is locked away. It's not a good idea to try to do that after hours unless you don't mind being stopped and questioned by the friendly local police.

 

They will diagnose your car, call you with an estimate of repair. If you approve the repair, the work will be performed and cost the amount you will have approved when a service advisor calls you. NO work will be performed on your car unless you approve of it. Give them a chance and let us know what they find.

 

when my car was shaking, it was due to a bad ignition coil. unfortunately these things don't pop up in codes (i had my mechanic friend check...) it only drops codes if the spark plug itself fails, or you unplug something.

changing spark plugs is easy. i accidently sheered a bolt that holds down the ignition coils, so i went to my local hardware store and purchased something non aluminum. no problems since.

 

Take a look at the plastic cowl cover where the windshield wipers are located. Note that there is a vertical seam between the two plastic cowl pieces. That seam is normally sealed with black foam which doesn't work very well, as your experience proves. Also, the spark igniters have only one bolt holding them to the engine valve cover and the rubber O-ring clearly provides an inadequate seal.

The fix is to apply a bead of black silicone sealant on the cowl cover seam, to discourage water from dripping down the seam and onto the engine valve cover. Perhaps this was already done by the dealer tech as this was the subject of a TSB.

You may have to worry about water entering the cyl #1 spark plug well again (and maybe the other cylinder spark plug wells as well) if the seam has not been sealed.

 

I put some super duty spark plugs in my 06 two summers ago got 62mpg all that summer then my mileage dropped to the high thirty's, took a look and one of the plugs had fouled, was running on three cylinders but no shaking, luckily. It's a disastrous design but if like Patrick suggests you seal any leak-able spots leading toward the ignition coils it shouldn't reoccur.

 

ignition coils cost 80 dollars....

ursle: your spark plug upgrade makes me wonder if i should check mine...

 

that's a carbon filter... supposedly it never needs to be replaced.

i'm curious about replacing it too...

 

A reputable dealer should ask you what you want and not proceed with any work unless YOU okay it.

You should ask NOW how much this diagnostic is going to cost you, because they will charge you. You should also let it be known you are not authorizing anything further...which should be automatic but it's still better if you voice it.

But a reputable, good dealership should NOT just fix it and charge you without first getting the approval from you. Just make sure they know that at this point you just want diagnosis and cost of diagnosis. Sometimes this is not a static figure....as going through a procedure to define a problem can be an everchanging process.

If you are on a budget, I'd also tell them upfront how much of a ceiling on diagnostic costs you are willing to reach...and tell them not to exceed that ceiling.

 

Hello,

I'm having exactly the same issue with my prius. Yesterday my engine light flashed 18 times as well, and shakes. Was your issue resolved after you replaced the Coil?

Thanks your help.

 

The first step is to remove the coils, clean and dry them. Make sure there is no water down around the plugs and refit the coils. Seal the seam in the plastic cowl above the engine to stop it happening again, and try the car to see if the problem has cleared. If not the Prius does issue misfire codes relating to the cylinder that is misfiring, replace that coil.

John (Britprius)

 

You can also swap coils and see if the cylinder code changes to determine the health of the igniters (coils).

JeffD

 

Thank you for your help, I removed the coils yesterday and installed new spark plugs. Coils were dry, I noticed that one of the spark plug wasway darker than the other ones. Car shakes less but makes a crancking noice when gas engine runs.
Any sugestions?

 

Noise - electrical high voltage arcing? Swap coils as I suggested and reread the codes to see if the code points to a different cylinder misfiring. If so you need to replace the bad coil.

JeffD

 

Thanks, I also noticed that for some reason I can't get more that 35 mpg. Is that clearly a coil issue?

 

There is a problem with that cylinder. The dark residue on the spark plug insulator is due to lack of proper combustion.

What is a "crancking" noise? This is not an English word.

It might be. If one out of four cylinders is not producing power, your fuel economy will be significantly impaired.