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Shudder at Low Speed, No OBD Codes

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jmarchant, Jun 28, 2021.

  1. jmarchant

    jmarchant New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2021
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    Location:
    Longview, TX
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    2015 Toyota Prius
    156,000 miles
    Regular oil changes and tire rotations
    Trans fluid replaced about 20,000 miles ago
    Spark plugs replaced about 20,000 miles ago


    Hey everybody. My Prius has a strange shudder which shows up intermittently. When it happens, it feels like I'm driving over a rippled road. At first, I actually thought it was just ripples in the road, but I noticed that it happens even when I'm going really slow (too slow for it to be the road / tires). It has a sort of electronic, pulsating feel to it, like the car is throttling up and down rapidly.

    This doesn't happen at high speeds as far as I can tell, and I don't think it's the ICE since my RPMs are smooth at all speeds. I get no diagnostic codes with a CAN-OBD-II scanner.

    I've already read the other posts on this forum about shuddering / EGR / engine mounts, etc., but they all feel so similar and were all so inconclusive that I'm really confused about what is actually going on with my car. I can't rule any of them out without some good advice from someone with experience.

    Any help would be incredibly appreciated.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    How are you tires? 156k miles you could have some worn struts/shocks that can make your tires wear unevenly. Do you see uneven tire tread?
     
  3. jmarchant

    jmarchant New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2021
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    Location:
    Longview, TX
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    This is almost certainly not a tire problem because it happens when I'm idling. More often, it happens when I'm rolling slowly into or out of a parking space; the oscillation is much faster than the speed the tires are turning at.
     
  4. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Location:
    Wilkes Land
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    could be a bad fly wheel.
     
    #4 Grit, Jul 6, 2021
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2021
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Location:
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    2008 Prius
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    II
    What maintenance have you done? Clean throttle body?
     
  6. Adrian Bryan

    Adrian Bryan New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2021
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    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Sounds like a Head gasket leak. Does it smoke or stutter at start up?
     
  7. jmarchant

    jmarchant New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Longview, TX
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I haven't cleaned the throttle body, but I replaced the spark plugs about 20k-25k miles ago and I get regular oil changes. I replace the air filter every few oil changes when it looks bad, but I don't remember the most recent date. This problem seems to happen more on days when it's been running a lot. It doesn't do it from a cold start.
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I would pull the spark plugs again since it's been 25k miles. Just to make sure they are not cheap counterfeits and broke apart or the gap is completely out of spec. Clean the throttle body while you're in there
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.