What Do You All Think? Dealer Service Results

I think you misunderstand the transitions of shops to "employees only." It's to prevent you from watching, not liability.

If they wanted to allow you to watch it would be pretty easy with modern cameras (GoPro on the "technician's" head, for instance). They keep you out because of the crude culture, shenanigans, ripoffs and unneeded up-sells. Profitable shops have example air filters and oil samples to show you that are not from your car, but are convincing to most people.

 

i think the o/p got a reasonable deal, and the shop was right to send him on his way. bring it back in 5k for tire rotation and inspections, and don't look back. you might get the cold start knock again, just shut it down and restart, and ignore it.
agree with mendel and ray about looking at the threads on egr and manifold cleaning. if you don't diy, you might want to look for a mech who will do it, it isn't difficult. even the dealership should be reasonable.
all the best!

 

I hate going through lift distrusting everyone. I am more of an optimist by choice but I wasn't born yesterday. If I think they did something wrong I don't go back. I do most of my own work so I usually don't have a problem. A lot of the time the problem is just a misunderstanding, you don't talk to the actual person doing the work and do you remember the game where you tell someone something and it gets passed around the room and when it comes back to you it was nothing like it started. Then there are the real cheats.

 

Install an oil catch can and all of your problems will go away. Your intake plenum is filled with oil/water/fuel and is sucked in at start up causing the knock. The engine burns the oil off in 5-30 seconds and the rattle is gone. The cel is from pre-ignition, I bet if you pull the plugs right after engine knock start you will find your plugs fouled with engine oil. If it was coolant, your reservoir would be low. All cars come with a knock sensor. The knock sensor is what is telling the computer misfire codes. Dealerships are filled with guys who do not know what is going on. Oil catch can thread

I hate the cold weather and priuschat right now. There are going to be hundreds of threads similar to this one in regards of engine knock. Just because you go to the toyota dealership does not mean they know what is going on. Toyota tried to fix this with a software update and a redesigned intake plenum. Nothing works unless you get rid of the oil/water/fuel. Get an oil catch can.

 

I just posted a video proving that the engine will not knock on 2 different 3rd gen prius' during a cold start stop while not fully warmed up. Oil catch cans in place I know it is bad for the engine, but needed to post a video because everyone seems to think that shutting it down causes all the knocking. I start the car and wait for the motor to fully warm up before driving because is causes less wear to the motor in the long run. I know of to many people that start the car and drive it without proper warmup. These are the people that will never see 150k+ of reliable engine performance.

 

Block heater, say 2 hours, helps take the edge off warm up too, brings coolant temp up 20~30C.

 

Your car computer will show a cel upon an abnormal engine operation, no matter if it is a 5 sec blip or full fault. When the dealer checks the cel, it will be stored in the computers history. The computer will show the current state in how the motor is running at that time. If there is no knock (oil/water/coolant/fuel) being produced or fault the computer will show 100% all systems normal even with the cel still on. It is after so many normal engine cycles, pull ground or obd2 reader to clear the code for the cel to go away. The dealership and mechanics now have no talent, no troubleshooting skills anymore. They rely to much on what the computer tells them. They could not fix a damn thing unless the computer tells them how or where. It is sad. That is why I hate going to the stealership and do all my own work. I frankly do not trust them.

 

I just wish they'd allow EV for short distances in cool weather in North America, as they do elsewhere.

 

Any dealership will be able to get you the part, for around $70~80. Or installed for somewhere around $200~250. I'd go for the latter, both because the install's not a lot of fun, and because they would guarantee it to work.

 

I'm going to be an optimist here and say resetting the codes and telling you to come back again if they return, is at least representative that the service department wasn't looking to take all your money.

That's the cheapest most conservative way to deal with that happening.
They could of come back and made up a laundry list of things to do, based on those codes appearing. And some repair centers would.

I think that's a good sign.

Of course if the codes do come back.....

 

That depends. Trouble codes could lead to an inexpensive, low-cost repair now but an expensive, profit-making repair if they resurface enough times.
That may not be likely in this case, though.

 

Yeah, could be your location. That's frustrating. Did you have a part number? Found a link to the (pdf) Toyota install instruction, here on PriusChat:

https://priuschat.com/files/2010PriusBlockHeaterInstallationInstructions.pdf

The part number shown in the pdf:

PU140-00900

One resource I use a lot for checking part numbers is McGeorge Toyota. Putting in that part number I don't get a result, but maybe you could try contacting them? Or recontact your local dealership parts departments, if you didn't have that part number before, see if it helps.

 

This might be the aftermarket equivalent:

I think you want to get the heat-sink grease (linked in that page) too, doesn't look like the block heater includes it.

Amazon says it's compatible with 2010 Prius.

Use that and the pdf instruction, I think you'll be good to go. It's a chore for sure, access is a lot easier if you take the wipers and cowl off. Watch @NutzAboutBolts video pinned in maintenance forum, on spark plug change, it shows in good detail how to accomplish all the removal.