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Issue is intermittent and very hard to reproduce. On some take off's it shakes, on most ... it does not. Same with when I start the car in the morning. Some mornings involve a few shakes, and some do not. A google search reveals other prius owners who have similar issues in cold weather, which is not the case for me because "cold" doesnt exist down here in San Diego, CA.
Noted: At high way speeds, no shakes. And some times I can go a few days with no shakes whatsoever
The other day I threw a few CEL codes:
P0300 - Random Misfire Detected Code
P0301 - Cylinder 1 One Misfire Detected
P0302 - Cylinder 2 One Misfire Detected
P0102 - Mass Air Flow (MAF) Circuit Low
P0113 - IAT Sensor Circuit High
P0301 P - Cylinder 1 One Misfire Detected
We tested the 12V battery with a Multi Meter and it would appear that I have low voltage (12.1) and its time to replace the 5 yr old battery that came with the car
One more thing worth noting, at 110k oil change I noticed the oil that came out of drip pan was only about 1 qt instead of the usual 3-4 qt. At this point I knew I am either leaking or burning oil. I have been keeping an eye on it, and I estimate about 1qt top off is needed per 1000 miles. At this point I am not sure if these 2 issues are related or not. More on this topic ... later
Reading over this thread is a bit depressing. The engine in the CT being the same as Gen 3 Prius -- it has the same EGR pathways. Exhaust gases are recycled back to the engine intake -- this is employed to change combustion characteristics -- lowering emissions. Since the gasses coming from the exhaust are at a higher temp vs what is ideal, Toyota uses a cooler to lower the temps. This cooler is connected to the exhaust prior to the EGR valve and uses engine coolant as the transfer.
There are many issues with this system over time. The cooler eventually coats with soot -- lowering it's efficiency and raising the EGR gas recirculation temps. The soot travels into the valve causing erratic operation and eventual failure. Additionally, this soot flows into the intake manifold where the small passageways to each intake port are located -- the soot eventually compromises the pathways ... unequally -- causing different combustion characteristics in the engine (IE -- Misfire)
This is no mystery to Toyota -- all the main parts are subject to extended warranties. Toyota updated the intake on later engines -- so early Gen 3 motors have an extended warranty for the intake. They also address the cooler and valve with another service action.
The effects of the above can have have various operational effects on the engine. Obviously -- the hotter gasses flowing to the engine from a failing cooler are not good for the head or it's gasket. This can also increase oil use. The soot and hotter temps are causes of failure for the EGR valve. And finally, as the passageways in the intake clog, they do so unequally causing engine misfire.
Often this starts to happen past the 130k mark when soot really coats the cooler. Funny -- when the cooler clogs fully many of the symptoms will go away as the engine is no longer getting this unequal hot gas to its intake. Or any gas for that matter. Oil usage returns to a more usual amount for a higher mile vehicle.
I started buying Prius back in 2012 for my company -- so we have a mix of Gen3 and Gen4's as well as two CT's ... It's really important to perform the cleaning procedure to the EGR system sometime past 100k. With the labor involved we don't clean the valve -- we replace the valve. Typically. we replace the cooler as well as the cleaning on most don't get enough for us. Cleaning the intake is successful. The whole process must be done -- it's actually easier to remove the cooler/valve together vs doing either one. With the intake off we replace the PVC valve. Toyota has also updated the plugs -- they now use a hotter plug as replacement --- we also change the plugs.
Unfortunately -- people spend lots of time and money chasing codes for specific misfires and general misfires and they all trace back to this unequal gas injection -- the intake is also subject to condensation .. this will cause startup misfires on newer engines. My guess is this hotter temp -- and possibly more frequent misfire causes early head gasket failure. Then again -- what's early today? We have been lucky -- both of our oldest are now getting close to 220k and had the full service done at 110k.
It's not a cheap service. My independent takes about 5 hours to do the whole service -- and online the parts are nearing $500. so it's a +1k service.
we preform the coolant change as recommend using proper Toyota coolant --- if any coolant use is noted during anytime past 125k ..... a head gasket needs to be ruled out.
Replaced the OEM battery with an Optima DS46B24R
I did use a Battery Tender, to keep my radio settings and what not
Though straight forward, I did use this tutorial: https://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2...eplace_battery
I went ahead and cleaned out the air filter on my Injen intake as well. I used a blower to push out most of the water and let it air dry over night
And cleaned the MAF with Maf cleaner and also allowed that to air dry overnight
A friend recommended that I swap coil packs to see if I can get the misfire issue to reproduce on cylinders 3 and 4
So I went ahead and swapped #1 with #3 and #2 with #4
I used my obd2 scanner to reset the CEL codes and went for a test drive
Upon start up, it did shake for a few seconds and then it went away.
After driving around town for a good 15 mins/5 miles, no CEL came back on
So far so good
The next morning, upon start up, it seemed to shake longer ... I didnt want to risk damage so I decided to park the car at home and investigate later on after work
I saw that youtube vid and it looks like a huge pita to do the intake mani cleaning ..... but by the looks of it, I'll need to give that a shot. I did ,clean the TB a little bit when I took out my injen intake. When the mani/egr comes out, ill give the TB a more thorough cleaning. thx for those vids!
check the gaps.... I did not. I do have some spare plugs, that I can toss in and see if the issue persists, which I am contemplating on doing at this point .... which when/if it comes to that, this time around I WILL check the gaps, and not be lazy
So after replacing the 12v battery, CEL's for anything "circuit" related did not come back. I drove as far as from San Diego to Orange County (1.5 hrs each way). I did get another P0301 and P0301p CEL after pumping some gas at Costco. After swapping positions on coil packs (cylinders 1 and 3 swapped, and cylinders 2 and 4 swapped), I am thinking spark plug on cylinder #1 may be the root cause of the misfire issue.
After resetting the codes, drove for a few more miles and 2 more CEL's came on, one for P0300 and C0300 of all things. Anyone have insight on the C0300 one?
Do not drive the car any more before performing the maintenance I have suggested. You are inches away from a blown head gasket.
Make sure the spark plugs are spotlessly clean and torqued to spec. I'd get new ones to be on the safe side, since you're already working in that location.
Cylinder misfires, ESPECIALLY cylinders #1 or #2, are the tell-tale warning sign that your head gasket is almost done: https://priuschat.com/threads/blown-...3#post-2672857
Cylinders #1 and #2 receive the most of this coolant+oil mixture due to their location in relation to PCV valve and EGR system.
The mixture of coolant + oil throws off the stoichiometry which throws off the engine's compression ratio to a point that the ECU cannot correct for, resulting in the misfire. This leads to engine knock, which leads to the head gasket blowing.
Head gasket failures are often due to an overheated engine, but can also be caused by high mileage and/or age.
An early sign of a failing head gasket will be a rough running engine when you first start the vehicle, especially if it's been sitting overnight. The rough running will generally last for only a few seconds.
A leaking head gasket or cracked cylinder head will often leak engine coolant into the oil, causing a "chocolate milk" like appearance and the oil level may be higher than normal.
Failed head gaskets or damaged cylinder heads can cause engine coolant to leak into the combustion chamber, producing a white, sweet-smelling smoke from the tail pipe.
To prevent an expensive, recurring problem, the integrity of the entire cooling system should be inspected and tested when a cylinder head/head gasket is replaced due to overheating.
During this repair, the cylinder head(s) may need to be inspected and machined. Additional repairs may be needed after the inspection. This can add several hundred dollars to the repair and are not included in the RepairPal price estimate.
Cylinder head or head gasket replacement is a large, time-consuming repair that often occurs when the engine has high mileage and/or the engine has been overheated. Due to these conditions, several additional parts may be needed during the repair. These may include cooling system components (hoses, water pump, radiator, thermostat, etc.) vacuum lines, timing belt, ignition wires, and more. These will be in addition to the RepairPal price estimate above.
That's straight from RepairPal's head gasket estimate page for a 2014 CT. While there is a TSB for the occasional shuddering engine after a cold start, continuous occurrence means you may just have blown your head gasket, like Vegas said. And as he said, it happened to me, and I can confirm all of this occurred, just as the article reads.
Vegas, I went ahead and ordered new spark plugs. as soon as they arrive, ill check the gaps and then install. a few days ago when i looked inside the TB, i did see a little oil in there, but no coolant/didnt look anything like Raidin's TB that was brown ish/milk shake. I'm contemplating tacking the EGR and Intake Mani job myself or seeing how much a shop wants to do it
Raidin, any way I can be sure of the HG situation? I did check the dip stick a few moments ago and I couldnt see anything that was definitive. I also checked the 2 coolant reservoir caps and I didnt see anything foamy/strawberry milk shake looking
1 more thing, today around noon .... I started up the car, so I could pull it into the driveway to work on it .... and the shakes didnt do the usual 10 secs and then stop .... rather, it was well over 30 secs this time around .... scary! Here is a youtube vid I made.
(ignore the sound of the Subaru Wrx warming up in the back ground)
Car goes out of EV mode and sound happens at around 15 sec mark:
02-23-18, 10:40 AM
Chargerfan - First Problem Detected 117K: Engine Shake On Take Off And On Start Up
