Prius (2004-09) :: Engine Rattles When Climbing A Hill With AC On
May 19, 2010
My wife has an 08 with a little over 50k miles. When under load (climbing a hill) with the AC on, the engine "rattles". This sounds like classic detonation to me. It stops when I turn off the AC or she lets off the gas. I have tried running several tanks of super unleaded with no improvement. I have searched here and checked a few things others have mentioned as well, such as a loose hood prop rod with no success.
The car just started doing this around 3-4k miles ago. Last week I changed the spark plugs, even though they are way under the mileage where I should change them. The plugs looked normal, a light tan color, with no unusual deposits or anything out of the ordinary. . Last night I checked and the engine coolant was a little low, so I topped it off. This had no effect as this afternoon on the way home I heard the same clatter when climbing a long hill. All this started back in march when the outside temps were still in the mid 80's... I wonder if it is possible that the pistons already have carbon at this low of mileage ?
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2006 fx4 f150 5.4 flex 52,000 miles ... Just got home from a 800 mile round trip vacation, seems I've developed a miss or a tranny problem. The truck runs/idles fine, shifts fine, everything is as normal. Except maybe 12 times while under a load, like climbing a hill, the truck would "bump" that's the only way I can describe it. I only noticed it in Drive/Overdrive. I hoped I had water in the gas so I added gas treatment at 2 fill ups, still seems to do it occasionally. Where to start? I'm going to get a fuel filter today, the one that's on it only has about 12k on it....
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I had a very strong burning rubber smell coming from under my Prius tonight after climbing a moderate hill at 40kph/25mph for approximately 3 to 4 minutes. The car had been driven for about 50 minutes through regular traffic, outside temp was 7C/44F and I drove up to a scenic outlook. When I pulled into the parking lot, we put the passenger window down and the burning rubber smell was very strong.
I searched all around using a small flashlight and couldn't see anything touching the exhaust, but it's difficult to see anything under a Prius with it's low ground clearance. The burning rubber smell was strongest under the car, but was getting pulled into the HVAC system when we stopped. I have smelled it before, but passed it off as other vehicles. After tonight, i'm sure its coming from my car. I drove the car home for 50 minutes through stop and go city traffic, so the engine was not always running. After parking, I checked under the car again and the smell was very light almost non-existent.
I have 13000km/8000mi on the car, and I have had it for 11months. It has been driven in hills and very hot weather last summer, so I don't think this is paint burning off or the car getting hot for the first time.
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Today I was 160 miles into a 250 mile drive and things were going well. I was cruising at about 75-80mph and approaching a fairly long hill of moderate grade. As I climbed the hill, my rpm was dropping, as expected before a downshift. The downshift never happened. I kept pushing more pedal and eventually, at maybe 40mph, it downshifted, but still no power. Engine being held at around 2500 rpm. No power no matter how much I pushed. Down hill I was able to resume speed but as soon as the next uphill, same thing, no power, no shift. Pulled over, it was raining hard. Checked for wet fuse box, control modules, pcm, wiring harnesses, everything dry. Checked all fuses. Disconnected battery in hopes of forcing reset, no change.
Checked trans fluid, it was clean, red, full, and unburnt. No visual wires broken or chafed. No odd smells or sounds. Nothing noticeably hot. Truck hits 45mph max on flat ground. I limped it this way for 20 miles. If I push my foot to the floor to really force a downshift, engine will rev freely up to redline with no resistance once it downshifts. If I let the rpm drop down, it will catch and lock back in. Now when I come to a stop the truck has a very lopey and rough idle and will stall once I come to a complete stop. It will stay running if I give it gas. In neutral and park the engine still has a lopey idle and is rough. Will possibly die at times. Sounds smooth and perfect when you rev it in neutral or park. Reacts as it should with no hesitations. No check engine light and no flashing OD light. Will shift into all gears, just moves through them with no power. Let truck sit for 3 hours, issue remains.
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Decided to try a new wheel to see if I can stop the surge during hill climbing with our 5er. Old wheel looked great with no dusting or nicks. New wheel sure has a whirl when it spools up, but sounds cool. Haven't pulled trailer since swap yet. Truck still only has 85k on the clock.
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I have a 99 explorer that stops blowing air when I get on the gas or climbing a hill. The motor is still blowing but it stops air coming out the vents. What could be causing this? It works fine other than that.
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2010 Toyota Corolla, 5spd. I was trying to get it up a snowy/icy hill this weekend and, although I succeeded, the car made a very scary noise that I couldn't decipher. Here's what happened:
When the traction control engages, it makes a sound like the ABS engaging. That wasn't the noise that worried me. I was feathering the clutch and trying to massage the car up the slippery incline, and it started making a loud rhythmic banging noise. It sounded like what happens when you're parked and you think the car's off, but it's not, and you take your foot off the clutch. The clutch engages and makes a bang, and the engine stalls. (Not that I've ever done that before.) That's what it sounded like going up the hill, but about twice a second and very steady.
As soon as I heard it, I tried releasing the clutch pedal all the way, I tried feathering the clutch more, I modulated the throttle a bit, but honestly I was 3/4 of the way up the hill after 45 minutes of trying and I didn't want to stop! So I bang-bang-banged twenty feet up the hill or so, then when I stopped at the top the car seemed fine. I've since driven it another 300 miles of city and highway and no issues whatsoever.
Now, I've driven stick for twenty years and dozens of cars and am very comfortable in my own skill. This clutch has always seemed a little screwy since we bought the car, but the dealer mechanic told me (when I mentioned it early on) that it's normal. It's hard to describe why I think it's screwy but it doesn't feel like any other clutch I've driven, new or old. Including, every once in a while, when I'm pulling away from a stop sign in normal (dry) conditions, the clutch will chatter a couple times as I engage it. It's far from a consistent or reproducible problem, and I always wrote it off until this recent episode that sounded/felt similar but much much worse.
Could there be oil on the clutch plates? Could this have something to do with the traction control.
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Ok...not sure were to go with this or how to explain it, while climbing a steep paved hill at 5-10 mph I get a rumbling vibration and noise. If I were to guess almost like axle wrap is causing the U Joints to bind or something. Runs and drives fine other then that. If I put it in 4x4 it does not happen, only seems to happen when wheels cant slip while climbing hills at LOW speed.
Don't notice it if climbing a dirt hill. There is a hill at the kids baseball fields that is steep and paved that its really bad on, way to busy right now to play on it to see what's happening. Tranny was looked at and oil changed.
New BDS 4" lift - had same issue prior to lift, though stock springs were worn.
Searched the form but really didn't come up with anything at this low of speed. While in Wisconsin the resort we were at the paved hills were so steep it felt like something was going to break. Put it in 4x4 and it was fine. This was with stock leafs.
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My current 08 duty was bought with what I believe to be a procomp 6" lift modified to an 8" lift. The 100 mile drive home after buying the truck showed a tiny "hop" in the rear. I ditched the 37s for some new 35s. Still a tiny hop, mostly noticeable while under a load like climbing a hill. I pulled the rear driveshaft and had it fully rebuilt with a new carrier bearing as well. Still gots the hop? The truck has a carrier bearing drop bracket but I think it may be insufficient for the lift.
The rear driveshaft still has a slight bend in the middle of where the two driveshaft pieces connect. Are the 2 piece driveshafts on your 8" lifted trucks sitting straight with each other or do they have this bend as well?? I am thinking if I get a bigger drop bracket it may cure this slight hop I have? Lots of lifted trucks where I live but they are dam near all shortbox with 1 piece rear shafts so I haven't been able to find one to compare. By the way, my truck also has pro comp rear traction bars..
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Was climbing a steep hill at 35 mph just before truck down shifted to 2nd, I was hearing a pinging sound. Sounded like only I cylinder was doing so. What it could be. I am currently running a 1/4 tank of Fppf fuel injector cleaner. Is this a injector noise. No knocking just a slight pinging.
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A few days ago I posted a thread about losing power on a steep hill climb with a cold engine. I replaced the hybrid battery and all seemed well. A few days later, the problem occurred again--bummer. (The car has 120K miles and has spent most of its life in a hot and mountainous environment, and I knew the hybrid battery was failing, so that's not a problem.)
The car starts the climb OK, gains a few hundred feet in elevation, still has some charge left in the hybrid battery, then loses power, surges a couple of times, then comes to stop. The engine continues to run at idle and I get no warning or check engine lights. The "ready" light stays on. This time, the second time it happened, I turned off the car, turned it back on again immediately, and all was well. The remainder of the 1000' climb went fine. As did several other similar climbs on the same drive. Since then I've climbed this hill with a cold engine without a problem, so it's intermittent.
I hesitate to pay Toyota for a code scan since the check engine light did not come on. Should I do this anyway? My local auto parts store will scan for free, but I know that their scanner will not read Toyota-specific codes, just industry standards.
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I have a terrible rattle by my left ear whenever I drive over about 25MPH. It seems to be coming from in between the front and rear doors on the driver's side. I have banged around on the plastics but nothing seems to fix it. Should I just take this into a dealer?
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My wife said the car started vibrating pretty bad when she used the engine brake going down a hill when the battery was full. Is that normal?
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We bought a 09 RX 350 that is a CPO, currently has 75 K on it. When the engine is first started it rattles like crazy and sounds like a diesel while the motor is at idle Once the car warms up it sounds fine.. The dealer tells me this is normal. Last oil change switched to full synthetic and it still rattles at start up.
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2009 Prius bottomed out last week and twisted up the bracket that runs the exhaust system in the center of the car. Tore one side totally out of the frame. Consequently, exhaust now bumps and rattles on said bracket. I removed the bracket this morning to get a look.
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I recently drove my 2004 Prius up some steep hills in the Smoky mountains. The next morning while driving to work, my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, with multiple idiot lights suddenly on simultaneously (none of them informative).
I turned around and drove to the nearest Toyota service center. They informed me that the timing belt was cracked, the HV computer was bad, and the PCV valve as dirty and needed replacing. I think the hills were too much for the car. I will never take the car into the mountains again.
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I am just trying to find out if this means I need to have something checked like coolant hardware/fluid...
It is over 100 F these past several days and at 35 minutes just hopping off the freeway, and then again today, coming down a big hill at another part of the freeway, I noted that as I quickly had to brake the system made the computer noise (same as when I switch from the power view to the trip view), red triangle comes on, no other indicators. The first time it happened I was back on the throttle almost right away and red triangle went back off.
Everything fine. Same today but it was on until I was back on the throttle at the bottom of the hill...
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I have an 04 Accord EXV6 with 237K miles. I have recently replaced shock absorber assemblies and all 6 motor mounts / transmission mounts, which resolved most of the loud "clunking" noises. However, I now have more of a "rattle" sound which I hear when one of three things happens...First, when the engine is started (typically when the engine is cold). Secondly, when shifting between park, reverse, and drive (also, more common when engine is cold). Lastly, when driving over rough roads or potholes at slow speed. The sound is the same in each of the 3 conditions, and appears to be coming from the right side. It doesn't seem to me that any bushings, control arms. etc. would be the cause since the same sound is heard during startup or gear shifting while the car is sitting still.
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I have a 2006, RX 330 with approximately 130,000 miles. I was driving up a hill today and my engine seemed to stall. I pumped the throttle a couple of times and it seamed to take care of the problem. I am thinking it is a dirty fuel filter. Would a pressure test on the fuel line give me the answer ? And yes I did check and there is plenty of fuel in the tank.
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My 2004 started shuddering at 45mph or while going up a 4-6 degree hill. It was well past the suggested 100,000 mile spark plug change. I thought about changing the plugs myself until I heard that they could possibly break and would be difficult to remove. I took the truck to a shop and had the plugs changed.
For about 2 days it ran okay, but the shudder returned and we got PO303 (mis-fire cylinder #3), PO316 (mis-fire on start-up), and PO171 (system to lean, bank one) Codes. The shop replaced the fuel injector on cylinder #3 and again the truck ran okay for about 2 days. My son and I cleaned the other three injectors on bank one, cleaned most of the sensors and the MAF.
That work cleared the PO171 Code, but we still had a mis-fire on cylinder #3. We swapped the spark plugs between #1 and #3 and got a mis-fire on cylinder #1. We replaced the plug on cylinder #1 and that cleared the code. The truck is running great.
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I am having issues with a 2006 Gen II Prius that just approached 120K miles. When going down a hill at approx. 35-40mph, the engine jerks when downshifting or when coasting.
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