Prius (2004-09) :: Shudder When Accelerating Over 10 Mph
May 3, 2015
2006 Prius ...
Symptoms: The shudder feels like going over a "washboard" dirt road. It mimics the normal "cough / hesitation" that occasionally happens when the MG2 switches to the ICE while accelerating, or vice versa at a stop light. However, unlike the normal switching, this is continuous. It ONLY happens when accelerating; as soon as I lift my foot from the gas, the shudder quits. Although it is worse in stop-and-go, it is also noticeable on a clear freeway. It is worse with a cold engine, but continues from speeds of 10 mph all the way up to 80 mph (and probably higher.) The shudder is slower at lower speeds, and faster at higher speeds. It is most dramatic when making a left turn from a dead stop - the whole vehicle shakes. Weather conditions vary, but usually it happens on dry, paved roads, anywhere from 30-degrees to 75-degrees (F).
Frequency: first noticed a few months ago, gradually becoming more frequent. Now, it is almost every time the car is started. (Sometimes it accelerates without any problem at all.)
Diagnostics: The "Check Engine" light has been on for about 5 years (dealerships couldn't find anything wrong and it turned out to be the MG1 battery.) But when this new shuddering happens, the "Check Engine" light blinks continuously until the shuddering quits (i.e. let off the gas or brake.) There are no other indicator lights on (no triangle of death). And the diagnostics mode tells me nothing.
Other Info: The MG2 battery has not been replaced in the entire life of the vehicle. The MG1 battery was replaced, however, about 2 years ago. Regular oil changes have been kept up, along with air filter replacements, brake pad replacements, tire rotations, and all the other standard maintenance. It has had one owner, and is at 255,000 miles. MPG is currently at about 44.4 and has not changed since this problem started.
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About 20000 miles on it, had dealer service a couple weeks ago. Going to a friends this evening. Stopped at an intersection when accelerating again, there was a shudder for a second, different than the normal motor start up. Then I noticed the CEL light and the Hybrid system light were on. No place to pull off the road so continued on about 1/2 mile to the friends condo and pulling in the parking lot it seemed like the engine was in safe mode, reduced power, so parked it there and got a ride home.
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How many motor mounts the gen 2 prius has? My ICE seems to shudder quite a bit when it fires up. I've checked the one underneath the engine and it looks good. So say there is 3 mounts and i could only replace 1 of them which on does the most dampening?
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Well, my MIL came on, and hasn't left (yes, my gas cap was tightened). My bigger concern is that when I'm on the highway, if I have to slow down for traffic, upon accelerating again, when I hit 108km/h, the car does a crazy death shudder, and slows down...I have to release the pedal, let it slow to around 95, and then I can accelerate again. I'm gunna wait and see if the light goes off after a couple of days, but this is worrying.
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Took my 06 Outback (106K miles) in to have the right front inner & outer CV boots/axle assembly replaced (one of the boots had torn open and was slinging grease everywhere, so no surprise there). When I was driving home after picking the car up, I noticed what felt like a wobble or shudder that seemed to come from the center or right side of the car (I couldn't tell which). It would only happen while accelerating, kicking in at about 20mph and then seeming to go away at about 30mph. It didn't happen at all while coasting, braking, or decelerating. The more of a load there was on the engine, the worse the wobble/shudder was, and if I accelerated very very slowly it wouldn't happen at all or would be just barely perceptable. I didn't feel it in the steering wheel; it was more like something felt through the seat and the car itself, if that makes sense.
So I took the car back to the shop the next day, and although the owner of the shop said he drove the car and didn't notice anything, he decided to go ahead and do the job over under warranty just in case they had installed a bad axle or had otherwise "botched" (my word, not his) the job. He also rotated and rebalanced the tires on the off chance that's where the issue was. Within about 15-20 minutes of picking up the car the 2nd time, I started noticing the wobble/shudder again, always under the same conditions as I've already noted--only while accelerating, always kicking in at about 20mph and going away at about 30mph, and always worse the more of a load there was on the engine/the faster the acceleration. The only additional info I've been able to glean is that it doesn't ever seem to happen when I drive the car first thing in the morning, but starts to happen as the car warms up.
At a complete loss, I crawled under the car and starting looking and poking around for something that might be loose or knocking around. I was particularly interested in determining if there was any play in the U-joints or some kind of damage to the drive shaft. I didn't notice anything except for this--at different points on the drive shaft there are what I assume are balancing weights welded to the shaft. Well, I found a bare spot toward the rear end of the shaft that seems as if a weight used to be there (although I can't say with 100% certainty). The drive shaft is painted entirely black, as are the weights, except for this one shiny, bare-metal, square-shaped spot. "AHA" I thought to myself...balancing weight broke off (although how that would happen beats the heck out of me since it's fairly well-shielded from road debris...maybe it was just a cr@ppy weld), now the shaft is out of balance, hence the wobble/shudder. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered...if the shaft was out of balance, why would it only wobble while accelerating? I understand why it might only do it at certain speeds, but if a shaft is out of balance, shouldn't it wobble/shudder at those particular speeds regardless of whether I'm accelerating, decelerating, or coasting? And why would it not seem to happen until after the car had been driven for 15 minutes or so and had warmed up? Again, it seems like an out-of-balance drive shaft is going to be apparent regardless of the operating temperature of the car.
So, could I be on the right track? And if so, is the fix as simple as welding a new weight on there? Can this be done with the shaft still on the car? I think Subaru considers the shaft a non-serviceable part, but I don't want to trash and replace an otherwise perfectly good shaft for what seems like a pretty easy fix (albeit one that is probably beyond my own abilities).
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My trucks been doing something weird. When accelerating around 45-55 mph, a couple seconds after it shifts to 3rd, it does a weird type off shake/shudder. Feels like I hit a small bump in the road. Also when coming out of a cruise to accelerate, it will Make a very violent clunk and then speed up. I'm thinking it's a problem with my torque converter but my mechanic says transmission and my buddy says rear end lol. I dropped the pan and there was some shavings but nothing huge and it was the first time it was ever dropped. After 90k miles.
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I have a 199 Ford Expedition that started shuddering several months ago. The shudder was the most pronounced when braking, but was also pretty bad when accelerating and letting off the accelerator.I took it to a Nationally recognized service center. They charged me over $1,200 to replace everything associated with my brakes, but the shudder, (although no longer so pronounced when braking), was still there.Their best guess was the “U” joints, but since they had just a little play in them, they weren't sure that that would cause so much shudder.I took it to a Ford dealer. They had it for 3 days, and charged me $366 for a diagnosis that I had 3 different brand name tires, and the All Wheel Drive was having difficulty keeping the wheels in sync.The problem seems to be most pronounced when letting up on the accelerator Also pronounced when accelerating, not as much so as when letting off the accelerator, but when cruising steadily with my foot on the accelerator, it nearly goes away.
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In june of 2014 I purchased a 2012 F150 Harley Edition with the 6.2 for my wife to use as a daily driver. I told her that she could have any vehicle she wanted and she chose the White Harley Truck.
It is a Ford Certified Pre Owned and we took delivery with about 30,000 miles on the odometer.
From the test drive in June 2014 until today the truck has had two distinct issues with the rear end and suspension:
1. After coming to a normal stop (at a light) when you start to accelerate (on green) there is a distinct thunk that is heard and felt. Having owned other vehicles with a slip yoke drive shaft I knew right away that the slip yoke needed to be cleaned and lubricated and that is how the dealer repaired this issue. The repair lasted about 10,000 miles and the thunk started again recently.
2. Also after coming to a normal stop and then accelerating there is a vibration felt until the mass of the truck is moving along at about 20 MPH. It's not a vibration like a wheel/tire is out of balance it's more like the whole vehicle is shaking similar to the Space Shuttle Experience ride at the Kennedy Space Center. The shudder is severe enough that my elderly neighbors asked if the truck "was going to make it without falling apart" when my wife and I took them to dinner one evening. The Shudder is exponentially worse when towing any kind of trailer. I have a tandem axle car hauler to haul a 1992 Jeep YJ to various events and the whole setup might weigh 5000 LBS max which is well under the tow capacity of the truck. To say the shaking is violent is putting it lightly.
When I took it in for service, the dealer told me that it was my fault for riding around with the locking differential locked. I told them nice try and that I know what a locking diff is and how to use it because I have two of them in my Jeep. I then took the service advisor for a ride, made him verify the diff is off and demonstrated the problem without even leaving the parking lot. At that point he acknowledged the condition I left the vehicle with him again. The repair the dealer made was to change the rear differential fluid and called me to say the truck was ready.
I drove back to the dealer again (35 minutes in light traffic) where I was presented with the vehicle. I didn't have to leave the lot before I knew it still was not fixed and pulled back into the service lane. I was greeted by the advisor who then proceeded to tell me it was "characteristic of the vehicle." I was completely frustrated and took my truck with it's "characteristic" shudder home.
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I'm new to the 2G and noticed a wheel shudder or jump when turning a tight circle in low temps? I'll try to list out all the info I can:
The shudder was exactly like a 4x4 vehicle in low range/diff-lock when turning on dry pavement.
Going straight or slight turns only, nothing noticeable. ( I was paying attention)
200k miles, just bought the car and haven't changed the WS atf yet.
Temps in the -25°C/-10°F range ....
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My mom wants to sell her 2002 Ford Explorer w/ 4.0 as enough kids have moved out that the vehicle is no longer needed. It has 162 000 mostly trouble free miles on it. However, for me to sell it for her, I need to get it running well first. The background:
Just recently it fried the alternator. No big deal, got a reman for my dad and he put it in. But now it has this sort of "shudder" at idle and low rpm, and also when accelerating slowly low in the revs. I don't know if it was there before or not because only my siblings drove it, and their not exactly observant. I am positive it is a misfire.
So far I have done the obvious. I have pulled all the plugs, they are nice and tan, re-gapped them (although they were only .002 out of spec at the most). I noticed that one plug wire was broken on the inside, where it connects to the plug. Thinking I solved the problem, I bought a new set of wires and put them on. No such luck however, as the problem continues unchanged. On the new wires, I have verified tons of spark making it through. In an effort to isolate the bad cylinder, thinking maybe it was actually a plug, I started pulling wires off the coil with it running. I could barely notice a change in the engine with any of them, and a couple seemed to have no change at all (again, I may just not have been able to detect it because I could barely make out the other changes).
Next, thinking maybe it was fuel related, I put a stethoscope on some of the injectors and they sounded the same, but I can not get at the back passenger and 2 back driver ones. How else can I test these?
I even went so far as to unplug IAC, engine died immediately so its not that. I also took off the EGR valve and cleaned it, and pushed the plunger up and down lots and it moves freely. I tried pulling off the vaccuum line from the EGR with the engine running and there was no change, but that doesn't really mean anything does it?
So I put it all back together and thats how it sits for the night. On a related note, the CEL is on, but it is on more often than not on that thing, and my dad has taken it to a dealer three times to have codes read and nothing ever shows up. The mechanics keep saying that it has something to do with the fuel cap and pressure or something.
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While I am loving the fuel millage and ride of my new truck, I have my first concern. In the last few weeks i have hauled a truck bed full of dirt, and 3300 lbs of sod. both times i would use tow haul mode, and while the truck had plenty of power, it would shutter when accelerating from a stop. Mostly first gear 0-15 mph.
This is my truck with a fancy electronic controlled transmission, so on the old pickups this would be a torque converter slipping, but all the ford dealer wants to tell me is "its electrical and they want to reflash my transmission". I am at 26k miles and have less than 10k left on my warranty...
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I have a early 99 7.3l that seem to cut out and shudder while accelerating at low rpm's below 2000 once I am above 2000 rpm it seems to go away similar to a dirty carburetor thinking injector problem...
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Looking for your collective expertise
2007 E350 with 5.4L and 4R70W trans. 107K miles and the fluid has probably never been changed ( my mistake - thought it was 100K interval - finding out from my reading that is def not true ). Anyway, following is recent development (last couple days):
Symptom #1: In Park/Neutral there is a whine. As soon as you put it in P or N, the whine 'spins up', stabilizes, and does increase with engine RPM.
Symptom #2: Hesitation (albeit minor) when starting from stop in D and R, with _very_ minor shudder. Sometimes feels like it's struggling a bit to move its own weight just until it's rolling.
Symptom #3: Shudder when accelerating in OD. No shudder when I turn off OD. It does not stop when applying brakes (a test suggested elsewhere). Also, the shudder does not happen when applying gas while braked in D at standstill. Only at highway speeds (enough to be in OD).
This all started at the end of a trip (90 miles or so in 85-90 degrees) when I was pulling a utility trailer (maybe 2000 lbs loaded). Not sure if related, but traction control warning went off a couple times. I think I have a axle seal leak that may be triggering that.
Otherwise shifts fine (no change in shift behavior or smoothness). Things seem to be worse when it has heated up. Should I start with a fluid change? Wasn't sure because there are comments out there saying don't do it or the tranny will just fail faster (I am skeptical).
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I just bought a 2007 Prius a couple of days ago and noticed on my drive home the first day after purchase that the A/C got hot when I was accelerating onto the freeway and remained hot for a couple of minutes after that. I turned it off then turned it back on, and it blew cold air for a couple of minutes, then settled on a "cool-but-not-cold" middle ground. When I test drove the vehicle, I ran the A/C, but since it wasn't overly warm, I didn't notice that the car struggles to reach "cold" and mostly blows only "cool" air.
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So after doing some troubleshooting and researching in trying to find out on my 87K 2008 Prius Std "Noise in the engine while accelerating", "Approximately 10% reduction in fuel efficiency, due to lack of power from engine" & "Glide seems to be degrading over time", here is what I have observed.
1) When I push the gas when the car is parked the engine does not seem to rev in a stream, it goes up for about 3 seconds then goes down for 1 second, then again goes up and then down and this keeps happening until the gas pedal is kept press. In conventional cars the rev should be streaming continuously and proportionately to the pressure applied on gas pedal. This almost seems like a misfire, but from the drivers seat I do not hear any blasts, I have never tried this before so I don't know if Prius's are suppose to be like this. Also no Alarms on the MFD.
2) After using the 5.25 oz fuel injector cleaner in back to back half tanks I saw the engine regaining power and hence bettering the fuel efficiency. Does that mean I should get a Fuel Injector cleaning done by Toyota?
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I have 2008 Prius with 80K and I will try my best to give all the information that I can. The past few days during about 10-15 MPH driving, my car started to shake a little bit when I try to accelerate. It doesn't want to go no more than 5-10 MPH and I feel like I was driving on the small bumps. It went away after 10 seconds. Again, I can't duplicate the issue. It happend only twice.
Could this be related to 12 V battery issue, tires issues, transmission, fuel injection, spark plugs?
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My 2006 is having acceleration/power issues. It won't go above 35mph while being very slow accelerating. Toyota diagnosed it as needing a new battery so a new $2K battery (not rebuilt one) was installed. It still has the same problem. It seems like a problem between the electric/gas power transfer.
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We have owned our 2008 Prius since new so when it misbehaves we know it.
Starting yesterday, when accelerating from a stop light we would be on electric ONLY. The ICE would not even TRY to start. There were NO fault lights or other indications. Then the ICE would run a bit and stop and sometimes begin to act almost normal. We watched the HV battery charge go from 3/4 to one bar in a matter of minutes.
We limped it back home, the ICE was running so we let it run until the battery got up to three bars and he ICE shut off. Then we got in my 05 Prius and finished the task at hand.
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My car has 155k miles and I haven't had any previous issues with it. I noticed probably 30k miles ago the beginning of a whine sound when the car accelerates. The noise has been getting louder (it's really not that loud) but I am wondering what this could be. I want to avoid anything happening to the car and want to find out what the problem is so I can fix it.
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I recently bought a 2006 prius used with 100,000 miles and have been hearing a very disconcerning sound coming from underneath the car. It is a screechy noise that is always there, but especially when i accelerate or break going up a hill. I have had it checked out by both a dealership and an independent mechanic neither party has info what it could be, even after hours of troubleshooting, as well as showing then a video in which you can hear this awful sound.
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I have had my 07' Prius about a month now and have noticed a odd sound coming from the left front of the car when accelerating. When I accelerate I hear an off metallic crackling sound. It almost sounds like marbles swishing around. The sound is coming from the left side of the car in the engine bay. If I had to guess it sound like it's coming from under the invertor area. The sound only happens when I am accelerating at a moderate pace.
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