I have an 08 Prius with 191,500 miles on it. I bought it with 44k in 2010. Around 5,000 miles ago, the engine began running very rough. When the engine kicks on, It makes loud clicking noise and the car bucks. When I'm driving under 30mph, and the engine kicks on it hesitates and sounds like it's going to stall (like in older cars) but it has not. I brought the car in for a safety recall 2 weeks ago and asked about this... Dumbing it down for me, the mechanic said basically there's a clutch like mechanism that engages when the engine switches on, and it may need to be replaced but it will probably last around another 100K - so don't do it now. When it does go, it will be around $3K- so when it does go I'll be towing it to the junkyard. Dos anyone know what this part is... Or maybe he lied and wanted me to just jump on it as preventive maintenance now. I've changed plugs, one coil, air filter and the MAS recently.
I'm assuming that's a code? It's not giving any codes, I'm also assuming with 191k miles, it wouldn't hurt to clean this anyway so I will give it a shot. It looks like it's just a 20-30 minute job
That's not a code, my cell phone automatically posts that whenever I reply using it. Most of these hesitation/rough problems begin with a dirty throttle body or injectors. Try these in order. 1. make sure air filter is clean 2. clean throttle body 3. clean maf sensor (I think you've replaced this) 4. put in some techron fuel injector cleaner I'm thinking your car is not misfiring, you replaced the plugs (hopefully you used OEM Denso or NGK) and replaced a single coil?
Oh haha ok. Thank you for responding. Yeah I used denso, and changed the filter. I'm going to do the throttle body now, and grab some fuel injector cleaner. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully this works! Ok so I took it all apart, cleaned it, it was very dirty. I put it back together, turned on the car and it was running worse than before. In addition, a check engine light was on and the gas engine ran constant. I unplugged the battery and plugged it back in, and it appears all problems have been solved. Thank you for your help. I will drive it around 80-100 miles between tonight and tomorrow morning, so I will have a better gauge on whether it was a temporary fix/fluke or a permanent solution.
Just make sure you didn't get the throttle body cleaner on the MAF sensor, that may cause the check engine light to come on. You can use a MAF sensor cleaner or an electronic spray cleaner to clean the MAF. But since yours is new, it's not necessary to clean it Resetting the car is necessary because the car's computer has to relearn how to make the car idle efficiently again.
