When I park the car, the engine is usually on because it is charing the battery (it happens to remain less electricity after a ride), can i shut down the car even when the engine is on or should i wait until the engine is off automatically until the battery is completed charging? Thanks. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Yeah, this is one caution. I'm normally very quick to shut down a car, don't like idling, wasting gas. But if you for example start the car with a cold engine (the car has sat for hours or overnight), just to move it a few feet, better parking space or whatever, then it's a good idea to let it run 'till it shuts down the engine by itself. Then shut the car off. It shouldn't take more than 3~4 minutes. There's a problem, at least with third gen (2010~2015): if you run the cold car for just a moment then shut down, at the next start up there can be bad shaking. Doesn't sound good, might be damaging. Toyota doesn't seem to be acting on this effectively on this, has issued some Service Bulletins, but the fixes so far don't seem to have stopped the problem.
