High engine tick-over revs... Is it just Hybrid???

[Tech429]

On my Corolla GR Sport 1.8.

It seems that normal engines rev around 750rpm... but mine on the hybrid seems to rev at 1200/1300rpm area.  Is this normal?

 

Dave

[Cyker]

It depends on what the engine is doing, but normally it will 'idle' at 0 rpm unless the Battery is below a certain amount (On my Yaris Mk4 about 3 bars/under 50%), then it will 'idle' to charge the Battery at a minimum efficient rpm which I think is 1500-2000rpm on mine depending on whether I'm moving or not.

Strictly speaking tho' the engine never idles - It's either off or doing something (Moving the car, generating heat, charging the Battery, or some combination of them)

[Tech429]

Yes it is probably just the Hybrid system.  I had a Yaris hybrid some 5 years ago and can't remember it revving so high though.

When you pull up and put in P... no engine... then give it about 5 minutes and then the engine kicks in at 1200 or so.  Just seems high and noisy TBH.

[Cyker]

Yeah, I hate that about mine too - For some reason when it decides it wants to recharge while I'm stationary, the engine is obnoxiously loud and vibraty; If I'm moving even a bit it's fine, much smoother and less raucous, but when I'm stuck in traffic whether in P or brake hold or what, when i decides to charge the Battery out comes the dakka!

I think you're right - The older ones either didn't rev so high or were balanced differently as they are muuuch smoother when charging while stationary. Mine's even worse than yours I suspect as it's a 3 cylinder so even more unbalanced!

I had my mate's Auris Hybrid and mine parked side by side - When his engine turned on to charge you could barely hear it, whereas when mine kicked in it sounded like a a boy racer had just started up his Impreza  

Thankfully the thing hauls like nobodys business so I'm not usually stationary enough for it to become a real annoyance   (Except when they close the whole M25 because of a minor breakdown. Ahh Smart Motorways, the gift that just keeps closing down... Why is it when anything has the word Smart put in front of it, it's invariably worse than the non-Smart thing??)

 

[TonyHSD]

3 vs 4 cylinders on previous models. No worries for high rpm and noise, very typical. Even mk4 Yaris is different engine still sounds exactly the same as any other Toyota hybrids outside. 👍

[forkingabout]

3 cylinder engines can be pretty noisy / vibrate at idle.

Worse I've heard / seen at idle are various 1 litre Ford Ecobooms / Aquaboosts.

 

[Cyker]

For me the worst by far was the original Bluemotion Polo - It was one of the first 3-cylinder diesels I've ever known of and had very long gearing, with the aim to be one of the first £0-road tax cars with a claimed 72mpg.

It might have even be able to do that, but after hearing one idle I was like NOPE. And the gears were just far too long, so the poor thing felt like it was on the verge of stalling all the time. That thing was pretty horrible. By comparison, the Mk1 Yaris D4D I got instead had a much closer-ratio gearbox which, combined with its high redline (for a diesel) is partly what made it so hilariously fun to drive  

 

As for my Mk4, the weird thing about it that bothers me is when the car is moving, it's absolutely fine! A bit grumbly/growly-sounding, but in a fun way, and no real vibration from the engine.

When the car's stopped tho', it's like the mounting brackets have broken off or something (And no they haven't - I checked! ). I don't know what could account for such a difference, although I read somewhere the M15A-FXE doesn't have any balancing shafts, and the balancer weights are in MG1 instead, but could that even cause such weird characteristics!?

[TonyHSD]

12 minutes ago, Cyker said:

For me the worst by far was the original Bluemotion Polo - It was one of the first 3-cylinder diesels I've ever known of and had very long gearing, with the aim to be one of the first £0-road tax cars with a claimed 72mpg.

It might have even be able to do that, but after hearing one idle I was like NOPE. And the gears were just far too long, so the poor thing felt like it was on the verge of stalling all the time. That thing was pretty horrible. By comparison, the Mk1 Yaris D4D I got instead had a much closer-ratio gearbox which, combined with its high redline (for a diesel) is partly what made it so hilariously fun to drive  

 

As for my Mk4, the weird thing about it that bothers me is when the car is moving, it's absolutely fine! A bit grumbly/growly-sounding, but in a fun way, and no real vibration from the engine.

When the car's stopped tho', it's like the mounting brackets have broken off or something (And no they haven't - I checked! ). I don't know what could account for such a difference, although I read somewhere the M15A-FXE doesn't have any balancing shafts, and the balancer weights are in MG1 instead, but could that even cause such weird characteristics!?

Those vibrations you have experienced are present in all other Toyota hybrids but less noticeable. They depend on Battery soc , lower the Battery higher demand for electricity and higher load to the engine created by mg1. When car is in motion the power split device acts as balance shaft as outer gear rotates together with mg2 and the driving wheels. Happens to all hybrids I had, they been all 3gen hybrid system but on many different cars and they all works same principle. 👌🪫🛞

[Gray86]

The 2.0 sometimes does a slow idle (750ish rpm), usually after a sustained high load run. I suspect it’s to let oil circulate for cooling a bit before shutting down

[AndrueC]

@Cyker has it right. A hybrid ICE is never 'idle'. It's either doing useful work (at whatever RPM is best for efficiency) or it's not running.

Thus the original question is meaningless.