This isn't necessarily for the PiP. It could happen with any car, but it happened on my PiP and I didn't know where else to put it. Most of you know a rattle can be hard to pinpoint. I just got this 2013 PiP three days ago. It had no rattles till this morning. I took my wife up to Weeki Wachee State Park for our anniversary and every time the engine ran, there was a little rattle coming from the engine compartment. It didn't rattle all the time; only at certain rpms. It was bugging the heck out of me the whole trip up and back. There was still a little light when we got home, so I popped the hood to see if I could see anything. Yep, I saw something. The hood prop was lying on the engine with the plastic clip that was supposed to hold it to the hood, still attached. Nothing broken. Apparently, when I checked the oil this morning, I closed the hood with a little more authority than what that clip was expecting.
I had a Check Hybrid System warning a few years back. Took it in, one of my rare dealership visits. They checked it out, said it was an intermittent com problem, dismissed codes, washed it and sent me on my way. I hop in, start leaving, then: WHAT is that noise! Now what?! Stop, get out, pop the hood: same story...
I've been fooled a couple of times by rattles. Once when I was certain it was coming from the engine compartment, the rattle turned out to be something in the glove box. Another time it was in the center console, but is sounded like it could have been anywhere in the cabin.
Yup! They can be tricky when the sound reflects off other surfaces and you chase them round and round. Wife has one somewhere in her dash at certain speeds. I'm leery of trying to find it because I might make more rattles trying to fix this one.
Honda always puts their hood support rod on the body, on the header above the radiator. Dropping the hood a few inches to latch it is the same, but there's never a chance of the support rod breaking loose of it's retainer clip. After years-and-years of Honda: the first few years with this Prius, I was forever lifting the hood with right hand, and reaching (in vain) towards the radiator header for the support rod.
Two and a quarter years with 4 Prii so far and I still look in the wrong place for it, too. Not sure why they insist on fighting gravity with the thing.
