Hi I’m new here, not sure if I’m posting in the right forum. Sorry if I obnoxiously posted in the wrong forum. I have a 2009 Prius with 105k miles. Recently my catalytic converter was stolen, insurance covered the repair at a local shop. When I received the car back it ran fine sounded great and was happy. About 2 weeks later I noticed my Prius engine was a little louder on its start up also when the gas engine kicked on when idle and made a humming noise on accelerating and over all sounded like the engine was working harder, making more of a revving sound on acceleration with the hum (sometimes when it was parked it made a bouncy type of accelerating noise like it was giving power then backing off). It got louder so I checked under the hood and noticed the coolant reservoir was empty and the inverter coolant was very low as well and it had a little bit of bubbling going on too. Assuming the car was overheating but not getting a warning light or anything I went to the dealership and bought the coolant for my prius. The coolant levels haven’t dropped since refilling both of them 3 weeks ago, but the loud noise remains when engine is engaged and at times when the electric motor should kick on in residential speeds the gas engine kicks on killing my mpg. On another forum I read that could be the engine trying to cool itself down so that’s why it will kick on more frequently along with or instead of the electric motor. Not sure if this helps but I should mention at times I hear the cooling fan for the batter kick on at a super high speed for the first time in a while normally it’s pretty quite but was loud. But I do live in a hot climate of 110’s and I do run the a/c. I’ve tried turning of the a/c and the nosies still happen. I’m wondering if it is still trying to over heat? Is there air bubbles in the coolant system? Poor water pump? Has anyone have this happen to them? I’ll try to attach a video so you can hear what I am referring to when the car is idle and the engine is louder than normal. Any tips to help diagnosis what could be going on? Money is a little tight right now so taking it to the dealership isn’t really an option, this situation has frustrated me as I feel it is a ticking time bomb before some worse happens. By the way already did the oil change just forgot to reset the light, I used the right amount of oil and type too. The white stuff on the ground is from my family member they drop a coffee and didn’t clean it up.
Sorry not sure how to share the video anymore my Reddit one isn’t working and won’t let me attach YouTube ):
You need five posts under your account to post links. Did you check the level in the actual radiator? You get to that by removing the black shroud that covers the radiator.
