My 2007 Prius has 2300 miles on it. When shifting from Park to Reverse, and from Reverse to Drive, I am hearing a grating sound briefly from front of car at time that I make the shift change. This is not the sound of the disk brakes, because during the shift changes, I have my foot firmly depressing the brake pedal. I am planning on taking the car to my local Toyota dealership's service center tomorrow. But I ask if anyone else has hear such a sound, or has an opinion as to the cause(s)?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ConnecticutYankee @ Jan 28 2007, 02:12 PM) [snapback]381967[/snapback]</div> When you hear this sound, is the wheel turned to one side and the car has started moving?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jamarimutt @ Jan 28 2007, 04:18 PM) [snapback]382023[/snapback]</div> Thank you very much for your question and interest in my situaiton. No, in all cases, front wheels have been straight ahead, and the sound happens before the car moves. The grating sound is brief, just a spike if it were being graphed. In my ignorance, I have been wondering if there is "slack" in the suspension that is being taken up when I shift the drivetrain out of Park into Reverse, and out of reverse into Drive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Feb 2 2007, 11:26 PM) [snapback]384756[/snapback]</div> Wow! Your note was unsettlilng, to say the least. I will be phoning dealer's service center tomorrow to have the noise checked. Can you give me background behoind your assessment that my problem is electric? Thank you. Connecticut Yankee
Well, how brief is brief? There is a certain amount of gear lash in the drivetrain, and the whole engine/transaxle rocks a little bit against its mounts when the torque changes... perhaps if you chock the car with the E-brake on and have someone shift back and forth while you cruise your ears around under the hood and try to localize it... . Sometimes as I transition from regen to taking off, I hear a very subtle klunk under there; hasn't gotten any worse/better/different in all this time so I generally ignore it. . _H*
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ConnecticutYankee @ Feb 4 2007, 04:51 PM) [snapback]385307[/snapback]</div> I think Galaxee just meant that the power steering is electric. On a conventional car, the ICE always runs a pump to provide power steering. On a Prius, the power steering is electric. Let us know what the dealer says. If there are any diagnostic codes recorded, please try to find out what the numbers are. Good luck!
i'm pretty sure he meant that the shifting mechanism is electric. of course, this was a couple days ago now and a lot has happened since that's more prominent in my mind. there is no clunking noise when we shift our prius from any of those modes. just the parking pawl noise when going in our out of park. at any rate, there's not much anyone here can do without seeing the car, so your best bet is the dealer.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Feb 5 2007, 10:06 AM) [snapback]385515[/snapback]</div> Just returned from dealer's service center. Went for drive with technician who tried everything. No noises. Then car taken into center proper for examination of underside, etc.. while I waited in lounge area. Again, nothing found. Servce technician had said if noise still occurs, bring car back to leave overnight for checking for noise next morning. After car had been examined in the service center's garage area, it was parked outside in front of service center, awaiting completion of warranty paperwork. Guess what, when I got into car and put transmission from Park to Reverse, the noise was heard. I decided to skip going back inside, and went home with the idea that if noise continues, I will return car and leave it overnight.
When you park, do you set the parking brake (the pedal at the far left) before shifting to P? If you do not use the parking brake you may be hearing the parking pawl scraping. If you do use the parking brake, when about to move do you press the center brake before releasing the parking brake, and do you keep the center brake pressed when shifting from P to D?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Feb 6 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]386059[/snapback]</div> No, I do not set the parking brake. What is the parking pawl? Can you describe how it works? And if it is the parking brake pawl making the noise, does the noise signify any problem(s)?
the parking pawl is a physical block that's notched into one of the gears that's meant to keep the transmission from moving. keeps the car from going anywhere. it makes a little "clack" noise. but only when shifting into or out of park. reverse to drive should not make this noise. back to your noise, this is happening most of the time you do these operations? reverse is done purely on electric- while the ICE may be running it's not sending power to the wheels in R. the whole R to D aspect of it is what's getting him right now. he's just going to have to do some digging on this one, this is new.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Feb 9 2007, 11:09 PM) [snapback]387857[/snapback]</div> I wish there was some way I could give my imitation of the sound over the internet. There isn't, but here is a little more information. The noise was inaccurately described by me as a grating noise. Upon listening more closely, it sounds more like a dry grommet. The noise reminds me a bit of my former Jeep, that made a similar noise when the grommet(s) holding the tie-rod became dry. Solution was to spray the grommet with silicon. Also, I think I was inaccurate in thinking the noise occurred in shifting from Reverse to Drive. Again, listening more carefully has resulted in only hearing the noise when I shift from Park to Reverse. I certainly appreciate the time and effort you have expended in reviewing my problem/concern. Thank you very much for that.
